Our New Approach To Plagiarized ATS Member Content

I can't say if I find anything I wrote on a topic within a post here would be any great deal if I found someone copied it word for word and claimed it as their own. If (by chance) I even came across it I might take the time to join that site quickly to set the record straight with proof of timestamps but, oh well, is it really worth it? Is it worth me running around all over the net in paranoia that this would occur to my fictional name/personna 'suzque'? No.

My university essays/articles/journals are online, now if THOSE were copied/plagerized then YES, I would be p-d off. They are also already registered in my name and if used for any accredited education facility--most of them have anti-plagerism catalogue websites that check on their students anyways. I often have to watch my own wording here so that anything I might have written similarly academically could not be compared, for anonimity's sake. I can't exactly quote myself (since that can be googled and voila, unless I admit my real name, then I would myself be accused of plagerism lol--of my own work).

I wouldn't worry about my posts, but I would notify another ATS user if I witnessed seeing their words being used/abused elsewhere. It would be up to them whether to pursue it further. So, yes, I would do my best, in that case, to protect a fellow-ATS-er.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I strongly approve of the "ask-plagiarized-member-if-they-mind" tack in your approach to enforcement. I think that is nicely nuanced, ethically attentive and pretty thoroughly correct.
You got this one right, yessir, this is good.

Originally posted by PrisonerOfSociety
Just be done with it and let it be a free-for-all. Let the internet be free from the shackles of stupid laws....

I agree. How many tens of thousands of years of human evolution and communication, repeating what we've heard, passing it on, adapting it and how often when talking to someone do we quote our sources or even not say something because it 'belongs' to someone else. It is ridiculous !

If you think your words or ideas belong soley to you then there is no hope, the nature of our personalities depends on what we've been told or experienced from elsewhere, it really is very, very silly to think you own the copyright to a string of words.

That said, the law does exist and i think the way ATS is dealing with it, by only acting when users have requested it is the way to go in this rather perculiar environment of 'belief in ownership'. None of us really own anything.

What do you call a country and western singer with a condom under his nose ?

Johnny Tash !

Now dont you dare tell that joke to anyone else !

reply to post by SkepticOverlord

I commend you for your policy. I had a work of mine plagiarized and only found out about it by accident. I am glad that you are taking this approach. Kudos to ATS!

Dear Mods-

Concerning all the individuals who claim that the internet is a free-for-all, that these are just words, and that credit does not have to be given where credit is do... regarding those posters, I humbly ask you, the Mods, if I may have their points and flags and stars.

After all, those are just meaningless attributes to posts as well, correct?

Thank you, Mods! I look forward to seeing my points and such greatly increasing.

-Soothsayer

Originally posted by The Soothsayer


After all, those are just meaningless attributes to posts as well, correct?

Correct, well done.

And would you like to buy these magic beans ? and i have this very special invisable suit that can only be seen by those that are worthy, special price to you.

Don't know if my meaning was lost or not, but I was being sarcastic. I'm against plagiarism in all its forms, including piracy of recorded material.

If people don't have the brains to develop their own opinions... if people don't have the mental capability to organize their own thoughts into coherent lines of communication, and must steal someone else's opinions and thoughts, well...

It makes you a mindless spore, incapable of independent thought.

With that being the case, either a) don't post, or b) instead of doing a copy and paste, just type in the web-link. Why waste bandwidth on someone's quoted work, when a simple one line address can be just as productive?

Originally posted by The Soothsayer
Don't know if my meaning was lost or not, but I was being sarcastic. I'm against plagiarism in all its forms, including piracy of recorded material.

If people don't have the brains to develop their own opinions... if people don't have the mental capability to organize their own thoughts into coherent lines of communication, and must steal someone else's opinions and thoughts, well...

It makes you a mindless spore, incapable of independent thought.

With that being the case, either a) don't post, or b) instead of doing a copy and paste, just type in the web-link. Why waste bandwidth on someone's quoted work, when a simple one line address can be just as productive?

My apologies if i didnt get your sarcasm,.

imo, it doesnt matter if people copy or come up with their own ideas, we're all in this together and we should be free to quote or use other peoples words if it suits, why does it matter in the grande scheme of things ? We learn by repeating what we have experienced and as we become more capable we might take only a bit from here and a word from there. It's all part of the spectrum of learning and communicating and evolving. We should embrace it, not be critical of it.

Here's the BBC's content contribution T&C's fyi:

In contributing to BBC News you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way that we want, and in any media worldwide. This may include the transmission of the material by our overseas partners; these are all reputable foreign news broadcasters who are prohibited from altering the material in any way or making it available to other UK broadcasters or to the print media. (See the Terms and Conditions for the full terms of our rights.) It's important to note, however, that you still own the copyright to everything you contribute to BBC News and that if your image and/or video is accepted, we will endeavour to publish your name alongside it on the BBC News website. Please note that due to operational reasons this accreditation will probably not be possible with video. The BBC cannot guarantee that all pictures and/or video will be used and we reserve the right to edit your comments. At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws.

