Over the past three days I've dug up some old work I've written for various classes, in forum debates, for Yahoo Answers and just for my own enjoyment. I've taken a few of these works and posted them on this blog and other places on the interwebz I frequent.
And it never fails, within no time I am accused or asked why I cut and pasted the work. Not just here but nearly every place I've posted material. I suppose in this information age it's just easier to take something written by someone else and use a couple of clicks of the mouse and BAM instant internet expert. I had a debate on a forum a while back and a moderator deleted my post and gave me a warning for plagiarism! Who did he say I plagiarized? MYSELF! I had posted similar information on another forum I frequent and he automatically assumed that I stole the info from there and reposted it there. Okay, no problem, I suppose I can understand that confusion (even though my usernames were the same as was my avatar but I still see how it wouldn't necessarily show them to be the same person). So, I messaged the moderator and told him what the deal was - it was my own original work, some of which I had previously posted elsewhere. His response..."don't cut and paste and claim it's your own work". After going back and forth with the same response from the moderator, I left that forum.
Jump over to Yahoo Answers...many of my responses are labeled as cut and pastes. Sometimes I explain that it is my own original work but the usual response to that was summed up best by one response I received in a private message, "Whatever dude, yer a liar".
Some of us have more intellectual integrity than that. Some of us do read the literature and do possess an understanding of what we wrote. The only cut and pasting I usually do is from the Word document I write my posts in and then paste it in the entry editor.
I suppose I'm just a bit frustrated and miffed of constantly being accused of using work written by someone else and saying it's mine. Some of us aren't that intellectually dishonest.
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Comments
It may not be entirely on topic, but this reminded me of a story I heard in college. Sometimes music students will "plagarize" by taking a piece of music by someone else and writing it backwards.
January 24, 2010 at 11:30 p.m.The story goes one student took a piece by his professor, gave it the backwards treatment and turned it in. He got an "F" and his professor asked him why he turned in Beethoven's 5th.
I understand your frustration. As a psychology researcher and professor, I can see both sides (as can you, I'm sure). I have had students plagiarize my work and then submit it in my own class as their own (it was almost as funny as it was infuriating). At the same time, it would also be bothersome to have people automatically assume plagiarism just because you broadcast your thoughts in more than one forum.
BTW, I enjoyed your blog on the problems currently in journals. These kind of problems are part of the reason there are such large divides between what happens in research university treatment centers and what happens in the rest of the world. Kudos!
January 24, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.Best blog ever in 2010.
January 23, 2010 at 8:09 p.m.While some of us are not that intellectually dishonest, it seems clear that many of them are intellectually challenged, to use a PC term for moronic.
January 23, 2010 at 11:28 a.m.