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Sunday, May 28, 2006

Give Me Credit, Stop Plagiarizing My Blog!

When you write as many articles on the Internet as I do, you are bound to attract the attention of like-minded people who share your common interests and goals. With less and less sources of information regarding livin' la vida low-carb and other related topics, there is an interest in reprinting my columns on other web sites.

Let me be very clear about this practice: I ENCOURAGE IT! Hey, that's why I spend so much time writing and spreading the word about how the low-carb lifestyle has changed my life forever. I WANT people to read what I'm blogging about and I absolutely have NO problem whatsoever when people wish to post my columns at their blog or web site.

The only thing I request is that I am credited as the author of that material and a link to my blog is attached to the reprint. That's it! Nothing else needed and you don't even have to send me an e-mail to ask permission. It's yours and post away!

But, unfortunately, there are those out there who like my writings so much that they have chosen to make them their own. I've run into this previously with this guy in September 2005. You might recall that he was a real winner. No wonder he wanted to steal my writings for himself! :D

Now it has happened again with this recent blog post I wrote and I actually found it on another web site that reprinted it from the one that swiped it from me!

I was surfing around the Internet and found an article posted on April 21, 2006 at the Defeat Diabetes Foundation web site that looked very familiar.

This was the paragraph that clued me in that this was something I had previously written:

One group had a 15:55:30 ratio (commonly known as the low-fat diet), another group had a 30:40:30 ratio (which closely resembles The Zone diet), and the final group had a 30:20:50 ratio (you know as livin' la vida low-carb).

Now, who else would refer to a 30:20:50 diet as "livin' la vida low-carb?" Anyone? That's right, NOBODY but Jimmy Moore because that's my catch phrase for the low-carb lifestyle. Sure, other people have used that phrase in the past, but I own the trademark to it and it is my phrase to use. Again, I don't mind if someone wants to use it in the context of my columns as long as they give me credit for being the author.

In fact, the only thing that was changed from the title that appeared on the Defeat Diabetes Foundation reprint of my column and my original March 27,2006 post is the word "Study:" that appeared before "Low-Carb Diet Controls Diabetes Without Weight Loss Or Insulin."

When I contacted the Defeat Diabetes Foundation about this and requested that they stop plagiarizing my blog and give me credit for my written work, I received a very quick reply from a representative from their organization who said she was "quite alarmed" by what I had brought to her attention regarding my work being taken without being given due credit. She blamed it on a new web site design upgrade where certain sources for documents were not transferred from the old site. But she assured me she would do the right thing and credit me and my blog as the source. THANK YOU!!!!

However, I was even more disturbed to find out that the "original source" for my article did not come from my blog at all! Instead, the representative from the Defeat Diabetes Foundation said they got it from an April 4, 2006 post that appeared on the Diabetes In Control web site. UGH! So I was basically plagiarized TWICE because I was not credited by the "original source" who took it from me in the first place.

The Defeat Diabetes Foundation representative said she gets the "majority of our articles" from the Diabetes in Control web site because she has "permission to use them." WHAT ABOUT DIABETES IN CONTROL ASKING MY PERMISSION TO USE MY WRITINGS?! Is there no decency and integrity regarding intellectual property these days? Bugga-boo!

Anytime you see me use information from another web site, I ALWAYS provide you a link to the original source so you can check it out for yourself. That's the very least I can do to give credit where credit is due regarding I obtain my information. That exact same courtesy can and should be applied to anyone who wants to use my blog as a source for information as well.

If I sound upset about this, that's because I am. Plagiarism is WRONG WRONG WRONG! There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it and I refuse to allow my work to be ripped from me just because somebody else likes what I have written. If you like it, then credit me for it! What harm is there in doing that?

Okay, enough about that. I appreciate that you come here to read my blog and actually WANT to read what I have to say. That's a privilege that I will never take for granted as long as I have this platform to do so.

Let me recap:

1. You have my permission to reprint anything I post at my blog.
2. You must give me credit as the author of what you post.
3. You should provide a link to the original post from my blog.

That's it! Any questions, please feel free to e-mail me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

3 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Those are your words and thoughts and no one should feel like they have the right to take them and post them as their own. I love your blog - I check it several times a day for updates. But it would never occur to me to take your words and say they are mine. Good for you. Keep up the good fight.

5/29/2006 12:43 AM  
Blogger Lowcarb_dave said...

That's pretty shocking Jimmy!

Buggers!

5/29/2006 4:21 AM  
Blogger Jimmy Moore said...

As do I, Mark, and she was kind enough to do the right thing. Now we will see if Diabetes in Control will ALSO do the right thing. THANKS for your support!

5/29/2006 9:16 AM  

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