From: Ed

Hello Keith,
I've learned that in editing your Chapter 2, Sheeri identified several areas that were copied from at least one other source, namely the copyrighted MySQL online manual, as follows:
 In the "From TE" folder, if you look at "416912 ch02 TE.doc", the Gnu/Linux part of the installation borrows a lot from:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/6.0/en/linux-rpm.html

The Solaris documentation is copied verbatim from:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/6.0/en/solaris-installation.html

The Windows installation starts with a section that has very little changed from:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/6.0/en/windows-choosing-package.html

Windows->Configuration Wizard->Detailed Configuration -- all the ".... Dialog Boxes" are pretty much taken verbatim from the "...Dialog" sections of the manual found here:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-windows-excerpt/6.0/en/mysql-config-wizard.html

I know that Sheeri is working to rewrite this material, but I'm concerned that you might have also reused copyrighted material in your other chapters as well.
I need you to provide me and Ed with a complete and detailed inventory of any other areas in which you copied or closely borrowed material from other sources, so we can determine the extent of the problem and fix it.    We absolutely cannot publish anything in this book that violates copyright law---please advise on Monday;  we urgently need to know the extent of this problem as this could have a negative impact on the publication date for the book---regardless of that, we have to fix it to ensure the integrity of the book.
 Thanks,
Bob

from	Keith Murphy 
to	Bob
cc	Ed, Sheeri
date	Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 10:31 AM
subject	Re: URGENT: Concerns re plaigarism in Chapter 2; confirming extent 
of the problem
	
The good news is it is not as bad as it could be. The bad news is that 
happened at all.

I won't rehash chapter 2. Sheeri has already done a good start on it and I 
will finish the reworking of the chapter to make sure it is ready. I will 
have it finished tomorrow morning.

I went through all 36 pages of chapter 3 last night. It took fourteen hours. 
The good news is that it is much better. It is ready for Sheeri to look at 
when she has a chance.

I have to track down a comment that Baron made at some point. He thought a 
section was similar to the High performance mysql book and that people would 
notice and say so. He didn't see any problem with it but thought people might 
think they are similar. As with the partitioning chapter I want a second 
opinion. I will find the comment as soon as I can and let you know.

I don't want to just blithely say that there are no more problems. What I 
would like to do is stop "the process" for a week so I can go over the 
material and make sure there are no more problems. I can't do what I did 
last night and stay up all night and then attempt to work.  It is going to 
take a few days to make sure that everything is acceptable. I am going to go 
through each of my chapters to make certain everything is OK. Once I get 
done with chapters 3 (finished this morning), chapter 2 and double-checking 
chapter 11 with all the tables of options I think it will actually go fairly 
fast.

Keith

from Bob
to Keith Murphy
cc Ed, Sheeri, Bob
date Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 4:43 PM
subject Need your summary of extent of plaigarism by Wednesday, January 7
mailed-by wiley.com

Hello Keith,

I've thought more about this, and realize that I'll need your summary of the areas in which you plagiarized material by start of business Wednesday. I can't wait til the end of this week to get this information and hope to keep the book's schedule from slipping.

It's EXTREMELY important that you be completely forthright about this; do not try to sugarcoat areas of plagiarism---better we know now than get slammed by readers later---and believe me, they will find and comment on duplicated material, and that will damage sales of the book, as well as your and Sheeri's reputations. (We're going to also be doing due diligence on our side as well.)

I'm not asking you to fix all of the problems by Wednesday-just to identify them, completely and honestly.

ALSO NOTE: Fixing the problem cannot simply be a matter of cosmetically changing a few words; it needs to be substantive. You're being counted on to provide readers with fresh, substantive, and original material. It benefits no one if you attempt to make quick, superficial fixes at this stage.

Once you identify the full extent of the problem, we'll then see if it's reasonable for you to handle all of the fixes yourself---if not, we may need to bring someone else on board. You may also need to take time off from work to give full attention to what has to be done ---we'll address that on Wednesday.

Thanks,

Bob

from Keith Murphy
to Bob
cc Ed, Sheeri, Bob
date Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 4:58 PM
subject Re: Need your summary of extent of plaigarism by Wednesday, January 7

k: See comments below.

Bob wrote:

k: I understand

I'm not asking you to fix all of the problems by Wednesday-just to identify them, completely and honestly.

k: Alright.

k: You can see what I did to resolve the problem in chapter three
where the options lists where identically worded to the MySQL manual.
For example, compare the options for mysqlcheck which begin on page
9 with the option list here:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysqlcheck.html. Before I began
last night, it was probably in no better shape than chapter two was
before Sheeri worked on it. I checked every option and reworded them
extensively as I worked through the chapter. I insured all examples
were original (they were) and the material in the GUI section was my
own. This one took 14 hours but I firmly believe that finishing this
and chapter 2 will resolve most of the problem (and where we will
spend most of time.

k: Alright.

Thanks,

Bob

k: Keith

--
Editor
MySQL Magazine
http://www.mysqlzine.net