Lest it be unclear, I am of the opinion that plagiarism is always wrong. It doesn't matter if someone is doing so for a paper, for a blog, or whatever - if you take someone else's words and/or ideas and copy them, then you better properly hattip or attribute what you have taken. I do not like unsubstantiated claims of plagiarism, or accusations when someone comes up with the same examples that are obvious, etc. As for anonymous blogging... well, it has its problems (and positives) as well. This is just one more reason - as others have noted - not to give too much credence to something you read on a blog, particularly an anonymous one, or to the people behind anonymous blogs.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're probably better off.
Have a wonderful Shabbos Chanuka, everybody!
Hmm... good point. I never thought about problems with anonymity in that sense before, but then again most anonymous or semi-anonymous blogs I've seen happen to be personal rather than informational type.
ReplyDeleteThat's it. I am going to reveal my identity...
ReplyDeleteThis feels like when the principal says "I'm very upset about what happened on the class trip. Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about . . good." As a quasi-anonymous blogger, rest assured that all of my accounts of the life and times of RaggedyMom are 100% verifiable. I know, I know, Ezzie, you weren't talking to me . . .
ReplyDeleteIrina - That's true. But on the rare occasion where they're not... beware! :)
ReplyDeleteJoe - Heh.
RM - :P I wouldn't even *think* to think of you... but great analogy!
Ooooh. I smell a rat. Sounds like some detective work is in order.
ReplyDelete(insert Pink Panther theme)
There's like, you know, a [del]bear[/del] elephant in the room that no one is talking about.
ReplyDeletePlagarism is just not ON.
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly many problems with anonymity, but it has its advantages to. For one thing, some people are more open when they know they are anonymous.
ReplyDeleteHere’s a quote from Sunday’s New York Times:
“Internet courage: boldness of character that comes from the anonymity and distance inherent in Internet communication.”
I suppose its meant more as a negative than a positive, but I think it can be both.
I think maybe we're all taking our blogs a bit too seriously, both as authors and readers.
ReplyDeleteWe have to remember that anybody can write anything on the internet. Just because it's there doesn't make it true.
What he did was wrong, he admitted it, finished.
He should know better, and we should know better.