RE: Sponsored Writing Contest: TCASH - EtherFlyer - Winners Announcement!
Congratulations
to all the entrants and to this week's winners ! a huge bagful of entries for the judges to wade through, no doubt an enjoyable and insightful experience for them.
A great and concise 1st Place
by @alz190 and an equally concise and well written article by @nicholas83 with his illustrated entry. To @cryptolucky and to @godo, also many congratulations.
I think we can all agree that Etherflyer is a really positive project which will no doubt do very well in the coming months and years.
Unusually...
one slightly sour note this week and this is really not my usual sentiment on the podium. There was bit of blatant and quite inappropriate plagiarism going on this week.
@nicholas83 took the custom built, graphic header straight from my post (which took me quite a while to build in Photoshop and which was an integral part of my entry) and did not stop to think where it came from or politely source it as image by @outerground). It clearly did not come from Etherflyer's website.
While I am happy to not make a big fuss about it in the friendly spirit of the contest, I also noted that @nicholas83 directly lifted 5 of my screengrabs also straight from my post, which I had made from copious research and reading of the Etherflyer documentation. (They are plainly my grabs as evidenced by the matching file names which I gave them, the blockchain does not lie.)
MMmmm....!
To make it worse, he placed them in almost the identical order I did in my post. While this is not a terrible crime, it is clear evidence of what you should not be doing on STEEMIT in any of your posts. When there is 150BD at stake in a contest context, this is particularly wrong. Lifting and taking from a competing post is a direct form of plagiarism and one that the judges could not be blamed for missing. Lazy @nicholas83 tut tut !! your article was good but your methods of cutting corners are not best practice.
Recommended Resolution
@nicholas83 I recommend you pay me a voluntary fine of 1SBD for each screengrab infringement and 3SBD for the Grand Theft Picture of my header image from your slightly ill gotten gains ! that's a very fair 8SBD compensation which is a lot less than my usual Photoshop hourly rate and would I believe be a fair compensation. do you agree ?
@originalworks I welcome and respect your comments / input on this.
Hey @outerground.
I can see your concern. I am sorry this slipped through, as it is something that is hard to catch.
@nicholas83, in the future please make your own images sourced from the website rather than from other users.
I believe the responsibility is partly mine for not properly addressing this in the rules as well.
I have taken steps to correct this.
Thank you for pointing this out.
@unprovoked thanks for your response. It's not your fault, although your very kind gesture is both touching and appreciated. I respect your excellent organisation of the @orignalworks contests and they are an important part of my steemit experience and for many others too.
I think there's huge value in encouraging people to research and learn about BlockChain and the host of amazing projects rolling out week by week. It's helping people with developing new skillsets & possibly some new careers as Altcoin Journalists of the future. !
Thanks @outerground! It is exactly as you say. I love reading articles and seeing the amazing skill here on Steemit. The contests being judged by the teams themselves also continuously give us fresh eyes to judge quality without judging writers based on their previous work.
Can't wait to see more great stuff :)
I agree I took the graphics. I am so sorry.
My apologies dude. It is no excuse. It's just that I suck at graphics. Writing is my forte. Again. I will pay you for your work.
I am glad you came forward and cleared everything up @nicholas83. That shows real integrity!
Excited to see your future submissions!
I sent you 10SBD. If I owe you more, please tell me. And again, my apologies. There is absolutely no excuse for what I did. I am so sorry.
@nicholas83 you've suffered enough and I appreciate your honest response and gesture. I think we've all learned something from the experience and we can put it to bed as dealt with. Your apology is accepted and I hope you won't be put off from writing more prize winning insights in the future. You have a talent and one that should continue to grow.
Some of the best winning articles are often short with no pictures, which I think we can all benefit from taking note of ;)
sorted
Thanks for doing more than asked, and for your humble responses on this issue, @nicholas83! You have done the right thing by it. I hope you continue in this group.
Cheers!
@mitneb
You have written a very diplomatic and gentle comment to address a very significant issue, @outerground!
I commend you for how you have handled this issue, keeping things transparent, yet civil.
Your approach has strengthened, rather than torn down.
You provided an avenue for restitution which encouraged honesty, accountability and was full of grace.
I'm sorry that you had to deal with something like this, but in the end I think it will serve to make Steemit better and stronger, if only in one small corner of the space.
I'm happy to have you for a friend!
Cheers!
@mitneb
thanks @mitneb. That's very kind and your comment is much appreciated. It's quite a special little corner of steemit and there are some great writers contributing. Everyone deserves a fair chance of impressing the judges and I think everyone has learned something new, including myself :) Your friendship and support is equally valued :)