Fool Me Once, Shame on You. Fool Me Twice . . .
September 26th, 2007 | by Craig |. . . well, shame on me.
For those of you who mostly travel outside the Montana Blogosphere, this will be pretty meta, so you may want to hit that back button.
At any rate, I’ve always been the kind of guy to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and in the case of transgressions, a second chance. The second chance depends, of course, upon the person’s owning the mistake and taking steps to make things right.
Recently, a new blog was brought to my attention called MTPundit. Having been fairly busy, I didn’t much keep up on it until a charge of plagiarism was leveled against the author. After being called on it, the poster fixed the error with the blessing of the original author, and later apologized for the incident. In my mind, the mistake had been acknowledged and rectified. Barring further infraction, I was satisfied.
Then, posts started showing up by another blogger by the name of Morgan Brooke Wilkins, and the charges of plagiarism started again, before the last bit of the HTTP request was processed. (Is that good enough computer-speak for “before the ink was dry?”) In “offline” correspondence, I was led to understand that Morgan was a good friend of the author, and had permission. And, indeed, it seemed to be the case.
So, in the spirit of trying to help a new blog find a voice, I defended MTPundit against the further charge of plagiarism.
In the meantime, a comment and reply (now unavailable and presumably deleted) was left on Morgan’s site where her reported level of involvement differed quite a bit from what I had understood.
So now, I am looking like a goat for having defended these guys, and it’s time to eat some crow, with a side dish of humble pie.
To Rob, Shane, and Colby, I offer my sincere apologies. You were right and I was wrong.
19 Responses to “Fool Me Once, Shame on You. Fool Me Twice . . .”
By Wulfgar on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
Craig, you seriously have nothing to apologize for, at least not to me. After all, I was just bein’ “rattlesnake mean”. Hehe.
By Steve on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
I am soooo confused. I will admit that when Colby, Shane, Wulfgar, etc. all piled on, I didn’t give their accusations much credence. Now, I don’t know what the heck is going on.
*[Moved to correct thread. --Ed]*
By Shane C. Mason on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
Craig, nothing bad here. These people aren’t made for the Montana Blogosphere, which I think has a lot of integrity.
Steve, just because it is liberals piling it own, doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. We are looking out for you guys
By Mark Tokarski on Sep 27, 2007 | Reply
Was this humor? I can never tell with you.
By Craig on Sep 27, 2007 | Reply
You tell me, Mark. You’re rarely shy about telling me when I’m humorous or when I’m passive-agressive.
By JP on Sep 27, 2007 | Reply
Mark, you’ll note the tag markers by the post name. This particular one says ‘Posted by Craig Sprout in Blogosphere, Montana at 07:06′
Those tag, or category markers are usually a good indication of the root of the post. You’ll note where Craig’s being funny (or trying to be funny - love ya man!), they’ll be slugged ‘humor’.
Something to consider.
By Craig on Sep 27, 2007 | Reply
Don’t interrupt Dr. Freud when he’s at work, man.
(Does the phrase “coal to Newcastle” ring a bell?)
By Shane C. Mason on Sep 27, 2007 | Reply
“they’ll be slugged ‘humor’”
Or ‘wacky left’
By Craig on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
“Wacky Left” is reserved for supporters of dick taters, hypocritical greens, folks who think that the laws of supply and demand can be repealed, PETArds and various and sundry academics.
Sometimes they’re humorous, sometimes they’re not.
By Mark T on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
OK great, and thanks, JP - this is good information to have. I see that ‘humor’ tag there quite a bit, and notice that the information that follows is often making a serious point while either being condescending or mean. I mean - now that I know what to look for, I’ll drop this accusation that he’s passive aggressive. He’s just a funny guy, and I often miss it.
By Craig on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
Mark T bitching about someone being condescending and mean?
Now *that’s* humor!
By Mark Tokarski on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
But not passive aggressive.
By Craig on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
I didn’t see anything passive there.
By Mark Tokarski on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
I think you’r frequent attempts at humor are often barbs thrown at the other side - nasty comments and put downs and here’s the deal - you get to belittle us and laugh at us and we get to laugh at ourselves, but that’s as far as it goes. If we fail to laugh, you tell us to grow a sense of humor.
But I don’t see any humor going the other way, you never poke fun at anything right wing. This makes me think that you’re merely using the front of humor to mask your real contempt for liberals and progressives, which is passive aggressive.
So what you label as humor should really be called “Contempt”. Just change your label, and we’ll be OK.
Anyway, you had the last word up above, so I’ll just let it go.
By Craig on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
That’s the problem. You *don’t* laugh at yourself.
Yes, I do have contempt for a lot of liberals and/or progressives, just as you have nothing but contempt for “right-wingers.” Personally, you’ve called me a “trained attack dog” among other things, but you’ve shown little, if any, capacity to get what you give. So, yeah, I’m gonna poke you a little bit.
I mean, really, doesn’t reading your last comment look like a glance in the mirror? At all?
By Colby Natale on Sep 29, 2007 | Reply
Ya know; sometimes watching you two is like watching two high school kids who really like each other but are a pain in each others’ ass. You two remind me of each other in more ways than I can count. Which is why the bickering is so humorous.
Ah, young love!
By Mark Tokarski on Sep 29, 2007 | Reply
Really now, I only feel a cloud come over me when I come here, and when I visit Budge. It’s an oppressive feellng, like the smell of a dentist’s office. Or the way our cat reacts when we take her to the vet’s.
I take serious jabs at right wingers, but have I ever ridiculed you?
By Colby Natale on Sep 29, 2007 | Reply
No; you have not.
But then again, neither has Craig.
By Craig on Sep 29, 2007 | Reply
[Yeah I did.](http://www.mtpolitics.net/archives/5450-Some-Snark-for-The-Tokarskis.html)
Just once, though, and I apologized. The response? “Yes, but…”
Meantime, I’ve inspired at least 3 posts over at POM. Two direct, one indirect.
Just sayin’.