tHiNkEr’S rOoM

27 Responses to “Disclaimer”

1. 1. Kenyan Pundit (18 Comments) | February 25th, 2005 at 8:25 pm

   Oh my God! That is straight plagiarism (of course Nation and Standard have been increasing lifting stuff from the net without any qualms). He should have at least linked to your blog. Have you written to him/them. I would and I would suggest that he mentions the link in his next column. Hey, this might be the first blogs vs. mainstream journalism war in Kenya!

2. 2. Anonymous (No Comments) | February 25th, 2005 at 10:38 pm

   Dude,
   I totally agree with kenyan pundit. This is straight plagiarism and you should make sure the person who did it is brought to task. Such behaviour is unacceptable.

   Was this done on the online version only or both print and online?

   rip

3. 3. Magaidi (42 Comments) | February 26th, 2005 at 12:35 am

   I hate to bring back the Tom Mshindi issue here but the editors, in their right minds should not let anyone just generalize references to originality (the original unedited version can be found on the internet?) I mean what is this a plagiarizers heaven? No second thoughts..this is why these dudes are always getting clobbered. Clay Muganda will be receiving a very interesting email this weekend. And seconding the fellas..Thinker you should really follow up with these guys.

4. 4. Anonymous (No Comments) | February 26th, 2005 at 3:28 am

   Arrgh! The state of journalism in Kenya today NEVER ceases to amaze me…no wait the word I was looking for is dismay. Thinker, I think you should follow this issue please and good luck on it.

5. 5. Rwath (No Comments) | February 26th, 2005 at 11:03 am

   Hey Thiker, pole sana. I’ve always had issues with our local press. These guys do not use their brains at all. That was outright plagiarism. Shame on him.Follow it up. You have my support. By the way check me out on http://alpha-rwath.blogspot.com. Just started yesterday (Friday 25th ‘05).

6. 6. Mama JunkYard (21 Comments) | February 26th, 2005 at 3:35 pm

   You need to make a big thing about this.

   I would not only write to the offending paper but write to all their competitors too just incase the offender refuses to publish it.

   —
   p.s will reply to your email saa hii.

7. 7. mentalacrobatics (13 Comments) | February 27th, 2005 at 6:53 am

   I can not believe this. Yani they lifted your stuff bila shame. The article can not be access online anymore aati “There is a problem with the page you are trying to view. Please check later.” I hope they took it down in shame.

8. 8. mentalacrobatics (13 Comments) | February 27th, 2005 at 7:07 am

   Found it on AllAfrica:
   http://allafrica.com/stories/200502240777.html

9. 9. Mshairi (21 Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 3:11 am

   If you can sue them, do so

10. 10. truphena (No Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 4:10 pm

    It’s outrageous! Here is an email i wrote Clay Muganda

    Dear sir,

    Your column (Clay Court) last Friday the 25th contained a piece with
    the header “Job Openings”. This was in fact sourced from a popular
    kenyan satirist’s weblog (Thinker’s Room
    http://thinkersroom.blogspot.com)

    Do you think it is fair of you not to give credit where it is due ?
    Don’t you think it is plagiarism to include someone else’s writing and
    give only an ambiguous reference to the internet?

11. 11. truphena (No Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 4:16 pm

    This was the arrogant man’s reply!!

    “thanks for reading and keep reading. there was a disclaimer at the end of the article that it was sourced form an internet site.

    probably you do not know what plagiarism is and that is why you are saying this is that.

    if you knew what it is, you could not have used the word ambiguous if it was plagiarism as you claim i could not even have bothered to say that it is not originally mine.

    don’t you think it is ignorance to be so annoyed over a site that is not even yours and play miss know all, yet, i have been communicating
    with the person who hosts that site.
    if you know so much about the website, then redo the article and specifically refer to the website at the end of the article.

    and i am not apologising to you.

    c h e e r s

    Muganda Clay”

    The NERVE of the shameless thief. I’m beginning to think Tuju and his ilk have a point

12. 12. muganda clay (No Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 5:32 pm

    the problem with most kenyans is that they do not read. plagiarism is passing (off) someone else’s work as yours, and i did not do that as i mentioned that this article is available on the internet. the issue people have here is that i did not write the particular site. i am very much aware that i did not do that, so stop reminding me that it was missing.

13. 13. muganda clay (No Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 5:49 pm

    my boss tells me plagiarism is copying word for word. if you still think that is what i did, then all of you are plagiarists because at some point or the other the words and expressions you have used have been used by some people else.

14. 14. Anonymous (No Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 5:56 pm

    “The NERVE of the shameless thief. I’m beginning to think Tuju and his ilk have a point.”
    Whoever starts thinking that Tuju and his ilk have a point are thinking like a Kenyan Cabinet minister, or a politician. AND THAT IS A SHAME. IT IS BETTER TO BE A PLAGIARIST THAN TO THINK LIKE A KENYAN POLITICIAN.

15. 15. Anonymous (No Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 6:26 pm

    Hey Muganda Clay,

    Just because your boss says it doesn’t mean it’s true:

    Take a look at:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism
    especially this section:

    ‘For instance, it is legal for a student to copy several paragraphs (or even pages) of text from a public domain book, such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and then directly add these quotations to his or her own paper. However if these quotations were not clearly identified as to his or her source, then the student would be guilty of plagiarism, using another writer’s work as if it were his or her own. ‘ [Wikipedia entry on Plagarism]

    You have stolen:
    1. The Idea
    2. The information
    3. The language (in some cases WHOLE SENTENCES HAVE BEEN LIFTED CLEAN)

    YOU HAVE NOT GIVEN DUE CREDIT — i.e. you passed off WHOLE SENTENCES AS YOUR OWN.
    Saying ‘it’s available on the web’ is not due credit — I write academic papers and I would not get away with ‘it’s in such and such journal’ — I need to give title, page, paragraph and line.

