Thank the Gods for Blogging

Blogs are great for working stuff out on. I can type my heart out, knowing that someone, somewhere, at some time, will read it. It helps me to know I'm writing to an audience. It forces me to be clear.

Today, thanks to Chasmyn, I'm working out my thoughts on plagiarism. We don't think twice when we write, "I just read this great thing at NewsOnTheNet (insert linkage) and I'm reposting it here, and ranting about it" Copy and paste is pretty damned easy. I'm guilty of it myself. But I never take credit for it. I link to whatever I'm yacking about, and give credit to the authors. I never pretend someone else's work is my own. Why would I? I love finding good blogs and spreading the word about them. I love visiting a friend's blog and seeing they've added someone I discovered.

Now then. All original thoughts and ideas are copyrighted. Our laws say so. Even when an author (and all bloggers are authors) doesn't state that their work is copyrighted, it is copyrighted. When you copy someone's material, and pretend that it's your own, it is plagiarism. It is theft. And you are breaking the law.

Some dirtball in St. Louis plagiarized a well known blogger. Multiple times. The well known blogger has hired a lawyer. I applaud her. The second she puts up a paypal button, I'll be donating to her lawyer fees. (of course, this blogger has a lot of integrity, and may never ask for donations. If she does, I'll donate. In pressing a law suit, she's doing me and everyone else a favor.)

The dirtball recently removed the post that was the worst example of plagiarism, but guess what? Google makes copies. It's called a google cache. And until Google re-checks that tiny little blog, his theft will live on.