How to ruin a platform's reputation - Plagiarism
Lately, I keep on running into two things: Plagiarism and copy/paste comments.
I'm spending more time flagging than upvoting lately. That's not really how I want to spend my time here, so I'm asking you all to pitch in. Squash these bugs while they're still small and set an example for future members.
The example
I ran into this post a little while ago:
Great, right? Then I saw Cheetah's comment:
Hmm, let's just check that out, shall we?
Wikihow:
Our plagiarist:
Ouch, doesn't look good for this guy. Time to flag and explain why...
Not too rude, right? I still have my kind moments...
Then, the argument ensued!
Wait, a friend? Wikihow? Just the images taken from the site huh? But... what about Cheetah's comment? What about my very own eyes being able to see the exact match from the texts?
I cannot make this any more clear, can I? I checked out his profile and surprise surprise, he re-posted the article again. It even had an upvote or two! A whole $0.01 pending! Not anymore though.
Sigh...
This guy has plenty of Cheetah comments on his posts and he is rude and daring enough to challenge a plagiarism claim, even though this particular one was very obvious.
I know Cheetah's comment doesn't always mean the post is plagiarised. I got my fair share of Cheetah comments when I started out with copying content from my Wordpress blog to Steemit. People also quote sources sometimes. However, if you see Cheetah's comment on any post, please just check out of it's plagiarised, before you upvote the content. If it's blatant plagiarising, either flag it yourself (with an explanation), or report to Steemcleaners through Steemit.chat.
At the very least, don't upvote the post.
How would you feel when someone stole your text/art and earned a couple of bucks (or even hundreds) from it?
Would you not feel betrayed? Would you not feel that you deserve (some of) those earnings?
Plagiarism gives Steemit a bad name, especially because we can actually earn from our content here. If you're very unlucky, I'm sure you could get into some serious trouble by stealing text, art or pictures from an online source. You're not allowed to just use anything you come across online, especially when you're using it to earn money (including crypto). Don't simply copy pictures from google or random websites either. Use your own or figure out if the picture you want to use is free to use for commercial purposes (and check if this is with or without mentioning the source).
What can you do to keep up Steemit's good name?
The simplest thing you can do is keep an eye on the comment section of a post. If you see Cheetah commenting there, follow its link and see if the posted content is the same as the content in Cheetah's link. If it is, check out if the Steemian mentioned the source in his/her article. Did he/she quote (part of) the source and mention it? No problem! Did he/she mention it was a copy from his/her own blog or site? No problem! However, is there no mention of the original source whatsoever? You should take action. You can report them to Steemcleaners in the Steemit.chat steemcleaners linkdrop channel. You can also flag the post yourself and write a comment on why you flagged them. Depending on how bad or minor the plagiarising is, you could even offer to remove the flag once they properly cite the source.
Please help keep the platform free of this kind of abuse. It takes all of us to keep a watchful eye. Don't be afraid to use your flag. If you are afraid of retaliation, you can report to Steemcleaners instead, so you won't have to challenge anyone yourself.
Repeat offenders who have already been warned should always be reported to Steemcleaners, because they can simply do more than one person could.
| Photo shop | Foodblog | Photo gallery | Twitter |
Want to satisfy your creative needs? Join the Marvelous Tales Contest!
Become my patreon and earn yourself a mention or permanent place in my blog posts!
The header I'm using was created by @samstonehill, offered for us to use through this post.
Fair warning: Copy/paste comment and obvious bot comments will get flagged.
A beautifully presented article despite the rather less beautiful subject matter.
Upped 100% and resteemed.
People really need to learn that we, the consistent genuine original content creators will not stand for this kind of plagiarism followed by blatant lies. I congratulate you @playfulfoodie on your actions. And if you continue to see this kind of thing, please send me their link as a PM on steemit.chat
...and you will no longer have to fight this fight alone!
Thank you for correctly crediting me for your main image 🙏🏻
I rather like that particular image and had actually forgotten about it! Think I will use it in my website now.... thanks for the reminder 😃
Thank you so much for your kind comment @samstonehill! I'll remember to PM you if things don't work out with only my flags. I just reported this particular guy to Steemcleaners, so I'm sure they'll make work of it.
Yes, I really love this image of yours! I've used it in a couple of other Steemit-related posts aswell in the past, but I forgot to tell you about this latest one. Glad you found it on your own :D
Hi @playfulfoodie, we loved this post so much we felt to talk about you in our post today. Have quoted and linked back here accordingly and also would love to see you in our mastermind group if you feel so inclined.
https://steemit.com/plagiarism/@kenistyles/plagiarism-what-can-we-do-about-it-the-story-of-my-first-flag
People that just plagiarize really do not understand the website. They think it's a way to make easy money. Just flagging the posts will hopefully get the idea in their heads.
