Comments on: Diane Levin’s Mediation Channel Reminds Us to Blog Responsibly

By: Philip J. Loree Jr.

Philip J. Loree Jr. — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:03:10 +0000

Eddie,

Thanks for your thoughtful and insightful comments, and congratulations on your new blog, “Risk + 2.0:”

http://risk20.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/welcome-to-risk-2-0/.

The reinsurance industry really needs someone to step up to the plate and grapple with — and spread the word about — important Web 2.0 issues. You may be to the reinsurance blogging community what Diane Levin is to the ADR blogging community.

I agree with all of your points, including the one that what is and is not plagiarism is not always clear, and that, accordingly, we may see from time-to-time examples of unintentional plagiarism. That said, I think it is the responsibility of all bloggers to make an effort to familiarize themselves with the basic rules and conventions of scholarly writing and journalism. Good faith mistakes are excusable (indeed, inevitable), but that is as far as it goes.

Phil

By: Eddie Smith

Eddie Smith — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:13:43 +0000

Great posts on an important subject, Phil and Diane. I also think plagiarism sometimes occurs out of ignorance and not malice. Since blogging is relatively low-skill, it invites people who may not understand basic journalism and writing practices, even though they may be highly knowledgeable in their field.

But certainly, one needs to understand a basic set of rules before blogging. The more light that gets put on this, the better. We may never be able to stop the “screen scrapers” that crawl the web, but hopefully “human” bloggers will understand to respect each other by not plagiarizing.

With blogging, social media, and life in general, you’re always better off giving credit to others. It allows you to form a stronger “social capital base,” which, I believe, is vital to the future success of anyone conducting their affairs online. Also, I don’t think some people quite grasp the concept (yet) that the more you connect, the greater your voice becomes. Credibility is difficult to fake online.

By: Diane Levin

Diane Levin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:39:38 +0000

Phil, this is most kind of you! Thank you so very much for linking back to this post.

Sadly, what prompted me to write this post was the discovery that an ADR practitioner plagiarized my work. However, rather than dwell on the action of one, I wanted to use the post to honor the many wonderful, talented, and conscientious ADR bloggers I am privileged to know, including you.

Best wishes – with much appreciation for our friendship -

Diane