It seems the issues to me have always been clear-cut, so I never understood the confusion about it. I'm also mystified as to how the debate got shifted from the hard facts (Cassie Claire plagiarized) to making it all about personality peppered with accusations of 'u r jess jelus.'

Now, I'm not saying that jealousy for Cassie Claire's Internet fame hasn't had some part in the drama, but people are less likely to be jealous (or annoyed) if the Internet fame was earned by honest means.

Besides, the best way to defend yourself against wrong-doing is to simply not do it so you can cite chapter and verse how you are being accused of something you simply didn't do. Sure, it's hard to prove a negative, but plagiarism is luckily something that leaves trail of slime. People can fairly easily proove that you did do it.