I hate suspense. Start typing!

You might want to take another look... you missed a couple instances of her last name. (hint: check your links)

"It’s not like it’s vanishing from the internet soon."

Especially since said name is still in both the comment threads, and is just barely visible in the scan of the check as well...

It's a big, slow job, changing all that shit. And I made sure she knew that.

Not to mention every site linked to this one...most famous plagurizer EVER.

Yeah, you can change it here all you want, but I don't think the links from the other sites are changing anytime soon. Yahoo's Cruel Site of the Day. I mean, damn. :-p

I suppose I might as well type "Laura K Krishna" to give them an excuse to take longer changing all the instances.

There, now I've done that.

You mean besides Ambrose, right?

lol adde, the FBI stops by YOUR place next! lol lol lol

er....eric**

does anyone else think it's funny that "laura krishna" sounds so similar to "ludakrishna"? as in mc vikram's partner? okay, guess it's just me...

what a cockface.

gotta love the email obfuscator -
laura k. krishna

her mom called his mom. lol.

Funny, because I read it after the name was changed, and was like "Krishna? How could someone who knows ANYthing about Eastern religions believe that that was a real name..."

Heh.

Anyway. I salute. That was pretty great.

It's like watching a train wreck.

libel?

Libel? Not likely, if everything he said was true. No, I suspect the conclusion is significantly less dramatic. Still, it IS like a train wreck...a very, very slooooow train wreck, where people have time to gather and watch it happen.

April Fools?

Nate. The. Best. Ever.

I soooo want to have your baby.

This was very interesting. And this cliffhanger ending is really exciting! Found you through Boing Boing.

For the record, I think she deserves to be exposed, but I also think that being the instrument of her punishment is no great shakes. An instrument is a tool.

I would have liked it more if you'd just taken her money, made her a laughingstock, and given her a humorously inappropriate paper. You didn't have to "tattle" on her. She would've been exposed merely by the evident stupidity of the essay. Instead you flagged yourself, and now the funny joke is over, and my life has gone from thrilling to meaningless in, like, a couple hours.

Many grammar and spelling errors were committed in the drama. "Just desserts" being one of my favorites. If only justice handed out desserts instead of comeuppance, the world would be a better place. At least for those of us who frequently find ourselves in trouble.

Okay, so ... what happened?

Heh. What a sordid tale. I thought you were being way over the top as far as the first post, but her trying to weasel out of payment really killed any sympathy I might have had for her. Imagine if you were some poor student and you really did the work?

What a bitch. I'm sure you were legally threatened, but now I'd wish you'd stick with it. I hate seeing the threat of a lawsuit, even a merit less one being used in such a way.

One thing, though, it's too bad you didn't wait untill after she'd turned the paper in before posting. Then you could have posted the part about her not sending you the check, making a lot of people not think quite so badly about her.

One thing, though, it's too bad you didn't wait untill after she'd turned the paper in before posting. Then you could have posted the part about her not sending you the check, making a lot of people not think quite so badly about her.

Er, I mean so badly about you.

Might want to check out the metafilter thread http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/40795 about you and her. 350 comments so far, very intresting discussion on plagerism. I'm "delmoi" on that site.

As a prof, I have little sympathy for plagiarism, but dude, you need to change her name in the archive *file*, too. It still loads with her last name! md

shut up delmoi! hee hee!
(i am mathowie at that site)

Saw this on the site that doesn't exist.
I applaud you, sir.

No legal threats have been made. I'm clear. I'm just too beat to write all the stuff that happened. Let's just say it's a fun end, Laura is not unpunished, and I won. I did not win as hard as I wanted to, though.

While I'm sure Nate will do a great job of changing all occurrences of the P-name to the K-name on THIS site, I wonder about all the occurrences that LINK to this site... :)

Oh,and before we let this thing die for the evening, I want add a layer of analogy to the analogy below (my addition comes first):

Say Judy IMs me, wanting me to sleep with her. (This always happens to me.) But she's married. So I respond to her messages sarcastically, but she doesn't get it. So we agree to meet. I set up a camera, then fuck her in a funny way. Like with a big red clown dick. Then I show the tape to her husband.

