So, it’s said that “Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery.” Likewise, “There is nothing new under the sun,” and it is certainly true that a great deal of creation and invention was derived through first copying the works of others.
At same time, there is a matter of decorum and manner in the use of others’ works. This is fundamentally the problem that is plagarism. Modern academics, and creators of any sort understand the absolute necessity of open exchange of communication and information (16th century alchemists, not so much). But in any such exchange honesty is equally necessary.
It’s in this context that i find it extremely distasteful and bewilderingly stupid to discover that people all over the web seem to think it’s okay to lift passages from wikipedia and drop them into their blog posts. At least with dead tree papers, you can imagine a world in which a TA/Professor is not simultaneously browsing your paper and wikipedia on the subject of your essay. There’s no such luxury with a blog. If i’ve hit your blog via Google, guess what probably came up for my query before your result? More hilarious yet are people who plagarize wikipedia, change a few connective words and phrasings, and imagine that they have disgused their plagarism.
