Disturbing trend?

I could not agree with you more!!! I was upset just yesterday because I ran into a discussion that was started and it seemed like a copy and paste article. So, I searched it and found that it was word for word from a health website. The title of the article was not even changed! The person that wrote that article took the time to research the subject and put it into words. I would think that one would at least give a summary and then tell the reader that if they wanted more information or to read the full article, they give a link to that article. But then I see these people do not even give a reference to the article. It is then posted as if it is their own words. And that is called plagiarism!!! Well, my friends, it is against myLot guidelines and I hope that if you run into something like this, you would report it. Because there are people like us that do the real work and read the article and put into our own words! It is not fair to the writer being plagiarized and not fair to others that work hard on myLot.

As the poster above said, unfortunately it's not a new trend - I know not long after I joined, I was amazed at how often I would come across an article that had been copied from another site with no credit given to the original author. (Of course even if credit is given I don't think people should just paste other people's words and then expect monetary credit for it, even if they have provided the attached author credit) The thing is, is that not only is it against myLot's rules it's also a breach of copyright and could get the poster in a great deal of trouble (finacial as well as legal). I know there has been times when I spent the majority of my time on this site reporting those I came across. I have several articles scattered around the internet on a variety of different subjects and I know I would be devastated if I discovered someone basically claiming my words as their own. I will admit that I haven't come across any recently and I thought that some of the changes (the no copy/paste rule etc) might have made a difference. But I gather by this that unless they are old discussions that have yet to be deleted, once again people have found a way around the restriction. All I can suggest is that we all keep reporting them and hopefully sooner or later people will get the idea that it's just not worth it - at least until the next bunch of would be cheaters come along.

This isn't a new trend though, it's been going on since the conception of Mylot. I blame it on the easy joining process. They take just anyone, and they have no real way of keeping up and monitoring the integrity and ethics of the members that join. They depend on all of us to police and monitor their site, but all that does is swamp them with numerous 'abuse reports' that they take weeks and weeks to go through before they get a chance to remove the person. And, what's the good of removing the person? They just come back with a new and different name, but same old game. I've suggested a few times to Mylot that they give us the a blocking feature and a 'red flagging feature'. This way if we see someone who cheats and scams here, we can block them, report them, and then also 'red flag' them. The 'red flag' would also appear next to their discussion and this will tell other members to not even bother going there and responding. When these members see that they aren't getting responses, other than from their scammer friends, they might just go away. It would also help mylot moderate their own site. They can go to these flagged discussions and they too can check out the abuse with ease, and possibly even catch all the other scammers in that discussion--because they all seem to flock together. I no longer want to start discussions here, because I don't want some cheater to come along and plagiarize my words, and earn off of what I write.

i saw someone copy and paste someones exact words the other day... i noticed it becuase 1.i had already replied to the same discussion..and below where it showed related dicussions you could see the same words in a like discussion.. I ofcourse did what every mylotian who sees this activity should do.. reported it :) I dont understand why people just cant type themselves..only time i copy and paste is Website links.

Some of the things I've seen are literal ripoffs of whole articles from websites. One of them, from memory, still had the AP heading. Others were bulk posts, several at a time, pretty conspicuous. I searched one, and it was absolutely verbatim from several news sites. You can spot the style, easily, and if the person's posts are otherwise netbabble, you can see a difference even more easily. It's hard to pretend a writing style. Suggest just don't reply, and report abuse. If we wanted to read newspapers, we can do it ourselves.

You are sooo right. I think it would be called plagiarism, and is not something one would like to get caught doing. If you can't think of it in your own words you should not be here at MyLot. Thats what I think. It disgusts me.

Before 2 months, i was done one or two discuusions by copy and paste from mylot. After that i think myself that why am i do like this? I have sense of thinking....now i avoid that totally and do myself...

I thought the copy and past rule was for copying other peoples posts or discussions and using them as your own. I didn't think it pertained to articles off the internet. And what's wrong with copying and pasting part of an article if you give the link?

What I tend to do if I find an interesting item from the news is to quote a snippet then add a source link. Either underneath or above I will then share my thoughts on that bit of news. I tend to post obscure stuff or local news that others might not have heard about. I believe that if credit is given and it is not just the news story and nothing else it should be ok.

It's not hard to do it the right way. I find the paraphrased versions catch my eye faster than just a copy and paste.

Great point...Not only would pasting the link be the right thing to do legally and in keeping with Mylot's terms and such, but it would also give people the option of deciding for themselves whether or not they actually want to read the article that's being referenced. If you think about it, anyone who can access Mylot obviously has access to the internet, and can access other websites, so a link to the story you want to discuss is not only the right thing to do, it's the most logical thing to do.

This is really true.we should follow the Rules and the Regulations of the website. If you want to earn money you should utilise the skills and post so that others are benefited. It should be a problem solving exercise for all; not a problem creating exercise.

I copy my own 'stuff' and paste it here. This helps me to be more creative. Learning, unlearning, learning are the process suited for excellence. You get some IDEAS and if you follow them, after some time, you never know, same would become IDEALS. -va-

This is very disappointing to read as a new subscriber. I'm actually here to see if i can get a intellectual conversation.

Well when people do this they not only cheat the system of mylot, they cheat themselves and create an air of idiotic vapour around their genitals.

I haven't noticed this at all. I guess some people just don't have any thought left and they are reading something interesting and want to share it. I know it is the lazy way out to just copy and paste. They don't usually get my attention unless they are saying something about the article per se.

It is well said that honesty is the best policy! Consequences of dishonesty are always bad. So we must carefully decide this. Thanks.

Yeah you are right.. i have seen many topics like that.. but the mylot system has introduced a new system like not allowing the members to copy paste the response. but many topics related to personnel problems and who for suggestions there no one can copy paste the response from a blog or from a website they have to type the response. If the response is irrelevant to the topic then one can decide its a scam..

another suggestion would be to recognize the original author of the article. this will give a sort of a courtesy to them. =)

well how long can do such things ..will they get content for that ..remember we here come to enjoy ..not to just run in some race