Or, I get naked, but instead of screwing her, I just do a silly little dance and pee on the floor. Then I show her husband the video, and post it on the web, etc.

Now, ladies and gents: ain't I a dick? I mean, Judy's a dick, but ain't I a dick?

I'm sure you'll agree with me that this is the best analogy made regarding this whole Laura Kissinger incident.

<<Puleeze! Let's say a guy IMs me to meet for sex, wanting to cheat on his wife. Let's say I want to let his wife know what a louse he is. Perhaps I set up cameras, tape record conversations, and the like. Let's say I later send the wife all the evidence I have & I also go the added step of setting up a blog, saying "Joe Blow is a cheating bastard." Who have I hurt here? (Well, yes, perhaps the wife, which makes this example kinda silly... but stay with me...) Have *I* done the unethical act? I mean I didn't tell family, friends, and God that I wouldn't cheat on the wife; he did. Just as Laura and Nate are not bound by the same ethics. (She has the honor code to abide by, not him.) The cheater deserves what they get and has no right to call "foul."

And don't forget Google Cache ... onced Googled, it's forever.

Well, not really. There is a way ...

IANAL, but libel is publishing defamatory false information about someone's character. Conversely, the only good defense against libel is positive evidence that the published information is *true*.

Now, Nate has no postive evidence Laura submitted his paper with her name on it (or he did not publish it -- so I will assume not). Calling her a plagiarist without verifying that fact leaves him open to libel in the event that she did not submit the paper, even if she did buy it from him.

Laura of course implies she will hand the paper in, but she may not done otherwise. There seems to be much room with which a lawyer could create threats of libel or other defamation charges.

Nate, good to hear you're clear. It was looking a little fishy.

-Bob

I have already seen someone post on another Internet forum, after answering another poster's question about where to find research information, "Don't get Laura K Krishna'd!" Honestly.

Immortality, it comes so quickly.

Seriously. I'm assuming one should alert the local media to this? Talk about "..power of the Internet" piece for Joe Blow Reporter.

haha, 'd also like to see pics, if possible, of the perp...perhaps a few witty Flash animations?

Eric: show us!

Well thankfully, the whole thing is over. Two words for "Laura": caveat emptor! You're the man for bringing this to the light since it goes in far more colleges (reputable and non-reputable) than students will admit or teachers would believe. Kudos to you.

yosephus: "Just as Laura and Nate are not bound by the same ethics. (She has the honor code to abide by, not him.)"

I disagree. Everyone is bound by the same ethics. Students just have it formally spelled out for them, so that authoritarian consequences imposed by a college administration are clear and fair.

Selling a college paper for money is unethical, even though the seller isn't under the authority of the college administration. Of course, that's not really what Nate did - he only pretended to do that to carry out his sting.

yosephus' larger point was about the sort of wicked pleasure that Nate seemed to take in his sting operation - sort of anticipatory schadenfreude.

My conclusion, though, is that Nate did no wrong here. You can quibble about the method of exposure or the timing of this or that, but I think Nate's actions are entirely defensible.

The larger context is that plagarism is unethical but goes on a lot and is often not caught. Nate put in a lot of time and effort to catch this plagarist, who, by all appearances, quite richly deserved to be caught. Nate was right to turn her in, as well, since just handing in a joke paper certainly won't guarantee a catch - I know I handed in college papers that weren't read very closely.

Given that, the idea that she approached someone who eats Hindu sculpture and (apparently) turned in that paper (and then didn't pay him), is just humorous icing on the cake.

'Course, then there's the fact that he published the whole thing on the internet. I guess that in the age of the internet, we should all live like Thomas Jefferson, who said, "There is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unkown to the whole world."

Well, if she's embarrassed, she can always get into the Witless Protection Program.

If this was a joke it was a damned good one.
Original if nothing else.
You got my attention, any way.

I just Googled Laura K. Krishna on the Net and nothing came up......

That is probably because the pages were all cached with the old name, and the new pages are not being loaded into the indexes with the new name. If you search the old name you will find this site, and when you come here you will not find the old name.

