Yes, but, if said archaeologist (we'll call him Daniel Jackson for convenience!) found the Gospel, wrote and posted the fanfic that relied on it heavily, and buried it on a planet about to be engulfed in supernova, then no one would know -- could even begin to guess -- that it had been plagiarized. (Textual critics *might* get suspicious if it were different from his usual writing style, or seemed like two pieces woven together, or whatever, but even they wouldn't know for sure.
So, I guess my point is, from a theoretical perspective it's easy to say "that's a case of plagiarism," but in actuality it would be impossible for anyone to judge because it would be so well-hidden.
Huh. I don't know. I think I'm kind of stuck here because of all the unconscious borrowing I (and I assume most people) do. I don't cite Joss Whedon every time I speak, though by rights I properly should; Gvambat, you, and Elizabeth have influenced my fannish sensibility so much that you should probably get nodded to in beta notes on every fic.
... yeah. I think it's the way that I keep a writer's notebook and collect interesting bits of conversation, song lyrics and poetry and my boss's complete inability to spell -- we're always borrowing, always depending on other texts for our texts' meanings, and while direct and lengthy quotations should be cited, I don't think it's actually possible or desirable to cite everything.
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Date: 2007-12-19 05:28 pm (UTC)Yes, but, if said archaeologist (we'll call him Daniel Jackson for convenience!) found the Gospel, wrote and posted the fanfic that relied on it heavily, and buried it on a planet about to be engulfed in supernova, then no one would know -- could even begin to guess -- that it had been plagiarized. (Textual critics *might* get suspicious if it were different from his usual writing style, or seemed like two pieces woven together, or whatever, but even they wouldn't know for sure.
So, I guess my point is, from a theoretical perspective it's easy to say "that's a case of plagiarism," but in actuality it would be impossible for anyone to judge because it would be so well-hidden.
Huh. I don't know. I think I'm kind of stuck here because of all the unconscious borrowing I (and I assume most people) do. I don't cite Joss Whedon every time I speak, though by rights I properly should; Gvambat, you, and Elizabeth have influenced my fannish sensibility so much that you should probably get nodded to in beta notes on every fic.
... yeah. I think it's the way that I keep a writer's notebook and collect interesting bits of conversation, song lyrics and poetry and my boss's complete inability to spell -- we're always borrowing, always depending on other texts for our texts' meanings, and while direct and lengthy quotations should be cited, I don't think it's actually possible or desirable to cite everything.