Posting work written by others. **ALL MEMBERS READ**

The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

For those wondering why ATS might be just a little uptight about plagiarism, here's a fun exercise to try.

Follow the link below and see how many websites you can find who have incorporated SimonGray's classic Area 51 Installation essay into their website.

Here I simply searched Google for the opening words from Simon's article:

"Every weekday morning, at least 500 people arrive"

Not all the results point to plagiarist websites, but a surprising number of them do. Some point back to ATS, others don't.

Also, this isn't the only search which will turn these sorts of things up, nor the only ATS article which has been copied this way.

I remember the first time I performed this search. Well, actually a different one, for which I don't remember the exact search terms.

But I remember the search because it was just such a search – for information about Area 51 – that first brought me to ATS, and Simon's article was the first article I read when I got here.

Just something to think about.

Dear Mods,

Thank you for cleaning up my thread "Republicans Distancing Themselves from Bush?". I originally found the article on Excite.com. And, when I tested the link, I had a hard time trying to access the page. So, I researched the article and found it on Reuters. But every time, I tried to access the Reuter's page, my browser quit. I did not think to look on Yahoo!. I take the rules of plagerism seriously and I tried to make sure that all references to the story were there.

The story is true. I felt that it would be interesting if others could read it for themselves. So, I tried very hard to include the article in my post according to the rules of the ATS board.

So, when in all doubt, I posted the entire article because I didn't want anybody else to have the problems I did in accessing and reading the article.

Being that this was my first external link, I am glad that someone was there to help me. I am also thankful for the leniency that the mods (whoever they were correcting my post) gave me.

In the future, I will be even more careful when I post articles and do it to the best of my ability according to the rules.

Take care,

Ceci

P.S. (and edit) I did find out who helped me. Thank you very much, Don't Tread on Me. I am very much in your debt for helping me out.

[edit on 12-3-2006 by ceci2006]

You're very welcome, Ceci.
I couldn't find the article on excite, so searched the title and came up with the yahoo link.
I do try to acquaint members old and new with the current guidelines for external quotes.

(whoops sorry!! deleted cause no time to finish it. bak later!)













[edit on 24-3-2006 by Dimensional_Shifter]

Stupid is as stupid does -just take a look at all the avatars's you are using,look who's calling the kettle black,you can copy and use a picture that some poor sap took time to draw and most of you use it as your screen name and or the pictures(motorcycles,cartoon charactures ,someones picture other than your own.

shame on you mod's

Airtrax, I suggest not calling people stupid, really. Don't do that again, please.

Dimensional_Shifter, please do not edit out your posting after someone has posted behind it. This is very much akin to revising history, and we don't like that, either. If you'd like to add more later because you don't have time, I understand, but as far as removing what you had already posted, that is a seriosu no-go.

Thanks all.

Uh, okay, my turn and please don't laugh.

What about public domain material, such as the Bible? It's awfully hard to argue the existance of Jesus or the whereabouts of the Ark without some quotework from this book. I'm serious here.

[edit on 24-3-2006 by Toelint]

I'd say it needs external quote codes.
My interpretation of the guidelines is anything that is published outside of ATS needs the new [ex] [/ex] tags. I don't see public domain as being an exception.

Originally posted by Toelint
Uh, okay, my turn and please don't laugh.

What about public domain material, such as the Bible? It's awfully hard to argue the existance of Jesus or the whereabouts of the Ark without some quotework from this book. I'm serious here.

I've got a question related to this as well. Must we follow the 3 paragraph rule for quotes from Holy books as well? What's a paragraph in those books?

I think the general rule is to keep it as short as possible and to the point, with a link to the rest of it. If you're trying to put something into context, as so many of us have to when talking about holy books, quote some of it, summarize the rest, and provide a link to the full text. Just try to avoid the whole,

scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture scripture

See?

type of post. If you have a question regarding the specific post, send a mod from that forum a U2U with what you're planning on posting. Don't worry, we won't snake it and post it as our own

Well, the problem with summarizing texts from holy books is that we might inadvertedly change the meaning, or even worse, put our own spin to it. Or somebody might pop up and say we're sugar-coating our interpretation or some such things. Then we'd have to quote the passage or line or text again, so it's like twice the work to drive that point across.

To be frank I try to avoid discussions where I'd have to come quoting some passage or whatever from holy books because of this very reason. But there are times when I simply can't sit and watch out of context quotations or downright falsified translations be posted as the truth.

I'm sure you understand what I'm saying.

Can I Quote Me On That?

I wrote about quoting recently:

Trim Those Quotes!

That article discusses the ATS policies on quoting both internal and external text.

In general, the rule of thumb is to quote the minimum amount possible.

If people need to see more in the case of an external quote, they can follow the link. If they need to see more of an internal quote, they can scroll up.

When in doubt, be conservative, and remember you can U2U a mod anytime for advice.

I don't know where to put this. FYI Godlike Productions is down >hard< no apparent reason.

Some people who have been watching to try to infer *why* have been chatting about it at :

www.freedomcrowsnest.org...

just in case you're curious too.

When one wild and crazy Board goes down, we all have to wonder why and who's next.

**************
update : They claim they're hacked; will be coming back up. Whew.

One worries that freedom of speech can be serious eroded, under the table.







[edit on 26-3-2006 by chaiyah99]

How about a closed thread or some such thing posted somewhere, linked on EVERY page, especially the submit post or post reply or whatever you want to call it screen? Then those of us that aren't professional posters won't be at a loss and as a result getting yelled at for violating policies.

BTW, since I can't find the details within this monstrous thread (maybe on the first post would be a good place, rather than old information about using quotes?), I am unable to post what might have been good information.




Anyone with a direct link to the external source methods, please U2U me, thank you.

Here ya go:
www.abovetopsecret.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> Mod Note: Surround your snippet and link to an external source with these new tags: [ex] --> Begin external source content
[/ex] --> End external source content

*bump*

Mods, can we somehow sticky this to the news page, and any other pages that members would have immediate access to? That way, there'd be no more need to constantly bump it, plus there'd then be no reason why we shouldn't be following these policies.

Just makes sense, if you ask me.

TheBorg

P.S. I'm only asking this for the newer members that may not know what all of this means, as well as for a reference guide for those of us that don't have the time to remember all of that when we're in the middle of a heated debate. Please give this some consideration.

Thanks.

Originally posted by TheBorg

there'd be no more need to constantly bump it

*B U M P*

We bump as we please


If you're quoting anything from outside ats, use ex-tags!


If you type this:

[ex]Blahblahblah, some quoted text from outside of ats. I don't have a link, but let's pretend these are not my own words but something from the bible, some lyrics or whatever. Actually it would be better if I had a link, but even if I don't have a link I will still use ex-tags so I will not be accused of plagiarism [/ex]

...it will produce this:

Blahblahblah, some quoted text from outside of ats. I don't have a link, but let's pretend these are not my own words but something from the bible, some lyrics or whatever. Actually it would be better if I had a link, but even if I don't have a link I will still use ex-tags so I will not be accused of plagiarism

...when posted.


You might alternately use news-tags instead, if the source is a recent news article. Like this:

[news]

Some quoted text from a news article. Remember, the reader can read the rest of the article by clicking on your link.[/news]

will produce this when posted:


Remember to add a link when using news-tags.

[edit on 2006/8/25 by Hellmutt]

so it would be safe to quote one paragraph from the website and comment on it??? sometimes i quote half a page but no one here is using it for profit are they now.

why is ats even worried about this? when people read stuff here usually theyre interested to go to the original site and read more of it there... quoting more is a good thing is you ask me!

[edit on 26-8-2006 by worksoftplayhard]