I have never been so swept up in an internet drama. I followed nearly every comment. I was originally linked here by a blog for a WOW guild (www.nakeddancinggnomes.com), of all obscure things. I think: 1)plagiarism is bad (and very difficult for people to spell) 2)laura is not a very good person 3)Nate is a generally right-minded, somewhat mischievious lad but 4)he could never have predicted the astronomical level of humiliation he could inflict upon her. But then I start to wonder about the relativity of the humiliation really. I mean it can seem like EVERYONE knows what happened when we're all crammed inside this little box on my desk gabbing about it, but I wonder how many people who actually know Laura K.K. have caught wind of this story on the web.

Has anyone emailed The Star (The Newspaper with the original Dean's List) - http://www.starnewspapers.com/index/spindex.html about this?

Since you can't really change all the links that point to the original story, you should change the content of the original file and transform it into a redirect to a filename that doesn't contain her real name...

unfortunately, fr android's solution does not change the fact that many of the sites linking to the original posting titled their postings using LKK's real name and said she was a plagiarist.

You really can't take anything back once it's out there.

I think it's mostly a good faith gesture by Nate, and not an attempt to change the facts of the matter. He'll probably fill us all in on it tomorrow in the grand finale.

Oh man, i can't wait until the day I become a lvl. 89 Comedic Genius with a +5 Sword of Ruthless Exposition like you. This is pure comedy gold right here. >:D

stay tuned.

(Geez, guy writes a paper in no time but takes the night off to sleep and leaves the blogsphere hanging - now that's cruel.)

OMG!!! I swear I've been running to my computer ever since this whole fiasco started. And now you leave me hangin'? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! This has been the best soap opera like thing EVER. I'm already planning on a trip to see your sketch comedy show. If your this damn witty on the internet, your show must be a hoot! So fake or not this was highly entertaining. And if real, I hope she reads every single comment that's ever been posted to this blog.Then she'll realize that no matter how she tries to justify what she has done( and you know that she's pissed off at being caught, and not for what she did), almost everyone thinks she's just a dumb bitch. LOL.

And to you Nate....You are the man! What started as a match quickly ignited into wildfire. I got to this site through Cruel Site Of The Day, and immediatly I was pulled in. What surprised me the most was how many comments,threads and links were added each time I logged on. This was great!!

But ya know?......It does kinda suck that you have to go back and change all the p-a-h-and l's. Oh well............

This is wildly incredible...All this drama and publicity, all in a matter of a few days! Wow. I yearn for the day when I hear someone say "My friend totally got LKPed." (let's see how long it takes for this forum to change that to "LKKed.") We should all do our utmost to spread word about this whole saga. Somethingawful.com, maybe?

Nate, superb job (especially since Laura was a scammer on top of being a plagarist), but you should've waited a day or 2 for Laura to turn in the paper before you wrote the blog about it. Or better yet, you could have waited a week, and then written the blog and sent the link to the university president, to see if the PROFESSOR caught on to the plagarism. Imagine if the professor had given Laura an A or something? You could have killed 2 birds with one stone! Then again, it's unlikely that any professor would be dense enough not to catch on, so nevermind.

But still, patience can be a good thing...

unbridled genius. a study in crowd dynamics, a sort of geneaology of disinformation leading back to more disinformation.

best ad i've seen in a while.

reality is what you make it.

peace,

timmy

my sn is jamaica009. you have some more holes left. I'd rather not post them.

i think that laura k. krishna
though a clever ruse
won't get us to his show, no!

I've got to say, it does seem like you blew your wad a little prematurely. I realize that you never expected this to get the press that it did, but still.

Would have been better to start writing after you had some confirmation as to whether the paper had been used or not.

ah!

you killed my haiku symmetry!

This series of unfortunate events surely did come together rather nicely into an interesting intellectual examination. And while the ending might not live up to expectations, anything filled with this much drama can't have all that bad of an ending.

They really should make a movie named "The Plagiarizer" because the movie can only be more exciting than the blog entries. Maybe get Brad Pitt to play as Nate? Or maybe stick with a "B" movie star to preserve the undercurrent themes? In any case, it would be quite the interesting film, especially with popcorn. Mmm..

Wouldn't it be funny if our "comedic writer" just pulled the internet Andy Kaufman of the century? Well, um, year. No? Okay, carry on.

Quote: They really should make a movie named "The Plagiarizer"....