N.B. I have used NDA's for my biz that I've copied from the net; I find that kind of ironic

[edit on 21-7-2009 by PrisonerOfSociety]

Oh, I know, and I do see both sides of the argument, and can appreciate them. It's just that, well, here...

I once turned down a job with a comic book company (I won't say who), because I figured I ould do what I wanted on my own... this was before I met my wife.

A few months after my decline of employment, I saw on the news stand my character (again, won't say). Same costume, same appearance. I bought the issue, and the character had the same abilities / drawbacks as well. And, yes, it was by the same company that offered me the job.

So now, whenever I draw something, or write a story or poem, I do the cheap copy-write by mailing it to myself and leave the envelope sealed... just in case. Even with the stories I've done on ATS, I've mailed them to myself first.

Also, my father used to be in a band in the 70s - 80s, and had a record deal with (won't say who). Paper write ups compared them as a combination of KISS and Pink Floyd. The singer / rights owner of the band died from an overdose AFTER the first tape was recorder, but BEFORE the papers were finalized. That company has used some tracks from that recording for other artists, with the band members not being able to do a thing about it.

Yes, the internet is different... there's so much out there that it is hard to keep track of whose info is whose, I get that.

I just personally don't care for it.

Originally posted by The Soothsayer


A few months after my decline of employment, I saw on the news stand my character (again, won't say). Same costume, same appearance. I bought the issue, and the character had the same abilities / drawbacks as well. And, yes, it was by the same company that offered me the job.

Why won't you say ?

Just out of misguided morals, I guess. The name's of the company / product aren't important anymore, and they aren't relevant to this thread. Likewise, I wouldn't want someone to talk negatively about me behind my back.

It's over and done with.

...

I'll say this much: it wasn't one of the major companies, and I haven't seen anything by that particular company in quite a long time. Let bygones be bygones, and all that.

Originally posted by The Soothsayer
Just out of misguided morals, I guess. The name's of the company / product aren't important anymore, and they aren't relevant to this thread. Likewise, I wouldn't want someone to talk negatively about me behind my back.

It's over and done with.

...

I'll say this much: it wasn't one of the major companies, and I haven't seen anything by that particular company in quite a long time. Let bygones be bygones, and all that.

Thats fair enough, but you did bring it up and so it's not really 'over and done with'. Nothing against you at all, but i cant take what you are saying seriously if you are not prepared to back it up. You may as well of said 'imagine the scenario where a comic company steals someones idea', it's in the realm of a made up anecdote (not that it is made up of course, but it has the same value to us readers)

It's really simple ...if you cannot post your own thoughts, don't post someone else's thoughts and claim them as your own. If you don't have the "balls" to say what you feel, hiding behind someone else's work is the MOST pathetic thing you can do. And if you are wondering, it IS PLAGERISM if you post something from someone else's work or from another site, paper, book or whatever and do not post it in "quotes" with the link to THEIR work. It is called references.

[edit on 02/13/2007 by ForceMaster]

Originally posted by ForceMaster
It's really simple ...if you cannot post your own thoughts, don't post someone else's thoughts and claim them as your own. If you don't have the "balls" to say what you feel, hiding behind someone else's work is the MOST pathetic thing you can do. And if you are wondering, it IS PLAGERISM if you post something from someone else's work or from another site, paper, book or whatever and do not post it in "quotes" with the link to THEIR work. It is called references.

[edit on 02/13/2007 by ForceMaster]

Does that also count for all the 9/11 stories that are repeated (albeit with a slight rearrangement of words). If it wasnt for people repeating what they had read or heard there would be no 9/11 movement (unless of course we all did our own research into the subject). I think if we get all stuck up about the words used rather than the content of what people are 'thinking' (where ever those thoughts originated), information goes stagnant and communication would break down.

What is important, the information or who actually used a certain set of words that we all share in our common language. Why does it matter ?

I agree that it's an extra nicety that we can include when disseminating information but surely it's the information that should have a greater weighting than who said it. unless of course it is ego's we are protecting rather than the value of information.

In case anyone's interested, someone has stolen a bunch of my Great Awakening post here:

www.xomoxnyc.com...

My original here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

He's mangled the original intent AND tried to copyright it under his name.

* * *

That thread has been copy-pasted by a lot of people. I'm happy and flattered that they do that... Everyone has linked back to the original ATS post and so there's no problem.

But this guy stole it...........

I will wait a couple of days for the reply so hopefully I can deal with it myself................... I'll keep this thread posted.








[edit on 011f20091amMon, 09 Nov 2009 07:02:48 -060048 by HiAliens]

reply to post by SkepticOverlord

Good to know!
I had this happen recently.
Wish I had seen this thread earlier.

What gets me is when you do your best to place an intelligent thread on the forum, and within minutes your links are being used for new threads and yet they don't bother to even post on your original thread.

Happens alot.

This is a good thread because some members do a lot of research especially for the more esoteric topics and to lift entire entries and post it elsewhere is no good at all.