I think my article on plagarism is scheduled to publish later this week. I stole… er, was inspired by Brent’s ideas on plagarism.

I have mixed emotions when someone uses my ideas and doesn’t ask or acknowledge me. One of those emotions is the flattery you express eloquently: “Cool! I came up with an idea worth stealing!” The other emotion is “What?! They can’t think up their own stuff?”

From conversations with many who have been the victims of plagarists, I know that they’re not telling you the “big ugly” stories. The stuff made public is the tip of the iceberg. The stuff bloggers complain about in public is tame compared to stuff kept private.

:{> Andy

Years ago, I wrote humor pieces for a local PC user group magazine, and I remember searching the web one day for my name and being stunned to find my articles in other user group magazines. It’s really cool to think that somebody took the time to copy your work. The novelty’s since worn off, but I still giggle whenever I find somebody plagiarizing my work.

It’s a lot like the feeling I get when I see that my dog’s gotten into my dirty clothes and spread them all over the bedroom. She does that every now and then when she’s pissed that we didn’t take her along with us somewhere. I get a chuckle out of it because it’s harmless in small doses – as long as she didn’t escalate to doing it every time we left the house, I’m okay with it. That’s kind of my feeling with the plagiarists, too – if they only took one article now and then, I’d just be flattered. When they start automating the process and sucking up all my posts like a Dyson, it’s less humorous, but I still giggle. “You little weasel…”

I’d like a lemon on the side please.

I do get it, though…