Bruce Campbell! He's your man! *laughs self silly*

More disturbing throughout this whole thing are the posts which reveal an alarmingly vicious personal need to see this "dumb bitch" "taken down a notch" etc. This whole story was about exposing plagiarism and instead the classist, sexist ideas of people who have taken themselves and their self-inflated sense of intellect too seriously all their lives are what have actually made an impression on me. Thanks for that everyone.

You are way too cruel and sadistic Nate.

I hope she and her parents sue you till you are dead broke.

Ever understand the meaning of compassion?

"My imagination had told me that this could be a funny story kept between me, her school, and a couple dozen friends of mine who visit this site."

Nate, surely you jest. How many blogs have you detailed that is linked to this topic?

You are undeniably enjoying this and when she sues you and win, you are going to stain your shit bra man.

We will then see how Karma really works.

I doubt Laura would have learned anything if Nate had simply said, "No! Bad college student! I won't write your paper for you!" and bopped her on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.

Nope, people like Laura don't learn from that. Chances are she'd have just found someone else to write her paper.

Also? I would bet money Laura has done this before, and to other people.

I would also bet that Laura will NOT get kicked out of school, but HAS learned a lesson. Whether for good ("I'll never plagiarize again! I'll also never watch Dharma and Greg again!") or evil ("I'll be sure to be more careful next time!") is up to her.

And Laura is not a "bitch". She's just a kid who thought she found an easy way to a college diploma and is learning a lesson the hard way. The very hard way. Some of the best lessons in life came from this sort of thing. Once the dust settles and the wounds heal.

Here's hoping Laura learns.

Speaking as a recently-minted college graduate and a former member of Georgetown's honor council, this girl needed whatever lesson will eventually come to her. I don't know if most schools are like Georgetown, but at GU, you sign an honor pledge before you're allowed anywhere near a professor. Every time you turn in work that's more significant than a trivial homework task, you rewrite and sign that pledge, which basically says that this is your own work, and if it's not, you're up shit creek without a paddle. Admittedly, I'm a hard-liner (yes, I voted expulsion on every single board in which confirmed plagiarism took place), but so apparently is Nate (I got here from the link on Bitch, PhD's blog).

We heard every excuse in the book at honor council boards...from laziness to a death in the family. If you're in a situation where you need help or more time, ASK FOR IT. If someone has died, Deans can and will compel a professor to work with you on getting your work done. If you knew that plagiarism is wrong (and you'd be hard pressed to find a college that doesn't beat you over the head with that message) and did it anyway, you get whatever shitstorm comes your way.

It's no different from a person who's warned to keep their hand away from the fan blade. You touch the fan blade and hack your fingers to bits, well, y'aint doin' that anymore.

In sum, go Nate!

Ever understand the meaning of academic integrity and living up to your obligations? This kind of action cheats other students by diminishing the value of their real work, why should she not be held accountable? Maybe as a graduate student in a hard research field I take these issues more seriously than most, but I don't see how plagiarism and academic dishonesty could be considered misdemeanors or minor transgressions in any light.

Is plagiarism bad? May be!
Has she disserved this? NO! No matter how stupid or bad she is.

This is no justice! We don’t freaking kill for shoplift and you don’t disserve a life sentence for speeding! Specially, justice is not served by self-proclaimed law enforcers.

I can hardly find entertaining, building a career over screwing somebody’s life. A place where money and entertainment means more then human’s life is sick.

Sending an email and notify the Dean and let them handle it their way – appropriate
Publishing story with fake names and places – may be entertainment (but it wouldn’t get so much attention - would it?)
But f#cking-up girl’s life over a plagiarism and $75 and then profit out of it – sick, immoral, evil …
Elevating my actions by calling it journalism - stupid

For me ret eating other ret is still ret.

To you all having fun seeing her suffer I just wish your family left you next time you download single mp3 you didn’t pay for. Let people spit on you for rest of your stinkin life, next time you drink alcohol while not being over 21. I bet author himself crossed the line at least once but yet he is the one capable of serving justice.

PS: Do not bother comment on my English! It is not my native.
For whom a use of any language is the only sign of intelligence is plain stupid.

Am I the only one that finds the fact that a comedy sketch guy has come up with such an elaborate story on the eve of April 1 slightly suspicious.

