Plagiarize This!
May 18, 2009
– Comments (11) |
RELATED TICKERS: CH
, EAT
I like CAPS.
I like the players, the opinions, the debates, the personalities, and the fights that go on. Maybe, in another time, I would have been one of those cheering Romans in the Coliseum, rooting for the lions, the tigers, the bears, or the galdiators...who knows.
What really piques my interest is when, either in the original post or in the commentary, I come across an idea that makes me think, "Hey, I never thought of it that way..." It's what keeps the ol' inflation vs. deflation debate fresh, keeps the gold bugs on their toes, and, as always, keeps the perma-bears and the perma-bulls busily tapping at their keyboards and chugging that coffee...or adult beverage of choice.
Amongst ourselves (us Fools of different caps on CAPS), there are some bloggers who either have the biggest following or the largest angry mob after them...or both...usually for the same reason: They try to put together something new and coherent out of the torrent of green shoots, brown roots, and fertilizer that comes down the pipe. And it doesn't matter if you agree or disagree---without any effort, you can think of 2-5 off the top of your head as you read this.
So, it was with great interest that I read these articles about a New York Times columnist who apparently lifted, wholesale, a paragraph from a blog and incorporated it into her own article. (For those with a political bent, there's a whole 'nother tale behind the who's and the what's on this one. For those who don't, just suffice it to say that the players are all rather polarizing figures.)
Why bring this up here? Because, as I said, there's a lot of original work produced here on CAPS. It may be flawed thinking to some, but you can't argue that the Defenders of the [Bull/Bear] Faith put a lot of sweat equity into their arguments.
The Question
My question to all you bloggers, readers, and commenters out there: Have you seen any examples of the information on CAPS spreading out into the wider world?
This isn't about calling someone on plagiarism; it's about seeing if there are patterns out there, where something said or reported or predicted on CAPS gets into that vast swamp we call the Public Consciousness.
Remember, this isn't to toot anyone's horn, or tweak anyone's nose, either. I've written about a few things over time that either became a bigger news item later or suddenly was the focus of a couple of cable news cycles. For me, I just took it as a small confirmation that I could occasionally predict which way the monkey would jump.
And if someone did lift one of my ideas, I'm more than happy to supply it. I don't get paid to blog (*hint-hint*), so I must be doing it for some reason other than to hear my own voice. So the whole "who wrote what when" controversy is a little academic to me...but then, academics seem to get really bent out of shape over these things...
So, have at it, CAPsters--ever find something you wrote or read or heard eerily familiar? Would it even bother you if it did happen?
RSS Headlines
Fool UK