I always wonder where they go. Do they start over like a Phoenix? Do they learn from their mistakes and rise again? Do they ever apologize or do they feel victimized, like somehow they were entitled to steal the information they so blatantly claimed as their own?
In some ways, I am sorry that their careers were dinged or damaged. Most likely it's due to stupidity but in some cases it's carelessness, maybe looking for a short cut, the easy way out. Still, it generally sums up to mean stupidity and falls into that category.
Every time I find that someone has copied and pasted my content into their blog or Web site, I feel for them. It hurts me to think that these people can't create anything original to write on their own or, worse, that nobody will find out that they are claiming somebody else's material as their own. How hard is it to put two fingers to a keyboard? Ask my husband. He's a journalist and he types with two fingers, always has.
I wrote to this agent who used to write for FOX News in Kansas City and asked him why he was stealing my material. He ignored my e-mails. At least when I asked a freelance writer for MSN why she did it, she had a handy excuse: "It was a draft and never meant to see the light of day." I don't know about you, but when I do research, I take notes, I don't copy and paste.
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