I am amazed it has lasted so long.

Congratulations Nat.....you fooled a lot of people.

I promised myself I wouldn't comment again, but I can't resist this one.

>For whom a use of any language is the only sign of intelligence is plain stupid.<

I know this is mostly a cry of "Don't jump on my ass for not being a native English speaker," and don't worry, I'm not going to. However, I think that native English speakers should have a reasonable command of their native language (as all people should have of their various native languages) by the time they are of college age. To me, it is a terrible tragedy that people who have been speaking the language for approximately two decades persist in mangling it, either deliberately, through laziness, or through ignorance.

Additionally, justice comes in many forms. I'm willing to bet many of the people who are pulling this "Oh, I'm so sure most of you complaining of LKK's depravity have broken some rule or law somewhere along the road" stuff have cheered on the vigilante hero in some-or-another movie. Yeah, it's another layer of accusations of hypocrisy. That's nice.

Sometimes, hypocrisy doesn't matter. Take into consideration that this often happens on a smaller scale to younger students. As a child grows to be an adult, and goes off to college, they should expect their actions, good or bad, to be applicable to their life on a much larger scale. What in elementary school might have amounted to classroom-scale humiliation has, through LKK's voluntary decision (I can't stress the "voluntary" part enough) to place her personal information at stake via instant messenger and e-mail, migrated to the large-scale forum of the internet.

I'd rather see "someone's life be screwed up" (give me a break, she will rebound from this in one way or another) than see someone with a penchant for laziness and cheating pull the same sort of shit with, for example, unwitting co-workers, thus screwing THEIR lives up. Buying papers is the "transition drug" that leads to outright stealing. Also, college is a privelege, not a right. I had to stick that one in somewhere, because it's true.

Oh, and I doubt someone is going to lose face over a single mp3 or getting drunk before the age of 21. In the case of the latter, although it pisses me off when people in my dormitory come in drunk and loud while I'm trying to sleep (I don't drink; it's against my religion -- thus, by the "standard of hypocrisy," I have every right to complain about them), they aren't going to stick you with much more than a fine and probation if you get caught, which is probably owing largely to the high social acceptance of underage drinking.

What's this -- social acceptance of an act affecting whether someone's stupid decision will alienate them and embarrass them? What a novel concept! I certainly hope that cheating never becomes socially acceptable, but if people are too sympathetic with the cause of the unfortunately lazy student who can't be bothered to write her own paper, that only moves society towards a point at which doing one's own work is likely to mean jack squat.

Oh, and just for the record books, I still think she is complete scum and should not exist.

I smelled a rat from the beginning, since the author posited a woman named "Krishna", going to "India Community College", and was asking for a paper about Hinduism? Come on. It was pretty clear it was an edited/redacted version of the tale.

So my interest in this is not letting the real story -- with names named -- disappear into the "memory hole". They might make it into search engines already, but there needs to be a source independent of this blog so that further redactions do not erase them and break the links.

I came in late here, so if someone with the original name of the perp, and her actual school, would please email it to me at sam26000@gmail.com I'll try to make sure it is not censored by the memory police.

IT'S OVER.......

DON'T YOU ALL REALISE YOU HAVE BEEN TAKEN FOR A RIDE????

People have believed this story so blindly because they have wanted to believe it. It has stirred up so much emotion in people I am sure even Nate is amazed.

I have a few questions:

1. How long did it take to come up with this scenario?

2. How many of the reponses are from you or friends to keep it rolling along?

3. How long before you erase my posts to keep everyone from finding out?

My hats off to you Nate, it was very well thought out although I think you started your run a little too early. It's a shame you didn't make it to April 1.

It just goes to show we really all are suckers.

Who reading this realistically expects their personal blog to make the rounds of the internet and spread to hundreds (thousands? more?) of people? My blog is for me. And I let people read it because it will help them understand me.

I recently watched an e-bay bid for a haunted stitch doll reach $11,000 US. It was crazy! And people passed it along not because of the story behind it, but because of the celebrity it had gotten. The seller of the doll claimed to be extremely surprised at the response to it, but it may have all been an elaborate hoax. Any real seller WOULD have been surprised.

