Clearing the Air

I just received the below comment on a blog I posted about my love of sprouting. As all of my regular readers are aware, I make a point to give credit where credit is due in every one of my blog posts when I have taken information from one of the many good & respected folks who I consider mentors and educators. In the above mentioned post, I inadvertently did not hyperlink to The Sproutman, Steve Meyerowitz, from whom I gathered a portion of his sprouting information. I have every one of Steve's books and consider him to be an admired authority on sprouting. I also took sprouting information from the sites of Jordan Rubin, Brian Clement of the Hippocrates Institute and Chet Day, all of whom I did manage a link to.

The below letter, that was just posted today in the comment section of the sprouting blog, says that it is a 3rd attempt to contact me. For the record, if I would have received an email or a comment, like I did today, I would have addressed this immediately by correcting my mistake of not including a link to The Sproutman. This is also the first time a comment was left for me, so I am taking the time to let you, my readers know that I officially give credit to Steve Meyerowitz for his wonderfully informative writings on sprouting, some of which I passed along to you in the a fore mentioned blog. I am no authority on sprouting, like the gentlemen I've listed, but I am quite passionate about the subject as a student.

I formally apologize to Mr. Meyerowitz for making such a blatant over site. It is unfortunate that this has become such a spectacle, but I will certainly be much more meticulous in future postings, checking and double checking, to make sure I have included the correct links to the information which I am passing along to my readers. Ass beating received.....taking it like a big girl.

"Dear Ms. Shelton,

This is our 3rd and final attempt to contact you regarding your plagiarized post dated August 21, "Let's Talk About". Plagiarism is when you copy someone else’s words, text, or content, in part or in whole, and then publish it as your own without obtaining the permission or endorsement of the original author. It is the same thing as theft or copyright infringement and professional writers or anyone that publishes their works with integrity take this violation very seriously.

I represent author and health advocate Steve Meyerowitz. His original 2005 content from which you copied into your blog post was published as your own not only without Mr. Meyerwitz’s permission, but also without the use of quotes or references to the original author. Ms. Shelton, we believe you are an intelligent and savvy woman who obviously is very active within the blogging community. You have had media and publishing relationships in the past, so we do not understand why you would participate in such an unethical practice. We do not believe that you do not understand what plagiarism or copyright infringement means.

We are respectfully once again asking this this content is removed immediately and provide your readers (since there are many comments to this posts) with an honest explanation. Again, plagiarism is theft. It is unacceptable and regrettably we have taken measures, such as notifying your readers and blog community, in an effort to prevent this from happening in the future. Please heed to our request and address this matter accordingly.

Tina Diamond
Representative, Sproutman Publications
rawfoodnews@yahoo.com"