Thank you for all your good work. RB Sheridan, the Georgian wit, playwright and theatre manager, has a character called Sir Fretful Plagiary, who writes suspiciously familiar lines and asks why it should matter that Shakespeare had happened to write them earlier. He frets over the injustice of it. Sheridan was also known for caustic comments on our less successful operations against Napoleon
Also, an argentine web magazine posts your info, but they write that you are the author. It's called Pucará Defensa. They frecuently misspel but it's un general correct. they translate.
It's a 'killer' to the topic of Super Etendards in service with the Command of the Argentine Naval Aviation: simply no questions left unanswered (including Royal Navy's plots of where which of Exocets fired by them ended).
Dear Tom, thank you for sharing! I stand in respect for your (futile in my opinion) fight in the age where plagiarism as a term is on the edge on extinction. Because from one hand most of the material out there is a form of plagiarism, on the other it is too easily concealed though same tools you use for it's detection LOL.
Regarding ChatGPT estimates, it is best to be reminded of Asimov's story "Liar!", with Herbie being a good analogy for today's AI tools. It is practically impossible that the tool will disagree with the one who asks the question. So whoever controls the prompt, controls the answer.
It is a best thing in the world to confirm your own point of view. Once I had an encounter here in Substack with a seemingly detailed and argumented participant. Only to discover after a few back and forth, that all answers come in the same style, defending with good arguments certain position. My experience clearly pointed that this is simply a well defined tool, speaking to me. So I experimented with asking similar tool to generate answer defending the opposite point of view, giving it some clues. It came out nicely agrumented too. But then I abandoned this route, since participating as an entry device in AI vs AI conversation is not my cup of tea.
Thanks for the short update, still hoping a radical change in a more efficient Ukrainian way of war results from the lessons learned of the Kursk salient opns.
Hi Tom, I'm sorry you had this quarrel with "that director", even if I must admit it was quite entertaining to witness, especially the chatgpt part was hilarious.
I can't say he's my friend but I had the possibility to speak with him in the past and even if I consider him a decent analyst he's very proud, even a bit lofty, especially in this troubled periods in which lots of military analyst are experiencing unusual mainstream fame on radio and TV shows. Joining this with you coming out about this a little "abrupt", it made him panic a bit i suppose.
This is what prevented him to just admit his collaborator errors and put a stop to this in a timely manner in my opinion. I really hope this matter will close without any additional frictions.
I also sincerely hope you don't take it as a personal bias against italians, i think you are above that. For me, I've following for many years and I'm an admirer of your work, keep it up!
well, sorry but: his own readers have started questioning why are they 'copying Tom Cooper', first and foremost?
...and that without ChatGPT and other of his apostolic 'tools of scrupulous semantic analysis'....
From his 'correspondence', it's obvious that His Royal Highness The Director seems to think he's dealing with some 'III Class blogger noob' (or, to use modern-day gamer-jargon: an 'NPC'). Certainly with somebody 'searching for fame & fortune through trolling the RID' - not with somebody who's grown into this business back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, working for 'think-tanks' that still have a global reach (and at the time calibres like Dr Ezio Bonsignore were making diverse of Mönch periodicals a 'must read'). Even less so would he come to the idea he's dealing with somebody who has developed and worked up six book-series about contemporary warfare, and is, as editor, publishing something like three times as many NEW books (over 90% based on first research) as the RID is publishing magazines.
That much about his 'qualifications'.
As I've informed him yesterday afternoon, he's still got the time to admit errors of that 'author' (and his editor). Remove the article, post an apology, and everything's fine (and will be forgotten in a matter of hours).
Regarding 'Italians': I've closed that chapter two years ago. No interviews to the media, no interviews to bloggers. They can all find themselves somebody else to get upset about. Period.
Sober & sane private persons are welcome (whether in real life or as 'online friends').
Trust me, he knows very well who you are and what you do, that's why he didn't just ignored your accusations but responded somewhat too hastily. I myself noticed the similarities, especially in the "Al momento, alcuni villaggi di confine nell'Oblast ucraino di Sumy, come Zhuravka e Novenke, sono stati travolti, con le forze russe che potrebbero aver raggiunto addirittura Basivka" section.
Here in italy we tend to give platforms to controversial figures, or "rambling idiots" as you would call them, just for the sake of the spectacle so I perfectly get where you are coming from. Again, keep up with the good work, it's a rarity to have such knowledgeable but humble figures in this sector.