There's NO way to predict this kind of celebrity. The story is by no means unique; plagiarism unfortunately DOES happen all the time, and I'm sure Nate's not the first one to try to punish someone for it. If on the other hand it's all a big hoax - then Nate wouldn't have used someone's real name anyway, or any similarity to actual persons would have been entirely coincidental.

As for reporting it to the Dean or whatever, this is necessary. Odds are that Laura would read the paper, not hand it in, and try again later. By informing someone that she was planning it, she would probably be sat down and lectured about it by the dean and her prof, and feel the real fear that she's been caught and most likely would NOT try to cheat like that again.

As for Libel: hmmm... that's a tough one. Is a blog considered a publication? Maybe. Is entitling the particular story: "Laura * is a Plagiarist," and then going on to explain the facts libel? Nate quite clearly shows immediately that he has no proof she's ACTUALLY plagiarizing, but only that she intends to. He states his reasons for coming to that conclusion and allows others to make their own. It's unfortunate that Nate tried to use the real name - but changing names to protect the innocent from the dozen people he expected to read the story probably didn't occur to him.

I doubt this will do lasting harm to Laura's life. It may give her a great anecdote on the dangers of plagiarism to deliver to her kids one day. It may gain her some temporary fame. (Who WOULDN'T at least interview Laura if they got a resume from her? There's her foot in the door.) Yes, academically she's suspect right now - but that scrutiny might keep her from cheating in the future (whether she has in the past, who can say). At most she suffers some humiliation from friends who saw the story and found out about her. Probably less humiliation than if she were caught and expelled for the (academic) crime.

I'm personally disappointed that people are more willing to condemn Laura because she's (purportedly) rich and stupid. If she were poor and smart and still committing this kind of plagiarism, she would be equally as guilty - and probably more likely to succeed as a criminal than the rich, dumb girl. As for sub-contracting? No. It's academic plagiarism. It's essentially the same as trying to bribe her prof to get good marks.

The ironic twist to the 3rd act... hmm, why is noone guessing at this? Sideline bets? Maybe they're afraid Nate will just choose the best ironic twist and use it to complete his hoax. Though as a hoax it's kinda poor. It doesn't highlight his comic genius (whether he has any or not, I won't hazard a guess), and people aren't really going to leave here with "A Week of Kindness" stuck in their heads. If his comedy troupe were called Laura K. Krishna, that would be good advertising (you may want to change your name)!

Anyway, if you add up all the two cents that have been given on this topic, you've got several dollars and can probably buy a burger with it. Or a poorly written paper. It's up to you.

Ahh... people getting angry at hoaxers... WHY? If people were taken for a ride, it was a free one! they had fun. It sure beats the heck out of the teacups (try staying on those for 3 hours - it gets tired). Anyone who enjoyed this posting regardless of whether or not it may be a hoax, I invite you to check out another very interesting possible hoax:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1469&item=5566217149&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Anyone who thinks plagiarism should go unpunished, your thoughts are upheld most of the time; congratulations.

I don't think that whether or not this is a true story is really the interesting issue here.
The first issue is obviously plagiarism, whether or not it should be tolerated. Clearly a lot of people think it should.
The second issue is anonymity. Are our names such sacred property that we should be afraid to let others see them? Do we go back to the ancient idea that to know someone's name is to hold power over them? There's a simple solution to the fear of Big Brother looking over your shoulder: don't do anything that you would be ashamed to have the world know. The shame comes only because you yourself don't think it's right! Be open and honest with who you are, and don't let the judgement of others influence your own self-worth.
Finally, the issue of justice: is it just to ruin someone's life for fun? No. Is Laura's life ruined? Was Dan Quayle's life ruined when the world found out he couldn't spell "potato"? No and no.

Quit persecuting Nate, he entertained us. Quit persecuting Laura - she's learning her lesson. Quit plagiarizing and think for yourselves.

By the way, to relinquish my own anonymity. If anyone Googles ME, I'm not the Chris Willott who is a British Physicist. I'm the struggling actor with a fraction of the hits who has played 'Hedwig'.

A good april fools joke is executed on april fools! FOOD

oh and chris that stitch toy thing is awesome! 11 grand!!!

I see a lot of sympathy for the student in these comments. But what about any sympathy for the ideals of academics?

