UPDATED: To Tim Deatrick: "Plagiarism is using others’ ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information."

Note: Tim Deatrick's published comment yesterday, which included the essay that he implied was his own and failed in any matter to attribute to Ben Sherman, its real author (and is referenced here) has been removed by Tim -- as is allowed by www.blogger.com.

Readers are advised that NA Confidential preferred the comment to remain posted throughout the week to illustrate the obvious plagiarism therein, and that Tim has chosen to expunge it today constitutes an action that speaks fairly loudly for itself.

By the way, the title sentence was copied from this Indiana University web site page.

Housekeeping is a distasteful task, and if it is left untended over time, the filth becomes such that extreme measures are warranted, but at least dust and dirt are inanimate objects, incapable of instruction, and impervious to conscience.

We expect more of human beings, and as a result, sometimes we’re disappointed.

As regular readers of NA Confidential are aware, comments are allowed, encouraged and appreciated. Those wishing to make comments need only register with http://www.blogger.com/.

Time and again, we have reminded readers that the stated purpose of NA Confidential is to provide a soapbox for the author, not to serve as a discussion forum in the sense of Clean Up New Albany, which we recommend wholeheartedly as a site that lends itself far better to the give and take of the genre.

As Randy “Volunteer Hoosier” Smith and others have noted, there is ample room for any number of Blogs and forums devoted to life and times in New Albany.

Several Internet services, including www.blogger.com, will host a blog and even help prospective bloggers build it … free of charge. In this manner, any and all can participate, and at a level of comfort commensurate with ability, opportunity and desire.

However, these freedoms of speech and expression are utterly meaningless if unaccompanied by at least a semblance of conscience and an explicit recognition of responsibility, i.e., one cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater.

Even on the Internet!

In short, there are rules to this game, and these rules are to be observed – not because such rules discourage dissent, or are used to ridicule those who are less capable of expressing themselves in writing, or are meant to protect the good old boys, but because without these rules, civilized discourse descends into anarchy ... and sometimes worse.

Yesterday afternoon, reader Tim Deatrick took advantage of NA Confidential’s previously published question to “Taxpayer” to post, as a comment, a lengthy essay on the Lewis and Clark expedition and the subsequent decimation of Native American culture.

In and of itself, Tim’s decision to rudely interrupt the conversation between NA Confidential and “Taxpayer” with a posting on an entirely unrelated topic was a breach of all prevailing notions of etiquette.

And nothing new, at that, but Tim closed his Lewis and Clark essay by writing, “my name is Tim Deatrick, but you can call me Dances with Wolves. The truth will be known!”

Thanks to Volunteer Hoosier’s diligence, the truth indeed has become known: The essay was written by a Native American activist named Ben Sherman, not Tim Deatrick, and nowhere in Tim’s comment yesterday was this fact noted, the obvious intent being to take credit for the words of another.

Truth is, that’s plagiarism.

Truth is, plagiarism is plainly intolerable.

Truth is, plagiarism so casually perpetrated by a free-lancer whose byline appears in the New Albany Tribune is downright frightening (accordingly, the newspaper's editor and publisher have been informed).

With respect to NA Confidential, these are not the first instances of anti-social behavior on Tim’s part. Earlier this year, Tim posted comments under multiple identities – all registered with Blogger, but fictitious and anonymous, and generally used to post personal attacks on members of the community.

Sadly, the list of Tim’s abuses drags on and on, and those of us determined to live in a civil society and to observe the etiquette of civilized discourse are left to debate the question of how we react to those equally determined to impede such principles as we hold dear.

We cannot “ban” Tim and others of his ilk from posting comments on NA Confidential without penalizing those readers who exercise the privilege responsibly, or without requiring the author to devote time to collecting, editing and republishing comments from readers (as mentioned by Volunteer Hoosier).

The parade of assumed identities would no doubt resume, and the unmistakable pattern of serial harassment would merely be transferred from one venue to the next with no effort made to address the underlying causes of his lamentably public dysfunction.

Rather, we once again encourage Tim that it’s time to save some cardboard boxes, gather up his belongings, move out of the NA Confidential house and get a Blog address of his own, where he may break whatever rules he wishes, stalk the public officials of his choice, and plagiarize the work of others to his heart’s content.

And be judged as a writer -- and a person -- accordingly.

Note: After much reflection, we've decided to leave Tim's plagiarized passage undisturbed until the end of the week, so as to allow time for NA Confidential readers to examine it and reach their own conclusions. If Tim decides to expunge the comment, it will be indicated as having been removed by the author.