He did ignore my complaints: has started reacting only once I've published these - precisely because they simply didn't react to my attempts to contact them (i.e. they've left me no other choice but to make this public, because they have failed to react).
...and then he reacted with offence ('spammer', 'troll'), and threats for my personal security, and then with explanations like that ChatGPT and whatever other 'tools of scrupulous semantic analysis' have shown him that there is no plagiate.
...and that although his own readers began questioning him why is his magazine 'copying Tom Cooper'.
Sorry, but with hindsight, one conclusion is unavoidable: he was lurking on my FB-account for years (as 'friend'), either ignored, or didn't care what are his 'authors' and editors doing, or supported them through the use of AI-tools to 'formalise' my texts into what is suiting them. This behaviour became a norm.
Precisely this is why am I reacting the way I do, and have made this public. Had they reacted to my requests to remove the offending material from their website, this affair could've been concluded in a matter of 2-5 minutes.
Sometimes I seriously wonder why you still even bother. But God bless you anyway. Yea, yea, I know you're not into all that God stuff but we take what we can get. Take care and keep it coming. Those of us on the ground are grateful and will always be.
Actually, I do not bother the least. I know that almost every day there are 20-30 (often more) different of super-smart characters, making their life easier by plagiarising me.
However, 'that' magazine... that was 'a drop that over-spilled the barrel'.
Usually, it's publishing copy-pasted articles from such of Pudding's PRBS-industrialists like Rybar. Sometimes - whenever it's about 'proving this or that thesis' - from the ISW. But, it's always quoting the source.
Movie Red Shoes: Boris Lermontov: [to Julian Craster the lowly ballet practice piano player whose music was plagiarized by the company's famous composer]
It is worth remembering, that it is much more disheartening to have to steal than to be stolen from, hmmm?
Thanks Tom. Trump seems to have different information about the situation in the Kursk region - "complete encirclement of thousands of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen". Where does this come from?
It's Trump preparation how to accept Russian "peace" terms and sell it as saving thousands of Ukrainian lives. It does not matter it's total BS, Trump followers would eat that and blame Ukraine and EU for not enough gratitude.
You have to remember he's an old man showing signs of dementia. I'm sure his briefers tell him the truth about all sorts of things every day, but that does not mean he pays any attention. Particularly if he does not hear what he wants to hear.
It's amazing how many plagiarists behave like this. How hard is it to hold your hands up, admit you made an error and then apologise?
And tanks for puncturing the giant balloon of hot air that inflated over Kursk and US intel. Ditto Sumy and Chernihiv.
Isn't the big takeaway from the Kursk retreat that the Russians have finally found a general who CAN plan and execute complex offensive operations? A lot of what they've just done sounds similar to the first preparatory phase of Ukraine's incursion. Taking out the enemy's FPV pilots and ISR drones. Degrading logistics. Overwhelming defences with drone swarms ahead of assaults. Careful probing to identify weak points for exploitation.
Apologize? Isn’t sorry the hardest word? (At least in one song). I think it is totally impossible for a person doing things like that to apologize. He simply cannot fathom he has done anything wrong. And if he has it was for a worthy cause and anyway… apologizing is hard work.
Thank you for all your good work. RB Sheridan, the Georgian wit, playwright and theatre manager, has a character called Sir Fretful Plagiary, who writes suspiciously familiar lines and asks why it should matter that Shakespeare had happened to write them earlier. He frets over the injustice of it. Sheridan was also known for caustic comments on our less successful operations against Napoleon
The ones who read You knows when is your style.
Also, an argentine web magazine posts your info, but they write that you are the author. It's called Pucará Defensa. They frecuently misspel but it's un general correct. they translate.
Keep the work up! Thanks you as always!
Thx.
Pucara Defensa is run by Santiago Rivas, author of dozens of books (incl. Skyhawks over the South Atlanic, published in the Latin America@War series: https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/skyhawks-over-the-south-atlantic-argentine-skyhawks-in-the-malvinas-falklands-war-1982.php). He one of leading (if not the leading) defence-analysits of Argentina, and has obtained permission to re-post and translate already before doing so for the first time.
Thanks for the info! I'm looking forward for Santiago book about the Super Etandards.
And about the Skyhawks, I still not read "Halcones de Malvinas" written by Pablo Carballo, "Cruz" tagname Skyhawk Pilot and veteran.
Carballo's book is outstanding. Really a 'must read'.
