Blogging dilemmas

Dilemma #1

I sat down with a cup of coffee to clear out my e-mail this morning. I thought I'd give it about 15 minutes, then go and do something else. Well, I deleted one e-mail at a glance, and moved on to read the next one. There was a phrase in this one that I particularly liked, but it was only referred to as 'someone once said ...' So I Googled the phrase to try to find the original source and context. This story continues under Dilemma #2 below.

The point here is that a 15 minute e-mail clear out has resulted in one deleted e-mail, and more than 20 minutes so far pursuing a tangential thought, ultimately resulting in this blog. So how do you stop the Internet in all its guises from consuming too much time?

Dilemma #2

This is the real thrust of this blog entry. Having Googled the phrase, I came up with only 2 results. One was from the document that I had been reading. The other was from a blog, which I then had a look at. Worringly, the entry relating to the phrase that I was hunting was exactly the same as the e-mail that I had received. I mean, word for word copying - but without any acknowledgement of the source. The blog author has a different name from the e-mail author. They were both published on the same day - yesterday.

So what to do? First of all let me say that one of my pet hates is plagiarism. I'm all for using other people's material, and quoting it verbatim - but acknowledge the source, or at least indicate that it's not your original material. Aye, I know there will have been times when I've fallen short of this standard - but not the the extent of a whole blog entry!

In the preface to his book 10, J John writes:


"There are lots of quotes in this book and where I can I have tried to give due credit to their authors. The eighth commandment applies to words as well as things... For the unconscious use - or abuse - of any such material, I ask forgiveness."

Should I enter into an e-mail dialogue with either party or both, or should I let it go?

There is a discipline involved in getting this kind of thing right, but surely it's not too onerous. Of course, beyond the lazy/careless excuse there are other explanations, but I'll leave that to the consciences of the individuals concerned.

I once came across a situation where a whole series of presentations had been pinched from the Internet and only changed where there were specific cultural references that wouldn't have worked. I ignored this at the time, as it didn't seem to be worth picking a fight over. I now regret that decision.

Thoughts would be appreciated.