Plagiarism is a serious issue. When you copy someone else's words/ideas and claim such to be YOUR original work, you better be sure you can get away with it.
Last Friday, a very close teacher-friend who was a coach in an Oratorical Speaking Contest discovered that the competitor's speech was lifted verbatim from the speech I made for her (my friend's contestant) and which I posted on my blog. This morning, I had the opportunity to sit and talk with the coaches from that competing school and learned that their student's speech was indeed lifted from my blog. They admitted not having exercised due diligence to double check where the student took the piece begore letting the latter memorize and deliver it in the competition. All is well that ends well and our issues have been resolved.
But that would have been the subject of my first case on copyright infringement. However, as a teacher myself, i have a soft spot for teachers too. I just had to emphasize how important it is to value other people's work. Even those of strangers we find online.
The point is, none of us should underestimate the text we find on the web. When you post status messages for example which you lifted somewhere else, thinking it isn't necessary to attribute such line/s to its original author, you are in fact, stealing. Words, with all their syntax and idiosyncracies, deserve respect. Especially if they did not originate from you. If we must coexist in peace, we must learn to recognize that words (and ideas) have source. And their source must be acknowledged, respected.
Thank you friends (you know who you are), for valuing my work and what I do. I am super glad to have such conscientious (and alert!) friends like you! Hahah!
'Til then! See you again!
