I've noticed a disturbing trend with our friend Mark Whicker from the OC Register. Over the past few weeks, he's been posting "breaking" stories on the OC Register blog regarding news items concerning current or past Angel players or news he thinks his readers would find informative. The interesting thing is, the stories have previously been reported on MLBTraderumors and it appears Whicker is passing off these stories as his own. Each of his posts typically appear shortly after being posted on Tim Dierkes' site, and always use the same references and links. This wouldn't be so bad, we sometimes get stories from MLBTraderumors, but the difference is we reference and link MLBTraderumors giving them credit for finding the story. Whicker fails to even mention the site.
I suppose it's possible Whicker sits in front of his computer, monitoring all 30 MLB clubs looking for relevant news for his readers. Yet, it is more likely Whicker has still failed to understand "internet etiquette" in providing links to your sources, but more importantly, Whicker is publishing others' hard work as his own.
(Note: any links to Whicker's column intentionally omitted)
0 recs | 33 comments
If tht's the case he should be fired and fined
There is no room for plagiarism in the professional or academic world, or on the blogoshere.
Raaddad - January 17, 2010
especially by a critic of blogs and bloggers
Whicker is practicing “Freedom of Reach” …
…and trading on the fact that he can hide behind being the “old sportswriter from the print era” who didn’t realize there was “etiquette on the internet” but we can all be assured he is smart enough to know exactly what he is doing and calculating enough to think he can get away with it.
The irony is that any search of web statistics will show that the bloggers and posters (that means YOU) at Halos Heaven have lots readers than blogger Mark Whicker, pulling in a whopping 3/10ths of one percent of FREEDOMBLOGGING’s traffic..
Rev Halofan - January 17, 2010
I just did an image search for Mr Whicker and this came up
This is now forever how I will visually associate his articles.
PhiSlamma - January 17, 2010
hahaha nice
TheAngelsColts - January 17, 2010
I wonder if his milkshakes brings all the boys to the yard..............
norcaliangelsfan - January 17, 2010
Vomit!
Vomit again!
Slasher52 - January 17, 2010
That
is beautiful. And recworthy.
misterjonez - January 17, 2010
Congrats Mark!
You’ve left the yard.
MH252525 - January 17, 2010
Nice
hauldog - January 17, 2010
+1
Clutch - January 17, 2010
Yea that is weird but probably wont change i get a feeling
TheAngelsColts - January 17, 2010
it doesn't affect his employment
But it does underscore how pointless his employment is.
Rev Halofan - January 17, 2010
Yea i agree with that. We also find information a lot faster than most of the writers for the papers anyway.
TheAngelsColts - January 17, 2010
ACTUALLY... let me amend that
“pointless” is the wrong word. “REDUNDANT” or “UNNECESSARY” would fit better there.
Say I am Freedomblogging’s bean-counter… an unpaid intern could blog as competently as Mark Whicker with an hour of training and an interest in the subject.
Rev Halofan - January 17, 2010
Rev, don't be so hard on poor Mr. W
Think of him as an “AGGREGATOR”.
rspencer - January 17, 2010
toolbag.....................
norcaliangelsfan - January 17, 2010
Your sig...
That movie was on E! today.
It’s an awesome flick.
red floyd - January 17, 2010
Mark Whicker plagerizes and makes fun of child rape victims.
Dude is supremely confident that he will never get fired… and rightfully so.
clover_black - January 17, 2010
Kind of an empty claim...
While I dont doubt the claim I’d love to see some proof. I am a big fan of MLB Trade Rumors but they also have been accused of lifting stories in the past. Do you have some examples of the plagiarism? It seems that would be important in a post like this.
Throwbacks - January 17, 2010
THROWBACKS!!!
clover_black - January 17, 2010
I never wrote he was plagiarizing.
What I suggested was Whicker is reading the posts on MLBTR and then using the links provided in those posts as his own, not giving any credit or link-back to MLBTR. An example; On AM830, Jeff Biggs mentions he recently read an article in Modern Gourmet that Arte Moreno’s favorite food is Mini Sirloin Burgers. An hour or so after this is aired, I write a story about how Modern Gourmet magazine states Arte Moreno loves Mini Sirloin Burgers, but fail to mention I heard it on AM830. What people are led to believe is I found the magazine article and reported on what I had read. This is completely different than plagiarism. And again, I never claimed Whicker was plagiarizing from MLBTR, just that he is letting them do the work of finding the stories and not giving them any credit for the find.
While it is probably impossible to prove, I’ve gone through each of his posts and they are typically posted 1-2 hours after the same story is posted on MLBTR, and his post contain the same sources.
WiHaloFan - January 18, 2010
sweet dude...
TheAngelsAngels - January 18, 2010
Fair enough. That Jeff Biggs guy has his finger on the pulse of Arte’s appetite so he may just know…
Throwbacks - January 18, 2010
What a Boob.
angelskid2210 - January 17, 2010
Recapping a recap of a story is plagiarism?
hauldog - January 17, 2010
Nope, it's lazy journalism that fails to acknowledge to his peers who wrote the original stories
The Limey - January 17, 2010
Substitute 'superiors' for 'peers'
The Limey - January 17, 2010
True. Good point
hauldog - January 18, 2010
proof por favor?
Halos in DE - January 17, 2010
Proof?
I suppose I don’t have any proof that’d hold up in a court of law, but my testimony in the court of common sense would be:
Every day I go through my routine of reading website. I start here at HH, then go to ESPN, MLBTR, BBTF Newsstand, and the OC Register (plus some others). A couple weeks ago, I read something posted by Whicker and thought to myself, “That’s the same story as on MLBTR”. A short time later it happened again, but I went back to MLBTR to see who posted first (MLBTR). And then it happened again, but this time I noticed the links were the same so I went back to the previous post to see if he had used the same links in those posts too (he did). And then it happened again. And then it happened again.
Is that proof? I guess not. Is it a coincidence? I doubt it.
WiHaloFan - January 18, 2010
well provide two links
Mark and MLBtraderumors
Halos in DE - January 19, 2010
This just seems so unbelievably important.
TheAngelsAngels - January 17, 2010
Mark?
Is that you?
angels4adam - January 24, 2010
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