What?
Subject: darren
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 20:54:11 —0400
From: jankowski@mindspring.com
To: mail@nyhangover.com

[To Darren the Janitor, we think:]
man, that shit about kier being fat is great! it makes so happy i'm only small!
rob "the lawn jockey"

The Litigious Society
Subject: The Politics of Irish Dancing
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 13:39:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Theresa Johnson <siamsa414@yahoo.com>
To: mail@nyhangver.com

To Whom It May Concern:
I am an Irish step dancer and I just came across the April 2000 article, "The Politics of Irish Dancing." I found it interesting, if a bit dramatic, but I was shocked to find my website quoted in it. I am the "fourteen-year-old" quoted in the sixth paragraph. (I am now sixteen, but I was only thirteen when I wrote the statement in question.) The article not only quotes my website without credit or even a link, but quotes it incorrectly and out of context. I do not recall having been approached for permission to use my words or having given permission.

I am only sixteen, so I don't know the legal nuances of the Internet, but I do know that it is common courtesy to ask permission when using someone else's words. It is also rude to twist those words and give them a connotation that was neither stated nor intended. I'm sure that, as professional writers, you are keenly aware of the importance of context to even the simplest of statements. By taking one of my statements out of the context for which I intended it, you gave what I wrote a completely different character.

You may not be aware of the Irish dancing community on the Internet, but it is large and rapidly growing. My website is widely respected. It is because of this and because of the fact that I take pride in my work that I am sure that such an error was inadvertent. I am only inquiring as to how such a mistake came to be.

Sincerely,
Theresa Johnson

Writer Chris Dougherty responds:
I surfed numerous sites and reviewed many different quotes - I thought I had used an "exaggerated rendering" of all of them. The point of the piece (and of the paragraph that you referred to in your email) was to illustrate how big and competitive Irish dancing has become, and your letter bears this out - a 13 year old with her own website, which in part highlights her illustrious career, is a great illustration of that point.
In the end, the story was a piece of "journalistic fiction," not a factual discourse on Irish dancing. Sorry for any confusion or anxiety this may have caused you. The fact is that I too am a proud member of the Irish-American community. I lived in Ireland for a number of years and have received my master's degree from the University College Dublin.

The Editors respond:
Theresa,
We are only in our 20’s and 30’s so we don’t know the legal nuances of your intimation that one of our writers ripped off your words without attribution, but we do know that it’s common courtesy to inquire politely without seeming to accuse. We trust that this matter has been cleared up now and that we can all go back to our rich and challenging lives. And BTW, we would’ve linked to your site if you’d just asked…