Re. Super Etendards: we've published Mariano Sciaroni's outstanding 'Handbrake!'
https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/handbrake-dassault-super-etendard-fighter-bombers-in-the-falklands-malvinas-war-1982.php
It's a 'killer' to the topic of Super Etendards in service with the Command of the Argentine Naval Aviation: simply no questions left unanswered (including Royal Navy's plots of where which of Exocets fired by them ended).
Thanks about it. The latín american series is great. I've read the books about Operación Soberanía and the Revolución Libertadora.
I can't find any book about Soberanía in spanish!
Yo también tengo el libro Halcones de Malvinas pero todavía no lo termino de leer, ando ocupado.
Thanks Tom. As you say, nice and early 👍
And despite the sad losses, news of the disciplined retreat is encouraging.
Thanks Tom, sorry to hear about the denials of the plagiarist.
Dear Tom, thank you for sharing! I stand in respect for your (futile in my opinion) fight in the age where plagiarism as a term is on the edge on extinction. Because from one hand most of the material out there is a form of plagiarism, on the other it is too easily concealed though same tools you use for it's detection LOL.
Regarding ChatGPT estimates, it is best to be reminded of Asimov's story "Liar!", with Herbie being a good analogy for today's AI tools. It is practically impossible that the tool will disagree with the one who asks the question. So whoever controls the prompt, controls the answer.
It is a best thing in the world to confirm your own point of view. Once I had an encounter here in Substack with a seemingly detailed and argumented participant. Only to discover after a few back and forth, that all answers come in the same style, defending with good arguments certain position. My experience clearly pointed that this is simply a well defined tool, speaking to me. So I experimented with asking similar tool to generate answer defending the opposite point of view, giving it some clues. It came out nicely agrumented too. But then I abandoned this route, since participating as an entry device in AI vs AI conversation is not my cup of tea.
Yup. It's all about the 'prompt'.
Thanks for the short update, still hoping a radical change in a more efficient Ukrainian way of war results from the lessons learned of the Kursk salient opns.
That's my hope too, but... sigh...
Hi Tom, I'm sorry you had this quarrel with "that director", even if I must admit it was quite entertaining to witness, especially the chatgpt part was hilarious.
I can't say he's my friend but I had the possibility to speak with him in the past and even if I consider him a decent analyst he's very proud, even a bit lofty, especially in this troubled periods in which lots of military analyst are experiencing unusual mainstream fame on radio and TV shows. Joining this with you coming out about this a little "abrupt", it made him panic a bit i suppose.
This is what prevented him to just admit his collaborator errors and put a stop to this in a timely manner in my opinion. I really hope this matter will close without any additional frictions.
I also sincerely hope you don't take it as a personal bias against italians, i think you are above that. For me, I've following for many years and I'm an admirer of your work, keep it up!
Hi Zulu,
well, sorry but: his own readers have started questioning why are they 'copying Tom Cooper', first and foremost?
...and that without ChatGPT and other of his apostolic 'tools of scrupulous semantic analysis'....
From his 'correspondence', it's obvious that His Royal Highness The Director seems to think he's dealing with some 'III Class blogger noob' (or, to use modern-day gamer-jargon: an 'NPC'). Certainly with somebody 'searching for fame & fortune through trolling the RID' - not with somebody who's grown into this business back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, working for 'think-tanks' that still have a global reach (and at the time calibres like Dr Ezio Bonsignore were making diverse of Mönch periodicals a 'must read'). Even less so would he come to the idea he's dealing with somebody who has developed and worked up six book-series about contemporary warfare, and is, as editor, publishing something like three times as many NEW books (over 90% based on first research) as the RID is publishing magazines.
That much about his 'qualifications'.
As I've informed him yesterday afternoon, he's still got the time to admit errors of that 'author' (and his editor). Remove the article, post an apology, and everything's fine (and will be forgotten in a matter of hours).
Regarding 'Italians': I've closed that chapter two years ago. No interviews to the media, no interviews to bloggers. They can all find themselves somebody else to get upset about. Period.
Sober & sane private persons are welcome (whether in real life or as 'online friends').
Trust me, he knows very well who you are and what you do, that's why he didn't just ignored your accusations but responded somewhat too hastily. I myself noticed the similarities, especially in the "Al momento, alcuni villaggi di confine nell'Oblast ucraino di Sumy, come Zhuravka e Novenke, sono stati travolti, con le forze russe che potrebbero aver raggiunto addirittura Basivka" section.
Here in italy we tend to give platforms to controversial figures, or "rambling idiots" as you would call them, just for the sake of the spectacle so I perfectly get where you are coming from. Again, keep up with the good work, it's a rarity to have such knowledgeable but humble figures in this sector.
