This is another attempt to recover a deleted post and again I think this is an important issue.
I first encountered this issue when a blogger I follow complained that his work was appearing on a blog “syndicator” without permission. I use the term syndication as distinct from aggregation because aggregators (e.g., bloglines.com) typically provide the title and a few lines and then send you to the blog site if you find the topic to be of interest. Syndication appears to offer the reader the full post without moving you to the actual blog site. RSS feeds can be processed to mash together a site providing current posts from popular blogs, but this may not be what the individual bloggers intended.
The discussion that followed considered both legal and ethical issues in the world of bloggers (nice review). Some of the discussion was fairly nasty and focused on personal attacks concerning commercialism (Some bloggers use their sites to promote books, speaking services, etc. and not having visitors prevents them from displaying their promotional materials. However, the syndication sites may also attempt to generate revenue through paid google ad links.).
I think this is a situation in which the willingness of some to freely share their ideas has been abused. Contrived arguments that once something has been openly posted it is there for others to do with as they please seem self serving. Taking the words rather than taking the time to reference the ideas seems a form of laziness. Some may be attracted by the opportunity to contribute to a syndication site but to assume that this is the case is inappropriate.
