My quarrel is with the cybergremlins, those faceless, insidious creatures who hover in cyberspace ready to pounce upon one’s innocent prose. In my case, it’s not even about the money, though my chances for future sales went straight to the desktop recycle bin as soon as they attacked. No one is profiting from this theft, but I’ve been robbed of due credit and my work of its integrity. I may joke about the cybergremlins, but they are real people with a dramatically over-exaggerated sense of entitlement when it comes to altering others’ work.
The fault lies with that first person who lifts the original article from the newspaper or magazine or journal, erases the writer’s name and begins the endless cycle of free-for-all editing and sending.
Perhaps I should be glad that my name is no longer associated with what was an essay published in a respected newspaper but is now an author-less, amorphous bit of urban folklore rocketing around cyberspace.
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Marion Abbott, The San Francisco Chronicle, 2000 This is perhaps one of the greatest catch-22s of the Internet age- information is at the same time both easier and more difficult to obtain. People misattribute things, make up quotes out of whole cloth and attribute them to other people, or just bother not giving proper credit at all. I’ve always tried to rectify this- at least on my part- and I will continue to do so. To the best of my ability, I will give proper credit where it is due whenever someone else’s material is used on Robot and Peanut. Including this post. |
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