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Permalink Reply by Slouch on March 2, 2009 at 10:05am

part of making blogs work is that you take things of interest and then point back to the original source with maybe a comment about it or an entire post based on what you borrowed and showed the source you borrowed it from. some people get this, others don't.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 2, 2009 at 10:12am

I wonder how many readers ever track back to the original post and how many eyeballs does this add to the original post. But people get so possessive of what is theirs and never consider the indirect benefits...

Slouch said:

part of making blogs work is that you take things of interest and then point back to the original source with maybe a comment about it or an entire post based on what you borrowed and showed the source you borrowed it from. some people get this, others don't.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on March 2, 2009 at 10:24am

That's funny Steve (what Henry said). And very true. Maybe that's why it's so funny.

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Permalink Reply by John Sumser on March 2, 2009 at 10:37am

Actually, most people get this. Maybe 10% track back to the original. It's less so if the excerpt is longer than a paragraph or two. The basic idea, plagiarism, is taught early in most schools.

Using someone else's material in a paper or an article is subject requires acknowledgment and/or footnoting. In print, fair use is generally accepted as one or two paragraphs. That's what most reviewers use. The blog / on line commentary is an extension of that, I think.

It's infuriating when someone copies all of your work and then doesn't use a pointer. When they don't get it, they really don't get it.

As far as it goes, the court case is unlikely to produce much real change. Precedent is only interesting when it's enforceable. One blogger stealing a thousand words from another blogger won't even be discovered most of the time.

The only people who actually use lawyers and the court system are the people who are:

a. Rich enough to afford it;
b. Out of pocket enough to justify it; or
c. Living with an underemployed lawyer or two.

I particularly enjoyed the humor in publishing a link to nowhere.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 2, 2009 at 12:31pm

Part of what may be coming down the pipe - excerpted from the Josephson Institute's 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth:

CHEATING. Cheating in school continues to be rampant and it’s getting worse. A substantial majority (64 percent) cheated on a test during the past year (38 percent did so two or more times), up from 60 percent and 35 percent, respectively, in 2006. There were no gender differences on the issue of cheating on exams.

* Students attending non-religious independent schools reported the lowest cheating rate (47 percent) while 63 percent of students from religious schools cheated.

* Responses about cheating show some geographic disparity: Seventy percent of the students residing in the southeastern U.S. admitted to cheating, compared to 64 percent in the west, 63 percent in the northeast, and 59 percent in the midwest.

* More than one in three (36 percent) said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment. In 2006 the figure was 33 percent.

John, I'm not sure that every gets it.

John Sumser said:

Actually, most people get this. Maybe 10% track back to the original. It's less so if the excerpt is longer than a paragraph or two. The basic idea, plagiarism, is taught early in most schools.

Using someone else's material in a paper or an article is subject requires acknowledgment and/or footnoting. In print, fair use is generally accepted as one or two paragraphs. That's what most reviewers use. The blog / on line commentary is an extension of that, I think.

It's infuriating when someone copies all of your work and then doesn't use a pointer. When they don't get it, they really don't get it.

As far as it goes, the court case is unlikely to produce much real change. Precedent is only interesting when it's enforceable. One blogger stealing a thousand words from another blogger won't even be discovered most of the time.

The only people who actually use lawyers and the court system are the people who are:

a. Rich enough to afford it;
b. Out of pocket enough to justify it; or
c. Living with an underemployed lawyer or two.

I particularly enjoyed the humor in publishing a link to nowhere.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 2, 2009 at 1:29pm

Whenever there is pressure to perform, some will always cheat. I don't buy the notion that professional athletes who juice are cheaters - they are performing and as such are responsible for their performance - yet I wonder about the professional juicers who are also parents - nice message.

It's up to the individual blogger to decide what sort of reputation they want. I tend to blog a bit and am influenced by many people and their thoughts but I certainly won't cite every person who helps guide me intellectually. If I take a thought from someone I certainly blend it with my own and the result is something...different.

But then again, if a blog isn't entertaining, stimulating, etc. - people won't read it and the court of public opinion will decide whether it lives or dies. Personally, I'd like to know who actually reads my stuff - I think it really is only 7-10 people - but that's only because I'm curious.

Rayanne said:

If you watched the Final Edition montage about The Rocky Mountain News..., bloggers got a mention and some blame, too.

Cheating will always be around - what is the answer to battle it?

Almost every paper I write at my university has to be turned in through turnitin.com which reviews the content and "judges" whether or not that content has been plagiarized. Maybe our blogs will have to go a similar route...

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Permalink Reply by John Sumser on March 2, 2009 at 3:07pm

I think the basic rule of thumb is that if you rewrite it, it's yours. If you copy it, it's not. That's for copyright.

Academic rules are somewhat harsher and less consistent.

Ultimately you have to figure out whether you are looking to spread ideas or your personal brand.

Oh, PS. Steve, you'd better give some credit to the guy whose picture you, um, borrowed.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 2, 2009 at 3:11pm

John, I can assure you and all in RBC land that the picture IS me and that it was taken with my camera. I can't take credit for the beautiful sky behind me - it came from a higher power...

John Sumser said:

I think the basic rule of thumb is that if you rewrite it, it's yours. If you copy it, it's not. That's for copyright.

Academic rules are somewhat harsher and less consistent.

Ultimately you have to figure out whether you are looking to spread ideas or your personal brand.

Oh, PS. Steve, you'd better give some credit to the guy whose picture you, um, borrowed.

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