I actually slogged my way through the entire thing. And rather than rip apart some of the very weak (or just plain wrong) arguments presented in it, I'll try and focus on the topic we tend to care more about: Plagiarism and Fanfic.
There is a difference between taking someone's work wholesale and presenting it as your own, and building on ideas presented in another's work.
To ping off of CD's point, the practice of sampling is not plagiarism. The music industry seems to have accepted this point, as long as you acknowledge that parts of the song you built are not your own, no one gets too mad.
I believe (if the disclaimers are anything to go by) that most fanfic writers are well aware they are building on the work of others, and they aren't trying to pass of the work as their own.
No one that I know of is trying to pass of the works of JK Rowling as their own. We all know that we are building our works on the foundations of others.
And in general I've seen people respect the wishes of authors who don't want fanfic based off their works.
Fanfic is where a lot of writers have learned their craft (or at least learned to better their craft). And I think that very few would outright attack some of their most enthusiastic fans.
So I'm of the firm opinion that as long as we don't make asses of ourselves (by claiming we came up the ideas in the source material ourselves) we are fine.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
There is a difference between taking someone's work wholesale and presenting it as your own, and building on ideas presented in another's work.
To ping off of CD's point, the practice of sampling is not plagiarism. The music industry seems to have accepted this point, as long as you acknowledge that parts of the song you built are not your own, no one gets too mad.
I believe (if the disclaimers are anything to go by) that most fanfic writers are well aware they are building on the work of others, and they aren't trying to pass of the work as their own.
No one that I know of is trying to pass of the works of JK Rowling as their own. We all know that we are building our works on the foundations of others.
And in general I've seen people respect the wishes of authors who don't want fanfic based off their works.
Fanfic is where a lot of writers have learned their craft (or at least learned to better their craft). And I think that very few would outright attack some of their most enthusiastic fans.
So I'm of the firm opinion that as long as we don't make asses of ourselves (by claiming we came up the ideas in the source material ourselves) we are fine.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy