Generosity’s Tax.

In Twitter I’ve seen innumerable people saying a “proper retweet” is done by prepending “RT” to whatever the person you’re retweeting said.

No.

Perhaps that was true before the advent of Twitter’s embedded “Retweet” links, but no longer.  A proper retweet is performed by clicking Retweet.  Including “RT” in the words you’ve just ripped from someone else’s timeline is not proper at all.  Indeed, it’s like placing a use tax on your generosity.

Taxed generosity isn’t generosity at all.

Perhaps if manually RT’ing took less effort than clicking “Retweet”…?  The point is moot, since manually RT’ing takes significantly more effort than clicking the retweet link.  Worse, manually RT’ing corrupts the words – they never remain exactly same as they were when said.  Even if you keep every word and every piece of punctuation, a manual RT never looks precisely the same as the original – and most manual RT’ers don’t bother because it takes too much effort.  To me this proves they’re only interested in forcefully injecting their name into the conversation.

Recently Twitter added a great feature.  On the “Interactions” page of your profile you now get informed every time someone favorites or retweets something you’ve retweeted.  Twitter does that when you retweet the “real proper” way – with “Favorite” or “Retweet”.  What an awesome feature – now you know just how far your charity {and your influence} goes.  And best of all, it really is charity – because only you know of the good deed you’ve done.

I’ve also seen it said that using “RT” allows you to add a comment to the thread {which is truly bizarre since there is a link called “Reply” specifically for that purpose}.  It doesn’t add content, it hijacks the conversation by forcibly inserting something completely superfluous into it, namely your “look at me, look at me” @handle.  What if you add your “RT” in a legitimate reply to the thread?  Read what I’ve already said about taxing your generosity.

“RT” is not a stamp of approval on a Tweet, it is a stamp of “I was here!”  A manual “RT” has become another form of obnoxious graffiti in the virtual world.

Don’t get me wrong.  When graffiti is art, I approve.  In fact, my Twitter timeline is covered with that type of unadulterated virtual art – they’re called Tweets.

So am I saying I never use “RT”?  No, that’s not what I’m saying at all.  I manually “RT”, but only under two circumstances I’ve found so far.

The first is when I want to repeat something a private account holder said.  Tweets from locked, or private, accounts don’t have a retweet link.  In order to grant attribution I have no option but to place my “I was here!” stamp on their words.

The second circumstance is when they never actually tweeted the words, but they did say them.  For example, words from their Twitter profile.

Which brings me to the issue of plagiarism.  Perhaps people think stealing another person’s words is a “no injury” crime.  It isn’t.  Regardless of monetary value, authors, writers, and everyday people should receive credit for their contributions to the written word.

To me, the written word is the highest form of art.

Words can make us laugh, or cry.  Words can fill our mind with images of things that cannot be.  Words can make our heart feel light, or they can crush it in a vice.  Words are the foundation upon which deeds are built.  More than any other art, words literally change the world.

No decent person would ever steal a piece of music and claim they composed it.  No decent person would duplicate a picture and claim they painted it.  No decent person would make a mold of a sculpture, recast it, and claim they chiseled it from their heart.  No decent person would tear a page from the most sacred texts and claim they wrote it.

No decent person steals another person’s words and claims them as their own inspired thoughts, penned to paper of a real or virtual nature.  Call this by a fancy word like “plagiarism” if you like – I call it exactly what it is.

Theft.

Decent people don’t steal.  {Well, certain circumstances might force decent people to steal.  However, the operative word in that sentence is “force”.}

Look at the example below, and tell me if this is an accident.  Perhaps a rare wind of inspiration blew on two people at almost the same time.  Before you decide, peer close at the thumbnails in the upper part of the image.  In order to spare them embarrassment, I’ve blocked the person’s name from the image.  If they have a conscience, it should goad them to change their ways.  If not, well I might remove the blocks and see if that plants the seeds of conscience.

Is imitation the most sincere form of flattery, or is it just stealing?

Don’t misunderstand me.  Inspiration is quite literally everywhere, and I would deny it to no one.  Do I never re-frame another person’s thoughts?  Of course I do.  However, the words I use are my own, and they are often contrary to the inspiring thought.  {Such is my nature, for which I am not sorry.}  If my words inspire you to creativity then go for it, and more power to you – I am truly delighted when I see signs of this.  However if my words touch you in some way, and you wish to share them, then please grant me that which I grant every borrowed sentence I use – attribution.

Thank you.