People who graduate from colleges and universities will be the future leaders of society. Shouldn't it be in our best interest to make sure that these people adhere to the standards of basic honesty and decency?

There are already too many crooks in public offices and corporate boards alike. Showing misguided sympathy to people who attempt to cheat their way to success will only worsen this trend.

I do not feel Schadenfreude at her getting caught. But once she started cheating, it became a necessity that she got caught - a necessity for both her academic institution and society as a whole.

If she wants a second chance, she has to earn it.

Wow, the crowd in here sure has changed in just a few hours. To those of you whining that there's obviously some sort of conspiracy going on, I direct you to, well, the very page you're commenting on. Take the two minutes it takes to read the damn thing, will ya?

Nate says :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

You may notice that the name of our victim has transformed on this site, and the name of the unfortunate university. You’ll see why tomorrow. It’s just something we had to agree to, and everyone knows her last name and the name of her school anyway, right? It’s not like it’s vanishing from the internet soon.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Gee, how long did that take to read?

What the whole thing seems to boil down to is that there is no honor among theives, even theives of trust.

The only thing vaguely chilling about this - is not the fact that this might be a hoax - but the fact that the web guy for this site (points up two comments) has the same name as my old Media Arts professor.

I am sure it is not the same person, but still.

as someone who found this through the laura saga, i do wanna say i wish i'd found it sooner. i always hated NYC when i was there cause there was NOTHING TO DO. and of course, now that i'm in japan suddenly an interesting group like you pops up :\ darn. well, if i ever go back to new york i'll be sure to see your show.

"This is no justice! We don’t freaking kill for shoplift and you don’t disserve a life sentence for speeding!"

...but....Nate didn't kill her.

Well, this story passed a few hours and raised a few smiles, anyway. But doesn't Laura's mother understand that you can't edit her daughter's real name off the entire internet? Just one example: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=26454

What a silly girl. Hope she's learned her lesson.

Of course by the time I find out about this, it's pretty much all blown over.

I've done freelance writing gigs for a number of years now, and I can't begin to tell you how many homework assignment jobs are posted on freelance boards. If you had asked me, I would have told you the first red flag was "money is no object" -- that really means "I have no intention of ever paying you" - and especially since she offered you more money than you asked for. That was too funny.

Hiring people to do your schoolwork frankly sickens me. But I'm an old fart (as u cn prolly tell from my 1337 skillzz), and have appropriately archaic morality.

Next time you're at the doctor, are you going to wonder if he or she paid off someone for most of their schooling?

I hope you're enjoying your 15 minutes and all that. Too bad you don't have any DVDs or CDs to market. The wave crest may have gone, but you'll still get some life out of this for a while. So quick, go record something!

Wow, what strange story. Maybe it is true, maybe it's a hoax. It's a bit on the boring side to be some elaborate hoax, unlss there is some extraordinary joke in the end of this.

Is plagerism wrong? Yes, of course it is. It's stealing from your fellow man. Is the act of hiring someone to write a paper wrong? Yes, that is true. You know what though, these are not the end all be all of sins against humanity. If Laura did turn the paper in, Nate should have just let the proper people know about the paper and left it there. There was no need to turn this into some kind of huge INTERNET spectacle. Teaching a person a lesson is fine until there are officials in place to take care of that. Its the same as vigilante justice; it may make you feel good but it goes against the laws we have taken years to craft.

Nate, If this story is true, I understand the point you were trying to make to the girl. However, I think things have gone too far. Your involvment should have ended with you telling her, when she first asked, that "Doing someone's paper is wrong. No, I will not do this." If this story were to get around to the right people, it could be one of those National interest things you see on the nightly news. If that were to happen this girl is ruined for life for what is basically just a bad judgemnt call. Maybe you didn't intended it to get that far, but it could and then your "punishment" of this girl will have gone beyond her crime.

The writing style of Laura in both the original IM and the second set is similar. I think she figured out that what she did as wrong and wants to make sure no one believes that she did it.

"There was no need to turn this into some kind of huge INTERNET spectacle."

Yes, it is. There are good reasons to do this:

(1) It will discourage other students from attempting to do the same thing.