I think it's just funny when I see posts like those haha
I think plenty get caught. I hope there aren't a lot of people who get away with this stuff, because then it would be easy money. We need a lot of people flagging this stuff, so others won't get bad ideas!
And this process happens all the time with steemit:
Hahah, yes, exactly this! Cheetah has really helped out as well as people who flag.
Hah, yeah that sounds about right!
It is getting a bit tiresome.
Last one I came across is @drt, who has already copied my content and also copied @sardrt's content, plus some varied content from around the interwebs.
There are so many ...
Ooh I see, bah! Flagged one of his posts you commented on now.
Yes, there are so many lately. I hope most get caught, though I can't imagine they do. Atleast not before they earn some quick cash for their plagiarism.
Did you report it? Can it be reported somewhere? I see he didn't answer you yet?
I flagged it and knocked his rep from 40 to 39.
I suppose you can report it somewhere on one of the fora surrounding Steemit, but I never go there.
He did answer, sort of, by asking "are u idiot" in a comment under this post, but I flagged that as well.
Hope people learn from their or other's mistakes. @playfulfoodie thumbs-up for your spirit of education people. Keep up the good work. Even i had some event in past when cheetah commented on my post and you guided me then :)
Thank you so much @abhinav.badola, I hope you're doing well!
Yes, I hope people will learn from other's mistakes :-)
I am doing good, hope the same from your side. But looks like some people don't have decency to accept their mistakes, they keep on looking for shortcuts. Anyways have a nice evening.
Yup, I think you're right! I'm doing good too, have a nice evening :-)
I'm a little minnow but I understand fairness and ethics. If I were a whale, you'd be many thousands of upvotes richer. Thank you for doing such a thankless job. I'm following you for sure. Mil gracias.
Aww thank you very much, that's such a sweet thing to say :-)
Im having my eyes open. And def flag when I see something like this. Im glad finally people are standing up.
Peace
Glad to hear that @markush!
Thanks for the info! I wasn't sure how that worked beyond flagging... Funny he is even going to argue about it lol. BTW on their banana bread post, the first image of the banana cut up is the third search result when you type banana into Google images!
Yeah, I figured none of his posts would be original... Sounds like a Steemcleaners issue, which is where I just reported him.
Thanks for pointing it out in the open @playfulfoodie . I've seen a lot of the same the past few weeks, and actually, I'm hoping these are all kids 'trying to make some quick (HAH young and naive) cash' with re-posts, while being bored during the holidays...
It's a minor detail really, but I just have to point it out:
The fact he didn't even bother about the layout while he had a ready-made example (/recipe 😉 ) in front of him.
@liomerciz : If you copy something, cite it. And if you don't, then at least try to add some personal flavour to it.
And don't lie. It makes you look like you're full of (sh)it 💩
Thanks for your comment @lauraorigin!
That's a good point you're making. I hope there's some truth to that and things will calm down after the holidays :-)
Far worse things are going on including people using exploits to get a decent amount of $$ for a bunch of worthless photos of weeds, rocks and other worthless content. At least with the people you mention, you know what they are up to.
You're right! I was just pointed to the @sherlockholmes account yesterday and read about pretty elaborate scams there. I'm glad someone's looking into that. One of the accounts was actually one I followed, so I threw in some flags before unfollowing that particular one.
I have to admit, I don't dig as deep as our Sherlock does, so I just try to battle the obvious.
The problem with the bigger scams can be that they also have more SP at their disposal though. I've seen whales fighting each other aswell and some claiming others are exploiting the system. I'm not sure what I can do there, besides not upvoting...
I saw allot of new users who take pictures not say the source and boom they make money from that, for users who have some money in the account the things change. Mostly they use their own content or they read something and make an article about that but with they own words, and what they think about what they read and if they are not good at taking photos they search for free photos and they put the source. It is not hard at all but copy paste from somewhere i think it is a bad thing. I saw this phenomenon just on new people and i think they don't know or they try their luck. If they will have money in account maybe they will change. I think on steemit it must be a very big and red warning Do not post copy paste content because you will get flaged and from there your account is useless and they dont understand your account is more valuable if you have reputation then the money. Maiibe i am wrong but they are to many and what will be after 1 year or 2 if the price of steemit will go up.
I'm worried about this trend to be honest and hope we can somehow get the point across. You're right, I think some don't know better, which is why I feel that we need to explain our flagging in a comment on their post. Some people genuinely didn't know and change their ways. Other will ignore you or try to argue, which are the ones I report to Steemcleaners.