Bubble bubble toil and trouble, methinks you are making much ado about nothing. Please try to put a lid on your ego. I am, and many others are more interested in the veracity of what is said than in who said it. Aside from the room full of monkeys with typewriters, I wonder if a person is capable of having all original thoughts that no one else ever had in a previous time?

In the purest definition sense, not passing off ones thoughts or writings as your own would mean you couldn't even adopt them as your own thoughts or words to express how you feel without plagiarism.. You should be honored to think that someone would think so much of your way with words that they copied you. If you have the earlier post date, you said it before they did. So what? After all copying is the basis for an apprenticeship (probably the best form of education) and as a very smart man once said, "there is nothing new under the sun".

But then alas, in this present age we are products of the armful of MINE clutched to our chests and the sue you mentality.

Che 409

(please feel free to use any "original" stuff written herein as your own if there is any and if you feel like doing so!)

I'll drink to that.

So Che 409, you are in college and you miss out on everything that is going on around you because you take time to research and write a fabulous term paper. The next year or two someone comes across your paper and copies it word for word, hands it in and goes partying, that's alright with you?

He then presents this paper in the real world when he goes out to secure a job as his work. He has absolutely no knowledge of the contents because didn't research the topic. He is starting out living a lie.

It is never that simple. The academic system is corrupt, and playing by the rules does not equal competance. Plagiarism is a boogeyman holding up fascist liscensing and copyright laws that ensure that ivory towers and corporations control knowledge and the wealth it creates. Let's investigate the colleges for price-fixing and for creating a monopoly based around the myth of academic qualifications - don't crucify less than brilliant students who are just trying to get by under the intense pressure of college and career finding.

lilithme,

I already got my A in college, I am o.k. with anyone using my words to express their thoughts. I do believe it is a stretch to assume that a person "has absolutely no knowledge of the contents because he didn't research the topic". If I did a good job of researching it and he follows my line of reasoning then I feel it is more logical to assume that he does have knowledge of the topic because of my research. How can you say with absolute certainty that "he is starting out living a lie"? If my words express his innermost thoughts then he is not living a lie. He is in harmony with another human being just as pi6 appears to be a kindred spirit with my thoughts. You are certainly entitled to your own thoughts in regard to this topic, but I feel you have been influenced by the journalistic system and are unknowingly plagiarizing their thoughts and feelings.

I do not subscribe to either extreme in this debate. I do not feel it is right to tear out the Title page of a book and put your own in it but there are laws in place to cover that. I also do not believe that people who use quotes or excerpts from articles shared with others to promote learning should be in jeopardy of being sued!