March 05, 2007

Remove Plagiarism -- March 5th



Artists are always being maligned, copied and heartlessly made fun of, their artistic skills taken for granted and not duly appreciated till the world decides to take notice. Now we may not be world class artists but I believe anyone who writes on their own, pulling a thread of imagination from their endless experiences, looks at things differently and presents a new view to the world is an artist. Food Bloggers may be ridiculed but till you can do the same, don't take them for granted.

To present food as a piece of art, to painfully test and write down long lost recipes till now only handed down from mother to daughter and allow future generations to have a chronicle, a handbook is an act of selflessness. We don't have to do what we do,we do not make any money out of this and other than a creative staisfaction, we get nothing.

To put up a website for commercial success, to blatantly copy from a blogger's site or to post material provided by vendors, without verifying their sources and then to hide behind a veil of corporate jargon is an act of selfishness. This is what Yahoo! India has done and you can read about it more here.

It is not the first time, as it has happened before to other bloggers as described here and here. I won't be surprised if my recipes also get copied in the future.

But to see Yahoo! do it is akin to supporting plagiarism and not promoting creativism. With all respect, it is undermining the good faith Yahoo! has developed over the years and it hurts. The next time we accuse a plagiariser, they are sure to retailate using "If Yahoo can do it, so can I". Lead by example and we would look up to you.

In the long held tradition of a co-ordinated March, I too have decided to join the protest coordinated by Inji Pennu or Ginger and Mango and a few others. An apology is the least we expect to redeem our faith in the leaders of the internet movement.

4 comments:

Maneka Nirmal said...

shaheen....
welldone girl..i am back and lets fight together..

Anonymous said...

Coming here after seeing RP's post Shaheen. I can empathize with all those people who got hurted. I had created this forum post 2 years ago when one of my family heirloom recipes at My Dhaba was copied ruthlessly that too A-Z and posted elsewhere. Here is the link to that post - http://www.anothersubcontinent.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3987&hl=plagiarize+everything

Plagiarism is quite ramphant everywhere which is metasizing like a cancer. I wish there is a permanent treatment to this cancer.

I also wish Yahoo apologizes for this.

vkn
Feed a Hungry Child
My Dhaba

Anonymous said...

assalamualikum shaeen,

i liked the previous face of your blog..-)
that was grander.
i hope ull bring it back..-)
umm s.

Inji Pennu said...

Thanks Shaheen,it is cos of you and revathi I put a fixe date.Thanks dear for your support :)