Disclaimer: January 2006

I find it ironic that I have to start the new year off with a warning like this. I feel that it's probably necessary, though, seeing that a spate of minor plagiarism-related offenses occurred around the Internet for the last quarter of the previous year. As a concession to the fact that 2006 has only just begun, however, I'll leave out the threats this time.

Plagiarism's a huge issue for writers, artists, sculptors, conceptualists, animators and other people who work within the bounds of creativity. Everyone knows that it's not an easy task to be creative, and these people know it much more intimately than the rest of the population. These people take great pains to ensure their continued creativity and organization even with a number of set limitations hanging over their heads. Sometimes it's their job. Sometimes it's their dream. But for the vast majority of them, their ideas are their life.

Every creative person therefore lives in constant fear that their works might be appropriated by a public with no appreciation of the effort that has gone into them. Or even worse, that an unfamiliar name may one day be planted on their many hours of hard labor simply because somebody was too lazy or too stupid to come up with his own work. Every such work is an extension of its maker; Sever any such extension and you will hear the screams of pain.

No matter how easy or convenient plagiarism is, it tends to compromise the position of the affected author. When the acknowledgement for a given work is shifted towards an undeserving person who is unlikely to produce future pieces of the same or better quality, then the public suffers in the long run. The author begins to question the worth of her effort, and the plagiarist begins realizing the ease at which he can continue his theft. We grow up learning that rewards should be given only to those deserving of them, to those who are willing to put in the time and patience to produce quality works. Plagiarism perverts such a lesson, and damages our capacity to recognize the creators for what they have given to us.

Virtually everything written in this blog is an original work as produced from the mind of Sean, with the exception of a few items referenced from external sources. These sources are invariably noted, usually in tandem with the references themselves; Should you find that this blog does not recognize one of these sources in any way, just leave a comment and I'll correct the entry as soon as possible.

Should you wish to use, link or reference anything in this blog for your own use, please leave a comment and I will gladly assist you as much as I can. In the event that you do not contact me in this manner, you are obligated to reference this weblog as one of your sources. Otherwise, I will be compelled to contact you regarding my interests of copyright. (There's more to this, but I promised that I'd leave out the threats this month.)

Finally, all of the entries in this blog are purely the opinion of Sean, and are not connected with any external entities unless otherwise noted. I will be happy to discuss matters of a legal, moral or rhetorical nature concerning the articles in this blog with you, as long as we do it in a mature and cordial manner.

I'm fully aware that very, very few people have bothered to use any aspect of this blog's entries as of this point in time. Whether or not it means that my writing isn't fit to be used is not my concern; At the moment, I only wish to institute some form of protection for my writings. No one quotes me at the moment, but I'd rather be prepared in case someone does.

Besides, how do we not know that maybe the disclaimers are simply working the way they're supposed to be working, hmmm? :)