He did ignore my complaints: has started reacting only once I've published these - precisely because they simply didn't react to my attempts to contact them (i.e. they've left me no other choice but to make this public, because they have failed to react).
...and then he reacted with offence ('spammer', 'troll'), and threats for my personal security, and then with explanations like that ChatGPT and whatever other 'tools of scrupulous semantic analysis' have shown him that there is no plagiate.
...and that although his own readers began questioning him why is his magazine 'copying Tom Cooper'.
Sorry, but with hindsight, one conclusion is unavoidable: he was lurking on my FB-account for years (as 'friend'), either ignored, or didn't care what are his 'authors' and editors doing, or supported them through the use of AI-tools to 'formalise' my texts into what is suiting them. This behaviour became a norm.
Precisely this is why am I reacting the way I do, and have made this public. Had they reacted to my requests to remove the offending material from their website, this affair could've been concluded in a matter of 2-5 minutes.
Sometimes I seriously wonder why you still even bother. But God bless you anyway. Yea, yea, I know you're not into all that God stuff but we take what we can get. Take care and keep it coming. Those of us on the ground are grateful and will always be.
Actually, I do not bother the least. I know that almost every day there are 20-30 (often more) different of super-smart characters, making their life easier by plagiarising me.
However, 'that' magazine... that was 'a drop that over-spilled the barrel'.
Usually, it's publishing copy-pasted articles from such of Pudding's PRBS-industrialists like Rybar. Sometimes - whenever it's about 'proving this or that thesis' - from the ISW. But, it's always quoting the source.
Just, when copy-pasting my articles - then not?
Sorry, enough is enough.
To help the advancement of the peace process the Ukrainians should collapse the Kerch bridge once and for all.
BS and kremlin narrative! That's not a peace process, this is obvious capitulation before aggressor.
There coudn't be the peace when your home remains occupied by a your rapist and murderer.
The Kerch bridge must have been collapsed long time ago anyway.
You are impervious to sarcasm, I gather.
Dropping the Kerch bridge would have vladimir vladimirovich frothing at the mouth, and spike any kind of peace process...
There, I had to explain...
It's almost worth clubbing together to sue that wretched* magazine and its wretched* editor - except that the money would fund a fleet of ambulances.
* censored - originally began with F and C
Thanks Tom! Good luck and success with your own battles!
Movie Red Shoes: Boris Lermontov: [to Julian Craster the lowly ballet practice piano player whose music was plagiarized by the company's famous composer]
It is worth remembering, that it is much more disheartening to have to steal than to be stolen from, hmmm?
If you have a heart….
Oscar wilde have an opinion about imitation, is not a bad reference for this plagiars
https://chas.news/news/tramp-pogovoriv-z-putinim-poprosiv-zberegti-zhittya-nachebto-otochenih-ukrainskih-viiskovih
Thanks Tom. Trump seems to have different information about the situation in the Kursk region - "complete encirclement of thousands of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen". Where does this come from?
It's Trump preparation how to accept Russian "peace" terms and sell it as saving thousands of Ukrainian lives. It does not matter it's total BS, Trump followers would eat that and blame Ukraine and EU for not enough gratitude.
You have to remember he's an old man showing signs of dementia. I'm sure his briefers tell him the truth about all sorts of things every day, but that does not mean he pays any attention. Particularly if he does not hear what he wants to hear.
Do not underestimate evilness of the old power greedy men.
True
It's amazing how many plagiarists behave like this. How hard is it to hold your hands up, admit you made an error and then apologise?
And tanks for puncturing the giant balloon of hot air that inflated over Kursk and US intel. Ditto Sumy and Chernihiv.
Isn't the big takeaway from the Kursk retreat that the Russians have finally found a general who CAN plan and execute complex offensive operations? A lot of what they've just done sounds similar to the first preparatory phase of Ukraine's incursion. Taking out the enemy's FPV pilots and ISR drones. Degrading logistics. Overwhelming defences with drone swarms ahead of assaults. Careful probing to identify weak points for exploitation.
Whoops, 'tanks=thanks'. But then again... tanks might be appropriate.
Apologize? Isn’t sorry the hardest word? (At least in one song). I think it is totally impossible for a person doing things like that to apologize. He simply cannot fathom he has done anything wrong. And if he has it was for a worthy cause and anyway… apologizing is hard work.
Good. Plagiarists are made to be separated from their wallets.
I agree with your sentiment, but I am afraid that in practice plagiarism provides you money. Not the other way as we would want.
...and a lots of money...