good...I did put some time and effort into each one to try and make sure I'm
explaining things as clearly as possible...presenting examples that help to
clarify concepts...and make sure the overall presentation is somewhat
entertaining and not too terribly dry.
That being said...yes, I do it to help 'give back' a little to the
community. Especially beginners (I don't think I'm at a point yet where I
can write a decent enough tutorial on advanced topics). So no, I don't mind
terribly if somebody reprints something I wrote...but I would like to get
credit for it.
There was one time I followed a link to a CF site, and the person had an
article about best practices. I always find it interesting to read these,
as best practices are so subjective. One of my tutorials is also about a
few best practices. So I'm reading this thinking, "I agree with this
point...I agree with this point...I agree with this point..." It was about
a little more than 1/2 thru that I realized I agreed with this person so
much because I was reading my own article. At first, I was flattered...then
I was a bit upset thinking that my work was being 'stolen'. Turns out I was
credited up at the top...I had merely missed it. But it did give me an
opportunity to know what it would feel like to have my work presented by
somebody else as their own.
Nothing changes the fact tho that we all do want to help the community in
general. Concerns about having our work 'plagiarized' isn't about anything
other than wanting to receive credit for an effort we've put forth. If
somebody found my tutorials/articles compelling enough to reprint...that's a
huge compliment. All I ask is that my name go with it.
As far as the incident that started this thread...the person who presented
the tutorials in question as his own is a name that I've heard of within the
community. I do not know him personally nor have I ever had any
interactions with him...but I was aware of him as a fairly high level CF'er
who is active within the community. I'm absolutely willing to give him the
benefit of the doubt when he says that he 'collects' articles and reprints
them on his own site (with proper credit given), and in this case, somewhere
in the shuffle (conversion to HTML, formatting of article, etc), the
accredidation (sp?) was accidentally removed. Stranger things have
happened. I really do find it easier to believe that a line of code got
erased than to believe that an active community member would intentionally
plagiarize somebody else's work.
</ $0.02>
Charlie
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Munyan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 9:08 AM
Subject: RE: OT Plagiarism accusation stops posting
> I should start by saying I have never written a tutorial so I don't know
what it feels like to have my IP stolen personally. I am far from an expert
with CF, maybe proficient. I have bennefited from tutorials across the web
to help me with my website, the purpose of which to simple provide Hiking
information to people around Washington State. I don't do this to make
money, just a philantropic undertaking ( I like the feeling of knowing
people are getting value out of something I created).
>
> Seems to me the purpose of my website and tutorials are generally the
same, to provide information to the masses to make the overall picture we
all live in better. If I had the skill to create a valuable tutorial I
think the bennefit to the community outweighs the possibility/likelyhood
that it will be ripped off. Isn't the point of the whole undertaking to put
these great ideas into the hands of those who can use them to in turn make
something valuable to the greater community? Either way it is being
accomplished. I can only imagine it is painful to have others claim your
work as their own, but I think the overall good of putting information on
the web to be used by others outweighs that pain.
>
> Just my 2cents.
>
> John
[Todays Threads] [This Message] [Subscription] [Fast Unsubscribe] [User Settings] [Donations and Support]
