A Plea to Associated Content: Reward Those Who Write Original Material

Recently, I had the fortune of having one of my articles highlighted on Associated Content's feature showcase. I was very excited because it was the first piece of mine chosen for this honor. And let's be honest, it is an honor. I say this because while social bookmarking and emailing to all of your contacts is a nice way to increase page views, nothing beats the promotion done by AC when it features one of your pieces so prominently. How do I know this? Because this piece has 35 user comments, which dwarfs the feedback total on any previous article that I've written for the site.

Now, I don't regularly read the featured articles, but I had to check out the "competition". And there were some strong pieces up there. But, to my dismay, there was some stuff that I seriously questioned the validity of publishing at all, much less featuring so prominently.

There were two pieces that were nothing more than re-writing articles that appeared elsewhere. One was a re-write of an AP piece, while another ripped off Wikipedia.

It's one thing to use an article as a source of information but it's another thing to just regurgitate it and claim it as your own. This is the kind of work I would expect from a fourth grader doing a book report for the first time. I find it offensive that this type of article gets rewarded with extra exposure from AC while the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who come up with original work and strong opinion pieces struggle to get noticed.

I would like to recognize people who've done good work here at AC and who deserve to be featured prominently rather than those who just rip off other's work and pass it off as their own. I'm sure you will recognize some of these names. But there may be some who you find unfamiliar. Click on their work and see if you agree with me that what they contribute to AC is 1,000 times more valuable than an AP re-write.

Michael Arabas writes some terrific baseball articles. I don't always agree with him, but he always brings a point of view and backs up his position with facts and statistics. For a fine example of his work, check out Mike Mussina: Where Does He Rank?".

Claire Bankston left a comment on one of my articles, so I clicked to see what she had written. Her recollections of her 24th birthday with Alcohol Poisoning: The Night I Almost Drank Myself to Death is a haunting story.

Robert Chaban is a friend of mine in real life as well as a war veteran who saw active combat. Here is a piece about his time in Vietnam: LZ Nancy 69. The downraters drove him away from AC, but this is content worth reading.

Michelle L. Devon (Michy) writes beautifully on a number of subjects and is the most articulate poster in the forums. What I like best about her work is her willingness to share her knowledge. While most articles of this type merely point out the obvious, she always has helpful insights to pass on. For a fine example of her work, check out Secrets to Success on Associated Content.

Lee Andrew Henderson might be the most versatile writer at AC. Sure, he writes about mainstream stuff like television, sports and religion. But he also writes about being invisible, the scientific causes of knuckle popping and Chicago Beer Vendors, to name just three. Here's one of his many off-beat articles worth reading: Snap, Crackle, Poor: The Fall of a Cereal Icon.

Brian McCormick writes great articles about the proper way to train young athletes. Check out Developing Your Son or Daughter into an Athletic Superstar, the first of a terrific two-part series.

Gary Picariello writes on a wide variety of subjects. I think his music articles are the best on the site. Here's his top 10 list for a band I don't even like Top Ten Songs by REO SpeedWagon but it was so well done that it was memorable.

theBarefoot doesn't write as much as he used to, I think he got drafted by AC for a higher purpose, but go to his home page and click on any of his articles and you'll be rewarded.

Gary "The G-Man" Toms may have stolen Mike Gminski's nickname, but he wrote a fantastic piece on colleges recruiting gang members at NCAA: The REAL March Madness - Are Colleges Recruiting Gang-Bangers to Win Championships?

Zac Wassink writes excellent stuff, particularly his pieces on the hypocrisy surrounding the Don Imus firing and the Duke Lacrosse case. But I'd like to highlight another piece of his work. In Building a Tunnel to Connect Russia and Alaska is a Dumb Idea he took an AP piece and supplied his own opinions and made it content worth having here on AC.

I'm sure each of these content producers could come up with similar lists of writers at AC who do their own work and who deserve recognition.

There's a lot of excellent content here at AC. Let's reward those who come up with their own material by showcasing it so it gets the page views it deserves. And please stop giving one ounce of extra promotion to those who simply re-write AP stories.