As fun as blogging is as a medium, there is a very basic if unspoken ethics out there that serious bloggers are quite earnest about. Consider the following.
- Don’t copy. This is the capital crime of the blogosphere. My “favorite” is when people copy and paste from Wikipedia. It is always obvious and easy to verify. It is also probably illegal. It is also increeeeeedibly lame!
- Write about your interpretations, opinions, ideas, observations, and understanding of a given topic. Blogging is akin to editorial writing. If you’re writing about your opinions, you are less likely to plagiarize because true opinions come from oneself, not another website.
. . . . Anyway, It is probably obvious by now that a kernel of corn is stuck between one of my teeth and my gums. That kernel happens to be a blog that has some content eerily similar to my own and some other content that is outrageously similar (i.e. almost exactly the same as) an entry in Wikipedia and some other easily located websites. Thanks to loyal reader Sue Williams for pointing this out to me. I wouldn’t have known otherwise.
Eek! and double UGH!
As you can tell, this gets to me. Does that kind of thing get to you? Copying is like cheating or cutting in line; it gets under my skin like a nasty bug bite. . . errrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Laura,
As a regular reader of your blogs I can easily understand the temptation to steal essays that are of your daily quality! As frustrating as it may be for you personally, try to think of it as a “blind” compliment to your abilities with the native American language we refer to as English. Really good writing is almost a lost art in this country at this time. I deplored this subject as a student, and only as I approach total senility do I find it refreshing to read anything, and everything, that is interesting in content, well thought out in presentation, and written for the enlightenment of the average reader. Keep your nose to the wind and never bother to look back as there will always be those in your wake struggling to stay afloat (and usually sinking).
Eek and double-ugh alright! I get ‘ya. That would bother me, too.