For the second time in four months, I’ve managed to win the Comment O’ The Week contest at the excellent Skepchick blog. Just like last time, I’d like to remind you that the selection of my comment in no way reflects the usual standard of excellent posting and discussion. Please give Skepchick some clicky love on my behalf.
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Site Maintenance
September 20th, 2008 by Oskar Kennedy
I’m going to do some tinkering in the guts of the site this morning. Upgrading WordPress, tweaking some widgets, managing my links list, etc. Since I have to do it all by hand, and I’m not going to do it in the middle of the blankety-blank night, expect the site to be down sporadically and some features to be intermittently unavailable.
For the next few hours, Suburban Panic! is a 1950s dad. He might be around, but there’s a good chance he’s locked in his study with a bottle of scotch, and might not be communicating well. I’ll let you know when he’s ready to play catch again.
Update Completed
September 20th, 2008 by Oskar Kennedy
WordPress has been updated to include recent security fixes. In addition, I’ve installed a plugin that adds functionality to comments. “Reply” and “Quote” links will appear at the bottom of each comment. You can use them if… well, if you want to reply to or quote from a previous comment. Using them will include a link to the original comment in your response. You can see an example of both in the comments on this post.
You’re smart enough to figure this all out on your own. I’m just holding your hand because I think you’re cute.
Plagiarism Makes My Weekend
September 20th, 2008 by Oskar Kennedy
Good news! Some comments in an open thread on P.Z. Myers’ Pharyngula blog said that my second list of alternatives to “Talk Like A Pirate Day” was funny. The bad news is, they got to read it because someone writing under the name “JoJo” copied the list into a comment without attributing or linking to my original post.
I really hope that JoJo just forgot to include a link to the original. It would be nice to think it was negligence, rather than deliberate theft. If that turns out to be the case, consider this a preemptive apology for my strong language. But the subsequent discussion, without mention of my authorship, leads me to believe that this was intentional plagiarism.
I publish the content on the blog under a Creative Commons license. Readers are free to remix, republish and redestribute it, provided they attribute it to the author or the site. But more than that, it’s just common fucking courtesy not to copy something and claim it as your own.
There are a lot of us out here writing about various aspects of skepticism. There have been plenty of times that I’ve read something from P.Z., or Phil Plait, or one of the various wünder-femmes at Skepchick, and wished like hell that I could have expressed the thought in a way that was half as cool/hysterical/brilliant. I’ll even quote from them when I think they’ve been particularly insightful. But when I share their words with others, I’m always careful to make sure I attribute them to their author. I respect the people who make me laugh, who make me think, who help me understand things that I haven’t yet grasped. I would never presume to take credit for their hard work. (Especially on the “helping me understand” bit. I’m a little dense.)
The old saying is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I’m flattered that JoJo thought my list was funny enough to want to quote it. I’m flattered by the positive comments that the list generated, and I had some hearty laughs at some of the suggested additions. But those people had the creativity to actually think of something on their own. JoJo did nothing creative. Slapping a one-sentence introduction on another author’s text doesn’t make it original. If you think it does, you’re as stupid as you are dishonest.
