@Misuba -- I couldn't agree more. This happens to be a common occurrence in closed communities, academic or otherwise. No one writes within a vacuum, there is

@Misuba -- I couldn't agree more. This happens to be a common occurrence in closed communities, academic or otherwise. No one writes within a vacuum, there is always a prior influence. When someone within the community is dubbed a "plagiarist", that person is cast out to protect the false idea that everyone in the community is creating completely original work all the time. Your point is apt; There are real spammers and plagiarists out there. To nitpick over a clear quote within a blog post is just our antennas perking up and realizing that most of what we write isn't as ground breaking or original as we'd like to believe. It's convenient for us to rally around how original we are, instead of coming to grips with how unoriginal it all really is.