Boing Boing: Outed Internet plagiarist is just a dumb kid, with a mom

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Outed Internet plagiarist is just a dumb kid, with a mom

The blogger who outed a plagiarist who offered him $75 to write a college paper has posted a followup -- she got back in touch with him and he's concluded that she's a dumb kid who did a dumb thing, but not evil, per se.

And nothing would have stopped me from turning her in right then, except one thing...her mom turned out to be a nice lady.
I basically had the same conversation with her that I had with Laura. She also swore to Laura's diligence as a student, and knew that I was not lying about the plagiarism. She asked whether this was for money or personal reasons, and I told her what I told you blog people, which is that I was legitimately offended on behalf of all the people I know who take their education seriously. Whatever I said, I'm embarrassed to say that I probably used the phrase "scourge of academia." She expressed her dismay over the thousands of dollars this was costing her every semester for her daughter, and I agreed that that was a shame.
Argh, wrongdoers have mothers, apparently.

Link (via Waxy)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:45:04 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

suggest a link \| defeat censorware \| rss \| archives \| t-shirts \| digital emporium \| podcast feed \| mark \| cory \| david \| xeni \| john
Support Bloggers' Rights! HOWTO: Get a link posted to Boing Boing Boing Boing Mobile powered by Winksite Fark rules! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States [and other countries]. Stats (About our stats) defeat censorware Policies Our first five years' worth of posts in one file	Thursday, March 31, 2005 Outed Internet plagiarist is just a dumb kid, with a mom The blogger who outed a plagiarist who offered him $75 to write a college paper has posted a followup -- she got back in touch with him and he's concluded that she's a dumb kid who did a dumb thing, but not evil, per se. And nothing would have stopped me from turning her in right then, except one thing...her mom turned out to be a nice lady. I basically had the same conversation with her that I had with Laura. She also swore to Laura's diligence as a student, and knew that I was not lying about the plagiarism. She asked whether this was for money or personal reasons, and I told her what I told you blog people, which is that I was legitimately offended on behalf of all the people I know who take their education seriously. Whatever I said, I'm embarrassed to say that I probably used the phrase "scourge of academia." She expressed her dismay over the thousands of dollars this was costing her every semester for her daughter, and I agreed that that was a shame. Argh, wrongdoers have mothers, apparently. Link (via Waxy) posted by Cory Doctorow at 07:45:04 AM permalink \| Other blogs' comments Email this entry to: Your email address: Message (optional):	Boing Boing Sponsored by: Your Text Ad Here Get BB by email: