Dear Howard Public Ed

To the readers and members of the Yahoo Listserv Howard Public Ed:

One of your members is copying and pasting material written by others onto the Listserv. My blog is one of them. While I appreciate the mission of your group to share information in order to add to a wider discussion of the issues, this particular method is unacceptable.

It is stealing.

My blog is being printed in its entirety without my name, and without a link to my blog page. And mine is not the only one. This shows disrespect to the writers. It is also illegal.

Every blogger wants to be read, and to contribute to conversations about the issues they care about. But the work they create is their work. Stripping away the identity of the writer is demeaning.

As an example of how independently written material should be referenced:

"From Village Green Town Squared - Mold An (sic)Truthiness" posted by pamythompson on Howard Public Ed

You'll see this includes title, author, source, and a working link to where the post in question can be read. Only in this case you'll find an example of one of your members misappropriating someone else's intellectual property.

I ask all readers and members of Howard Public Ed to take a public stand against this practice. Since you care about issues of education, transparency, and fairness, I hope you will also care about how local bloggers and journalists are treated by your group.

Sincerely,

Julia McCready

Village Green/Town²

*****

P.S. There are a number of excellent local blogs. I urge you to cast your vote in the Howard County Magazine's "Best of Howard" poll going on right now. If you don't see your favorite on the list, you are invited to write one in. (There are many different categories in the poll, but it isn't necessary to fill it in completely. You may pick and choose.)