    It is OBVIOUS that you lifted the idea and to cover your backside decided to make a vague reference. It sucks that you had to stoop so low. What sucks even more is that you have been caught and instead of fessing up like a MAN you try and play a ‘fair use’ game. What you did WAS NOT FAIR USE — YOU COPIED WHOLE SENTENCES AND YOU DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOURCE TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY.

    I wonder how much more of your stuff is stolen from other people?

16. 16. Mama JunkYard (21 Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 6:54 pm

    I don’t feel Clay’s response was accurate nor was it professional

    According to the East Africa Free Press Assembly of 2000 (held in NBO Kenya) http://www.worldfreepress.org/content/ethicsres.asp

    An Ethics resolution which was reaffirmed on June 8 2002 says this:

    “Plagiarism. It is the duty of the journalist to regard plagiarism as unethical and to always credit the source”

    Simply referring to your source as ‘found on the internet’ does not in my view constitute crediting the sources.

17. 17. alloys (No Comments) | February 28th, 2005 at 8:51 pm

    you can call it anything you like, but i think clay’s response is good enough. he has not denied that the thing was taken from another site. he just did not mention that particular site and he has said so. after all, even the words and sentences you are using, you did not create them and if anything, everyone is then a PLAGIARIST. i think you people are looking for war where there is none, one, and two, you are arguing for the sake of keeping a conversation going and it is of no use.

18. 18. Anonymous (No Comments) | March 1st, 2005 at 12:46 am

    hey alloys, you must be a politician… trying to detract from the argument… furthermore I would wager you are a friend of Muganda. Like the other poster said, Muganda picked up whole sentences — I’m sure you’re aware of the recent fiasco where the British government lifted whole sentences from a dissertation regarding WMD in Iraq with the vague reference like your boy Clay. Not only did the government have to APOLOGIZE and GIVE PROPER CREDIT but they also had to PAY COMPENSATION for plagiarism. You boys are WRONG and you know you are WRONG. You’re the same guys who would be spouting up the wrong end if you found some dude had done the same to you. No amount of chest-beating or trash talking will make this right. This is not Kenya where talking bull in a loud voice will make things go away. Face up to it you lousy plagiarists. Haha, journalists my left foot — you can’t even fill a 3000 word article with original thoughts. Says a lot for the state of ‘journalism’ in Kenya. Says even more for your integrity.

19. 19. mugoiri (No Comments) | March 1st, 2005 at 3:34 am

    hi thinker’s…
    ive noticed u have not commented once since u posted this issue… am sure alot of people are curious to hear ur view on how this argument has developed. u did not mention plagarism in ur post and this actually started in the comments posted later. is this ur view as well, that u were plagarised?
    also, clay mugunda’s reply to truphena was that he has been in contact with u… ‘i have been communicating with the person who hosts that site.’ has he actually been in contact with u?

20. 20. Anonymous (No Comments) | March 1st, 2005 at 7:40 am

    hey people, all of you are writing as if you came across the word plagiarism for the first time, or as if this is the first time you got a chance to use it. this is too much and it is becoming boring now. you mean to say that had he given due credit, you could have had nothing to write about?

21. 21. Kenyan Pundit (18 Comments) | March 1st, 2005 at 8:52 am

    “Lesser journalists copy. Great journalists credit.”~ Aly Colon

22. 22. ni2 (108 Comments) | March 1st, 2005 at 9:57 am

    Yeah Thinker what say you?

23. 23. She (No Comments) | March 1st, 2005 at 12:02 pm

    1. Shame on Clay Muganda.I wonder what else from his feature actually aint his but “its original unedited version is found on the internet”. Thats as vague as saying “Mt. Kenya can be found in the world!”
    2. If that was the editors reply at some point on the comments,its pitiful.This is coz it just shows the level pf professionalism in Kenyan journalism.If the editors can allow such things to happen,the Nation might as well become one of those useless tabloids with “reliable sources” stories.As if the KUJ fiasco wasnt bad enough to taint Kenyan journalism’s image!!
    3. If it aint yours it aint yours. Stop hidding behind the fact that we dont know what ‘plagiarism’ means!! kama uliiba sema uliiba.simle logic!!
    4. M Take heart.Keep on entertaining us.Your stuff is too good for the ‘tabloids’ anyway. i doubt that they can handle original stuff like yours ! They prefer the COPY-PASTE function.

24. 24. Shiro (130 Comments) | May 4th, 2005 at 9:19 am

    i read the article first on Mashada then saw it on Clay’s article. who could have posted it on Mashada coz that is where he must have lifted it from.
    all the same Kenyan journalists are outright lazy i was reading a magazine called DRUM it is my favorite but to my utter disapppointment i got an article i had earlier on read in the internet, this guys forget many guys are ardent readers and go ahead to plagiarize.Sometimes i do lift from the web but it’s bad when you are getting paid from it rather than sharing it.

25. 25. francis munagh (1 Comments) | November 29th, 2005 at 3:17 pm

    hell no

26. 26. Mutobor (1 Comments) | October 13th, 2006 at 5:14 pm

    Privet Kamradi.Mutobor

27. 27. Jikomboe » Matumizi ya Kazi za Wanablogu Kienyejienyeji! (No Comments) | October 28th, 2006 at 3:21 pm

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