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I’m at a bit of a loss about this one. You see I write all the content for this site, with some help from my wife Lynley and occasionally from others, but it is all original to us.
I had hoped that people would be inspired by the information we present, and would use it in some way to enhance their lives, or if they are performers, to enhance their shows. I don’t mind people using the ideas we have for gags, and trying them out themselves, though I expect to give and to get credit where it is due, and for people to add their own flavour to what they do.
Earlier today while browsing the web, I found a great looking site by another (possibly more well known) hypnotist. He has a great FAQ page. He has many questions and answers on it, and it gave me some ideas about things I should write for my site. He has a question about whether he sells non-smoking CDs at his shows. He has an answer that is a cut and paste of the material from my site, this site, with a few words changed, but not many. Ironically, he even quotes my line about certain actions lacking integrity.
I mentioned this to Jaydee (www.jaydeehypnotist.com ), and we giggled a bit. Jaydee then noticed that one of the answers was taken from Jaydee’s own site. So far I was not much concerned. But at the foot of this guy’s page he claims copyright over the material, and has a link to www.copyscape.com with a “do not copy” gif. This last point sticks in my craw and I just don’t know what to do, if I should do anything at all.
I’m not going to get all bent out of shape over this. The truth is that I can write new material easily enough. Hey, I’m good at it, and when it goes out on the web, it can be copied equally with good purpose and by the unscrupulous.
But the whole plagiarism thing is endemic in stage hypnosis circles. It is odd because writing new words for the web, or inventing new gags is really quite easy (Ormond Magill’s book lists 100s of ideas for gags that anyone can use and develop if they cannot think of any new ones). So there’s no need to copy anything word for word.
Could it be that many stage hypnotists are little more than parrots who recite the work of others (on the web and on stage)? If that is the case, then be assured that what we do here at That Hypno Show is all our own work – we write our own material. We use some classic gags that we were shown or that we learned from books, but we write our own scripts for them. We invent many new original gags. The only line I use that is not my own comes from Attila (“The faster you fill up these chairs, the faster the show begins”). It’s a great line and he gave me permission to use it.
As for the copying. I just don’t know. I suppose it is the sincerest form of flattery.
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Gerard V's Blog 
