All I can say after reading all this is "wow."

Maybe I am missing a point because I don't make a living off writing Perl. Maybe I just don't care. Maybe I might be even flattered if somebody was "stealing" my code. I don't know because I don't think it has ever happened to me.

Can you prove they intentionally did it? It's one thing to declare it's your code and it's another to say "this might help you" It could be some people just don't get html and linking ;)

Are we to scream at them and label them with the scarlet letter "P"

Why not simply inform them about the proper use of references? Even in the professional world, people don't get that.

In the greater scheme of things; who cares if a node was assumed to be plagiarized? What is lost? Reputation? XP?

Reputation is not lost because somebody plagiarized your node. Your reputation comes from giving good answers.

The very fact you post here opens the door to you being plagiarized. How many people come to this site and take coding examples and use it at work or school as their own? Face it people you are probably plagiarized all the time.

For those of you wagging your fingers. Have you ever used code from the many Perl books to solve a problem at work? Did you give credit to the author?

I thought we were supposed to be about helping the world of Perl? I think this site would loose something if we set up "node police" to make sure all nodes are honest.

This whole concern seems (to me) to revolve around XP again. In the greater scheme of things, XP on the Perl Monks means NOTHING. I can't buy coffee with it. The girls don't find me hotter because I am a Vicar and I know there are people levels below me that are superior coders.

Ok, you can -- away now!