(2) It shines a spotlight on a problem that is all too often ignored by both the proper authorities and the general population as a whole.

(3) It will prevent this attempt at plagiarism from getting covered up entirely.

All in all, I must say that this was well done.

Nate,

If this had been someone you loved that made this mistake, you wouldn't have been so cruel. Plagiarism is simple theft, not murder. Who are you to be judge, jury, and executioner? I hope you and your supporters here receive more compassion and don't get the same treatment if any of YOU ever do anything wrong. : /

So why no mention of P.a.h.l or L.e.w.i.s U.n.i.v.e.r.s.i.t.y anymore?????

Heck with people googling on Laura's name, what's this debacle going to do to Nate's future when potential employers google on *his* name?

"Who are you to be judge, jury, and executioner?"

He is none of these - simply a normal citizen who did his duty by reporting this activity to the proper authorities.

The "judge, jury, and executioner" part will be filled by her academic superiors. Nate simply made them aware of this, and there is nothing reprehensible in this.

"Heck with people googling on Laura's name, what's this debacle going to do to Nate's future when potential employers google on *his* name?"

Well, if I were a potential employer, *I* would hire him...

Jurgen,

Making her superiors aware was merely harsh. Posting all this to the internet was "judge, jury, and executioner" and heartless.

Dave, methinks you are a wee bit too gullible

Nemo,

Methinks you are a wee bit too vague.

Dave, can we say elaborate prank?

Dave, can we say elaborate prank?

"simply a normal citizen who did his duty by reporting this activity to the proper authorities."

The "proper authorities" being every jackass with an internet connection?

"The "proper authorities" being every jackass with an internet connection?"

Okay, so he was being a journalist in addition to a normal citizen...

---The "proper authorities" being every jackass with an internet connection?---

Well, public shaming used to be a big part of law enforcement back in colonial times and such. Scarlet letters, stockades, and other nasty things available for purchase on 'aged' parchment at any historical landmark on the east coast.

If this does turn out to be true, she had it coming to her.

I think it's safe to say Nate didn't think it would get this big or go this far, either, seeing as he said that directly.

He's also said he's under no legal threat, so those of you holding your breath for the great big lawsuit can let it out now, and maybe take the time to realize you're being total hypocrites. ("You took someone to task for breaking the rules! Man, I can't WAIT for you to get yours!")

As far as I know - though I mostly need to wait for the official post like the rest of you - Laura's learned a lesson and, aside from the lasting Internet legend, no real harm has been done to any party. A lesson learned is good, not bad. The people on their high horses may dismount now.

Shh, don't tell anyone, but the main page "Laura K. Krishna is..." still has the P-word in the url...

I have trouble seeing why taking down her name was a good idea. Yes, there was humiliation, but that's a pretty common consequence of doing something fraudulent, especially in an age with so much immediately searchable news.

Aw man, you blew it..
This complex attempt at garnering an audience for your shows falls flat.

As the story unfolded it became too apparent that you've um.. embellished much and omitted more.

It was good until the "too tired to write" stuff and the name changes started. Bummer, now all i'll think of when i see your troupe's PR is how desperate for publicity y'alls are - completely separate & removed from the merits of your sketches.. :(

You might want to put your creative energies towards an underground gig @ Puma or something - they could use another contagious campaign.

Heh - typical. If the updates don't come every hour on the hour, it's a hoax. People do actually need to sleep, you know, and the name changes were a demand of the P-- err, "Krishnas".

Give the man time.

"the name of our victim and the name of the unfortunate university has been transformed on this site....It’s just something we had to agree to."

Under no threat?

I would guess the University just asked nicely for Nate to remove their info from the site.

An interesting thought - If it is OK for Nate to use LKK's real name, why are so many of the posters using false email addresses? Afraid you are next?

"An interesting thought - If it is OK for Nate to use LKK's real name, why are so many of the posters using false email addresses? Afraid you are next?"

Errr, no. Spam crawlers are going to grab this page just like every other page indexed by Google.

Never post your text email to a website if you don't feel like cleaning out a few hundred spam messages per day.

Hey guys, Nate has posted what is hopefully the final chapter of this whole silly thing, so comments are now closed on this one. Head over there to continue the discussion.

http://www.aweekofkindness.com/blog

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