The Wild Wild West: Blogging Gone Bad - Page 3

Dare I say plagiarism? Yes, yes I do.

The links to both stories are provided so you can judge for yourself. As an example, though, I am printing the last paragraph of each article. Here's mine:

There is always the argument of the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law.

Which do you follow as an elected official?

In the case of elected officials, the answer is clear: Follow the spirit of the law until you get caught. Then follow the letter of the law.

-- Rick Vassar, July 3, 2007

And here's Mr. McClain's:

But there will always be the argument of the spirit of the law versus the actual letter of the law. Which do you follow as an elected official? In the case of elected officials, the answer is clear:
Whatever fits you best, until of course, you get caught.

-- Greg McClain, July 13, 2007

The point here is clear: while there are fewer constraints on bloggers than on print and electronic media, we will never become a legitimate source of news and information if there are bloggers who will lift copyrighted and published materials without giving credit to the author.

For the record, I did write to Mr. McClain to ask him to give a credit to me on this, but this request was ignored.

It has been said that character is doing the right thing when no one is looking. The rules don’t change because the media is new. If you steal something and hold it up as your own and don’t think anyone will notice, don’t act surprised when you get caught.

Especially on the Internet.

Page 1Page 2 — Page 3

Article tags

Spread the word
Bookmark and Share
Profile image for rick-vassar

Article Author: Rick Vassar

Rick Vassar CPCU, ARM, AIS, ARM-P is a career commercial risk manager and the author of Hide! Here Comes the Insurance Guy, where he uses humor to explain insurance strategies in language everyone can understand.

Visit Rick Vassar's author pageRick Vassar's Blog

Read comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own
  • No image found

Article comments

  • 1 - duane

    Oct 11, 2007 at 2:15 pm

    Wow. That's pley-juh-riz-uhm alright. I don't see how some people can sleep at night.

  • 2 - Brad Schader

    Oct 12, 2007 at 11:23 am

    This may be a blog, but there are copywrites (copyrights?) applied. Blogcritics goes it automatically as do most blogger sites. You may have a case with this.

  • 3 - Vikk Simmons

    Oct 20, 2007 at 11:49 am

    Plagerism has always been a problem but with today's global internet publishing it's rampant. It doesn't help that so many appear to be growing up with the attitude that everything is fair game rather than fair use. Good luck.

Add your comment, speak your mind

Personal attacks are NOT allowed.
Please read our comment policy.
Please preview your comment.

blogcritics lists for May 28, 2012

fresh articles Most recent articles site-wide

fresh comments Most recent comments site-wide

most comments Most comments in 24hrs

top writers Most prolific Blogcritics for April

top commenters Most prolific Commenters in 24 hrs