How angry do you get when people cheat or mislead when stealing your business?
How angry do you get when you see someone post something that is 100% not theirs, yet there is no reference to another article. What if they stole your content and made money off of it?
I know Lenn Harley is good at writing these kinds of posts about plagiarism and she seems to be the master of putting the right information out there. But I guess I had to write about this today after I came across four posts back-to-back from one single person. WOW.. Okay, I could see one now and maybe one a few weeks from now. But four all within several hours? I guess it didn't take long since they were all copied word for word.
Why should this anger me or anyone else? Because I work hard when writing my own posts. No, I don't buy the material and I especially don't copy the material. And if I did copy some bits and pieces, I would place those sentences in quotations and reference back to both the article and the author. Just common sense, right?
When you copy something without permission, what are doing besides stealing content or pictures? Aren't you stealing something from yourself? Maybe integrity? Self-worth? Who is the real you behind your posts? The list could go on and on.
What ever happened to common sense and right from wrong? I have seen some people get caught and say, "I didn't know any better."... lol Sorry for laughing, but really? I am sure most of us at least got to 8th grade and I can remember clearly being taught from 3rd grade to 6th grade that copying, aka plagiarism, was wrong.
So, what is plagiarism? From wikipedia and many dictionaries, "the wrongful appropriation". Please click on the link for a more defined answer and some interesting history regarding plagiarism. Can you fit the description of integrity if you plagiarize?
Summary : Hey, I am far from being perfect. I know when I was in 4th grade, I would copy a 3 sentence paragraph and build around that with my own words. But my teachers would sometimes still question me about it. Even then, I knew it was wrong. As an adult, you possibly can't figure this out on your own without a handbook? In society, do we give the benefit of the doubt on everything now, let it go the first time, and forgive? Again, I am not perfect, but at what expense? And if people do this, what are they saying to their clients when trying to get their business? Are they lying? Misleading? Just food for thought....
TRUE STORY - I once had a post here on Active Rain that was not only stolen, plagiarized, but it was featured that day... lol I contacted AR and after they investigated the issue, it was taken down.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT -Okay, so you didn't tell me that you knew any better, when you plagiarized. But now you received 3 comments telling you what an excellent post and how you did such a great job with writing it, how great it sounds... nice job here. You mean an alert siren doesn't go off in your head saying, "wow, they thought I wrote this"... "so I must tell them"...
For those that might not be clear on this topic... if you are going to copy a sentence or small paragraph, you would want to italicize it, place it in quotes, and make reference to the article and author with a link. In my opinion, when copying the whole article, even if you are going to make reference to it, is still wrong. Besides, I have people ask me if they can repost my stuff on their outside blog, which I have no problem with. As long as I get credit with a link. And isn't this common sense anyhow?
And Lenn Harley added her insight and a very good example :
WHAT? DO YOU MEAN THAT THERE IS PLAGIARISM COMMITTED BY ACTIVERAIN MEMBERS?? I'M SHOCKED - - SHOCKED!
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