Copy Paste Steal. Cite your sources.

in #steem8 years ago (edited)


I was browsing some articles people have posted here and was disappointed to see that people have been posting the entirety of the article in full without links or sources. Some have.

Don't steal content.

Now, like us here, they too are content creators and they make their money through ads and views on their page. Let's not resort to the Facebook pages where they rip off YouTube creators for Likes and Shares. We are better than that. Instead, I would like recommend a new "template" of how one should post links with stories and articles.

What to do.

Using the example of a post I added earlier with this article.

  1. Quote the intro or lead paragraph only.
  2. Provide a hyperlink to the original article.

For example, it should look like this.

Home Computers Connected to the Internet Aren't Private, Court Rules

 A federal judge for the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled that the user of any computer that connects to the Internet should not have an expectation of privacy because computer security is ineffectual at stopping hackers. 

Read Here

What NOT to do.


A judge in Virginia rules that people should have no expectation of privacy on their home PCs because no connected computer "is immune from invasion." 

 A federal judge for the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled that the user of any computer that connects to the Internet should not have an expectation of privacy because computer security is ineffectual at stopping hackers. 

 The June 23 ruling came in one of the many cases resulting from the FBI's infiltration of PlayPen, a hidden service on the Tor network that acted as a hub for child exploitation, and the subsequent prosecution of hundreds of individuals. To identify suspects, the FBI took control of PlayPen for two weeks and used, what it calls, a "network investigative technique," or NIT—a program that runs on a visitor's computer and identifies their Internet address. 

... Insert rest of article here.

That is content stealing.

Don't let Steem have a bad reputation due to this kind of behaviour! This should not be tolerated.

What should I do if I catch someone content stealing?

Show them this article or, kindly tell them that they should only be providing the lead paragraph with a link to the original article. Also, downvote them until they properly adhere to community guidelines. Best to always give a reason why you are downvoting content!

Thanks.

Thanks for your time and please, we need to curb this behaviour.

I would like to thank @andrea-annie for the suggestion to write up an article about this.

Sort:  

You may also find these discussions of interest (there are likely more) ...

https://steemit.com/steemit-ideas/@ash/idea-protect-content-owners
https://steemit.com/steem/@tuck-fheman/what-is-original-content-to-steemians
https://steemit.com/steem/@tuck-fheman/verified-accounts--reputation-system

I would also like to note that months ago this very topic was discussed and many here encouraged others to post the full article here on Steemit, with a link to the source and credit to the original author. Their basic idea, from what I remember, was that it would encourage the original author to post their articles here on Steemit. We've tried several methods from this tuck-fheman account.

  • Post the articles top tagline and link to source. (this was originally frowned upon)
  • Post a paragraph from the article and link to source. (this was later frowned upon)
  • Post entire article, link to source and give all proceeds earned to the author in an attempt to bring them to Steemit. (TBD)
  • Post a summary of the article in your own words and link to the original article. (widely accepted to date)
  • Write your own article on the topic. (highly recommended)

From what we've read and discussed in the past, there are very differing opinions on how posting others work should be handled on Steemit. Recently there has been a push to downvote any blatantly plagiarized content that does not at least link to the original source or note the original author. We have done this on several occasions using this tool to determine where the article originated.

There is one account in particular that has been plagiarizing articles so we've focused on that account most times, but generally any well written article by a new member to Steem is vetted by someone like @fav or others. As you can see from the first link above this is a topic of interest for many here and we are looking for a way to combat this theft of content (for profit) outside of the Community manually filtering articles.

Crossposting is another topic that's debated from time to time. The hashtag #OSC has been used by many to designate a post as "Original Steem Content" and any crosspost should be noted as such at the top of the article. In theory a crosspost should earn less than any OSC posted here. Some writers have begun to modify their crosspost adding extra content to freshen up the original article, which is a nice touch and should be rewarded more than a simple crosspost.

Once Steem has the ability to verify accounts and possibly have a reputation system it should be easier to determine which accounts are legitimately crossposting their content or taking credit for post as a widely known author, which generally are rewarded more simply because of their reputation outside of Steemit.

As we discuss these topics more and more we should be able to come to a consensus on how to properly handle each one of these and hopefully have the tools to automate our curation. Otherwise we can usually rely on some of the more reputable Community members to weed out the posers and plagiarizers.

Damn I just updated the tags on my best OC posts to all have #pfunkblog, don't make me update them again :P

Thanks for this @tuck-fheman. I will absolutely start using #OSC and glad there has been a general consensus done among users in regards to this.

I tried to start an #originalsteemcontent #osc tag, but it didn't really catch on

CG

Not a bad idea. I know on Reddit people put "OC" at the end of title to state that it is original material.

Storing controversial data in full to prevent censorship is also a valid use of the steem blockchain.
With proper author credits, of course.

Your suggestion just gave me a thought, there should be an "archive" tag that does exactly that!

I think your suggestions make sense.

I guess if the original author copies and posts one of their articles here, that might be okay. Although they should make sure they have not sold "all rights" to the original site that is currently displaying the article. In that case, they have no right to repost here.

Even if they are the original writer and have the right to repost it wherever they want, it might be best to post just the lead paragraph with a link to the original as suggested. However, if the person does decide to post the entire article, maybe they could expand on it here, to provide added value.

Just my thoughts!

Yes of course, that is exceptionally ok. For example, I know some BTC / altcoin news sites will start to post on here but likely will still provide a link back to their website for the added ad revenue. That needs to be disclaimed though I would think.

Good stuff - so, follow basic rules for good curation and all is well.

I appreciate this post because improving the quality of the content we produce and support will determine the success we all share.

This is what I did and your buddy account @adm still flagged me. Completely unfair

Thanks for the article !
I am soooo tired from people who copy and paste from the Internet that I've created a MEME that I sent under their article :-D
First I explain. Second I send the MEME. Third I flag :-D

Plagiarism on steemit.jpg