Are privelged Kossacks poaching posts from lesser diarists?
As of this posting, today September 1, 2008 at 11:35 am, there are two front page posts that are uncomfortably similar to diaries I wrote, many hours, and then even days earlier.
Those current Front Page pieces and my diary posts are:
Praying for Rain? Be Careful What You Wish For.... by Scout Finch Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 10:13:13 AM PDT
Which seems to poach my diary, posted 18+ hours earlier:
Gustav is coming, thanks to: Dobson's Focus on the Family? (w/Stuart Shepard video) by masguy Sat Aug 30, 2008 at 03:43:45 PM PDT
and
You know, there was a time when he didn't stare at an ass for five and a half years...
by Kagro X Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 07:30:21 PM PDT
Which seems to poach my diary posted more than two days before:
McCain Ogle's Palin's Butt or, My VP has Back! UPDATE by masguy, Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 02:19:41 PM PDT
Clearly, none of these pieces are earth-shaking exposes (see my diary, "McCain "Mistake" may show a much bigger lie", if you want to see more serious stuff). However, I did spend time and thought putting them together, and rather than having that work promoted or cited to by people who (at least on paper) seem to have a responsibility for doing so, they were instead passed off as the original ideas and perspectives of those self-same people. Indeed, The kos FAQ section states:
kos and the other front-pagers often promote interesting diaries from the Recent list to the front page. These promotions are at the discretion of the front-pagers, unlike the voting process which governs promotion to the Recommended list.
This implies that one of the things that a front-pager is expected to do is to look at diaries for items that might otherwise be missed. But what if a front-pager takes a less hospitable attitude and looks upon average diarists as a source for ideas, rather than encouragment. This begs the question; does anyone else think their ideas, perspectives have been Poached (that means used or copied without attribution) by a bigger "player"? (See Poll)
If my diaries weren't poached, then they were, at the very least, subjected to the kind of "me too!" post that Granny Doc railed against in her Sunday diary "Just Stop It!! Meta Grouse". The very significant difference being that, neither Front-Pagers; Scout Finch or Kagro X are "some of our newest community members" who Granny Doc claims are degrading the kos experiment. They are instead people who have been given a privileged place, which they presumably earned through their own hard, original, work and when they post a poaching piece, they do so from kos' podium.
Like most folks, my words, my thoughts, my ideas are precious to me. As someone who sold his first free-lance piece at the age of 19, I have a strong sense of the importance of being the first to express an original idea, or to add to a previously expressed idea, as I would do many years later when I edited and published a magazine. Now, the main thing I do in my life is fight an incurable cancer, and write (I am 100% disabled because I am constantly in treatment to delay the inexorable progress of my disease). Perhaps that makes me more protective of what I write than the average diarist, but anyone who knows me will tell you, that if asked, I will give you almost anything - - just don’t try to take something from me.
UPDATE
I did not mean to mention my cancer to engender sympathy. I've been on other blogs, I know the score, and if you think this is tough, try refeering a flame-war between cancer patients. Also, sometimes I think electronic communication was misnamed, all too often it should be called "Id-mail" For those who might be intersted though, I have carcinoid cancer (and we are known for being particularly uppity cancer patients) which you can learn about by going to carcinoid.org. Make a donation, it's a rare, "orphan disease" that the government does almost nothing about.
I guess my main point should have been, that I would never even have had a suspicion that I was being ripped off, if the two front pagers had followed the rules, done a search, and least acknowledged that others had already posted on the same topic, almost 19 hours in one case and more than two days before in the other.
Everyone should think about the fact that 30% of the people responding to the Poll feel like they've been poached.
As we get closer to the election, we're all going to get a litle more tense. That's when it's best to practice our best manners in regards to each other. For those of you who have never been, one of the politest places you can go to is a gun show. You will never hear "excuse me" or "after you" spoken so often in a crowded room. Can't we be at least as well-mannered as the "gun nuts" we so often deride for being boors?