Sakpo

Really, we are? So if my ethical parameters allow, or even encourage, me to set schoolyard playgrounds on fire, that's alright?

How did I exploit her? Did I make demands of her? No. Did I in any way attempt to benefit from my act? No. Yes, I was using my moral system, but I was not acting as a self righteous moralist. I deliberated my actions, I sought advice from someone with an honestly earned Phd. in ethical/moral philosophy. I gained nothing, not even a bit of pleasure. I did not feel self righteous in the least.

She's an undergraduate in the same larger system I'm in.

There are all sorts of horrible anti social acts and ethical transgressions which don't personally affect me in any overt or obvious way. That doesn't change the fact that they hurt others and that they do hurt me indirectly and in a less visible way. Plagiarism unfairly devalues something I'm working very hard for, makes teachers/markers suspect me (and all students) of being a potential plagiarist, gives people an unfair advantage in competing with me in the academic world, etc. Any halfways morally developed person ought to know they don't need to be personally knocked in the teeth to know that knocking people in the teeth is wrong and that they suffer when they stand by while it is done to others.

Physical harm is not the only form of significant harm.

Plagiarism is the buisness of everybody in the academic world.

JennaD

I said that he exploited her choice to post her misdeeds on a discussion forum not that he exploited her personally.

In my opinion he used her words against her in order to ensure that his view of justice was done.

Might I add that even the dean thought that using Blue Metal's posts against her would be unfair.

beyelzu

blue metal got more sympathy when she admitted she plagarized then sapko gets for turning her in. again. i say what kind of crap is that. he followed his ethical standards and acted to better in some small way the academic world that he is a part of.

again, blue metal violated any trust that may have existed by lying to us repeatedly.

beyelzu

jenna,

if the dean didnt have an airtight case against her, maybe he would have used the post. maybe he was worried about a potential lawsuit involving privacy issues. maybe he did read them. but didnt show them to anyone. and maybe he is morally corrupt.


just because the dean didnt use them, doesnt mean that they shouldnt have been brought to his attention.

cricket

She admitted she plagiarized?

Missed that.

JennaD

Later in my initial post I did stress the importance of interference when there is threat of physical harm.

Yup, and I hope that all the people who have posted about their own illegal or personally private activities feel some comfort that I am not willing to stand by and watch you expose the folly of a fellow board user with out telling you that is makes me feel uneasy.

I never suggested that academic cheating was in anyway right. I personally find it contemptible.

It is your business what you do about your beliefs. Just as you are fee to act on them I am free to tell you that I think it is wrong to inject yourself in to the life of a stranger when the stranger was not posing a serious hazard to themselves or others.

Sakpo

No. I sent two links to a person and left it at that. There was no attempt to manipulate the dean or tell her what to do. I simply thought she might like to be aware of the threads. If she chose to ignore them, fine by me. I didn't reccomend any punishments or say "this shows she ought to be punished really harshly" or anything like that. I was also aware the dean might read them and interpret them very differently than I had, and certainly I had no imaginings that my action would mean she would choose to respond in the same way I would. I made sure to distance the email account I sent the links from from my account here so it would not be clear which user had sent them along, and I also just sent links, with a quick description, so she could choose to not read them at all if she wanted.

Or perhaps somewhat tiresome and unnecessary (going through internet threads when an airtight case against her existed).

Quite frankly, I expected the threads would not be seriously considered when I sent them, I just thought the right thing to do was send them so that decision could be made by the right person for themself.

Sakpo

So just physical harm? I ought to be allowed to draw pictures of toasters on your car if its within my personal ethical parameters?

Or maybe I could spend my time better ripping up books at the library. I certainly wouldn't want to report to a library I didn't frequent that a user was ripping up books (none of my buisness!).

-

This all smells of an adult version of "don't tell teacher" to me.

Sakpo

People seem to be wondering why I feel personally insulted.

" I think the person in question should be striped of their moderator duties."

I think the person who is a user at these forums who made a post with these words in it should come out and be a bit more direct. How about "Sakpo should be stripped of his moderator duties" or something similiar? Seems to work much better. Anyway, that sentence says it all for me about pug and the people in this thread who have not disagreed with him about that. There is not only a lack of respect for people who attempt to engage in positive action (volunteering here or reporting bad acts), there is actually a desire to punish and humiliate them. "But remember," they said, "we're not acting with our words like you did, we're just discussing." Sick. Talk about self righteous. Inaction is holy action. We sit back and so we remain pure. Then we call for blood. Perfect.

beyelzu

nobody attacking sapko seems to care that blue metal breached our trust by lying to us repeatedly. which is kind of funny really. lying is ok, cheating is wrong but its also wrong to try to stop it.





sakpo, i am surprised that more people arent arguing that what you did was right. very surprised. and saddened.





ps. sorry i keep misspelling your name. ask ju'iblex, i am really bad with some of these screen names.