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Don’t stop plagiatism

22 January 2009 · 14 Comments

It’s better to have a well copied article than badly self-written one, no?

Categories: Ce qui pense la puce
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14 responses so far ↓

  • Maik // 22 January 2009 at 11:26 pm | Reply

    NO! Decidedly NO! Any act of creativity is better than mechanical duplication. Even writing a bad article involves some mental activity. Copy and pasting does not. So the bad author has a chance to grow (but probably none to entertain his or her readers), but the plagiarist has no chance whatsoever. I am all for distributing good writing widely. But that is what linking or referencing was invented for. There is no point in plagiarism. None at all. (My apologies for the stern tone, but I feel rather strongly about this.)

  • lapuce // 23 January 2009 at 8:28 pm | Reply

    I understand your academic point of view. But for someone who is in communications – a good copy-paste job is not only saving a lot of time, it is also creative.

  • Maik // 23 January 2009 at 9:30 pm | Reply

    I would deny that it is an academic point of view…it is a general outlook on life and what human beings (including writers of all kind) are about. I do, however, accept that a collage can be an art form and thus creative. But simply transferring one large chunk of text from one context to another – no. Yet as you say, it may save you a lot of time…and if you use that time creatively, I guess you can come up with a justification that way… :)

  • lapuce // 23 January 2009 at 10:29 pm | Reply

    I know what creativity is like. And honestly, you can’t be creative everyday. Especially not in writing. You need to make research, have an opinion, justify it and make the overall sound good. Pretty tough job.

    I like patch work.

  • Maik // 23 January 2009 at 10:41 pm | Reply

    I couldn’t agree more. And for that reason it is not reasonable to expect it from any person every day. Or to put it in a job description. Or not put it in but expect it anyway.

    Have you ever posted any of your patchwork where it is publicly accessible?

  • lapuce // 23 January 2009 at 11:14 pm | Reply

    :D You make me laugh. And indeed, I did. I drop you an email with the link.
    You will see, it’s patchwork with some original writings in it.

  • Maik // 23 January 2009 at 11:24 pm | Reply

    Well, that is something…so the week wasn’t wasted after all :D

    Looking forward to reading your stitching…

  • lapuce // 23 January 2009 at 11:28 pm | Reply

    It is on its way! Cheers!

  • robin // 26 May 2009 at 4:47 pm | Reply

    I’m thinking about copy-pasting your nice little conversation for my op-ed in a newspaper. Wouldn’t that be ok? (and it would definitely be easy for me…:)

  • lapuce // 26 May 2009 at 5:17 pm | Reply

    :) Sure, please go ahead and use it. You just have to say where it comes from!

  • robin // 27 May 2009 at 1:42 am | Reply

    Thanks a lot. I confirm hereby to have taken from this site: http://lapuce.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/dont-stop-plagiatism/... but tell me: Since I now am a part of this conversation, one could say that I am also a kind of ..’author’… and then it’s not copy-paste, or is it?

  • lapuce // 27 May 2009 at 12:07 pm | Reply

    Now you make me curious: What exactly is this for?
    And yes, by now, you are part of the creative process. Maybe we need to invent a new word for creative contributive copy and paste…

  • robin // 27 May 2009 at 1:44 pm | Reply

    You’re right. Maybe one can use ‘copyleft’. I myself prefer the expression ‘et gavstrik’ but this is so difficult to translate to english. But thanks for the conversation. You can find it at ing.dk/k#6nhh.

  • lapuce // 27 May 2009 at 4:29 pm | Reply

    I heard copyleft before but still think there must be something better. Maybe I’ll learn Danish one day and understand what “et gavstrik” means.
    Thanks to you too!!

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