A Humble Request

It is an honor to have you visit this blog. Whether you comment or not, it inspires me when I see that you found it worthwhile to spend your valuable time reading what I write. Recently however a few of my writings have showed up on yahoogroups - that I am a part of :) - or other blogs without any link back to the original blog post and worse - the blog owner flat out denies having used the material on this blog. This is a little disappointing ! Whenever I use any material from another blog, I always add a link to the original writings. This is how I give respect to the person who thought up the stuff in the first place.

I know this does not apply to most of you, so please don't mistake me.

Sometimes however these acts of "plagiarism" happen inadvertently. I have too in the past - without malice - committed such mistakes. Here are a few guidelines that helped me.

1. If you like a post and feel like forwarding it to someone, please copy and paste the URL link to the entire post to that person. Don't just copy the text and send it off by email. If you do this, the material begins to take on a life of its own. People make contextual modifications and keep forwarding it and the original author is nowhere in the picture.

2. Another reason to copy the URL from the browser bar and email that link is that it is simpler and also saves precious bandwidth since the text is only read when the recipient clicks on the URL.

3. Use the "Email Post" Link at the bottom of the post and it gives you a nice form that contains your name etc. that identifies you to the recipient - while still preserving the integrity of the original post.

4. If you want to include the contents of the original post in your own blog post there are 2 ways : a) As above, please only include a link. b) Copy and paste the text into your blog BUT ALSO please add a link to the original to give credits to the original author.

By following the above simple guidelines you are giving credit and honoring and encouraging the original author to write more.

Your views as always are welcome . I hope I have not hurt anyone's feelings. It feels almost stupid, but I've added a non-commercial license (Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5) to the blog to prevent plagiarism of the writings here.


Jai Guru Dev,