When is "cheating" really CHEATING?

I agree as many of the other responders do that the title is pure coincidence. With so many people there is bound to me same titles and similar content. I would consider it cheating if not only the title but the content was word for word. As you stated the content was entirely different. Many people take the "cheating" thing way to far. Some people think that they are completely original and therefore it must be cheating since someone else came up with the exact same headline or title. I had a member accuse me of something similar regarding a discussion. While my discussion was different in what I was asking it did have similarities to it. The member accused me of not being original. When I went to their profile to check out their discussions all of them were the same discussions that had been done here many times over. Although they did have a similar discussion as mine they were still completely different in what we were asking. That members discussion had few responses, mine didn't and I assumed that's where the meanness came from. I don't know how blogs work, whether it shows how many visited, maybe it was because you blog was more popular as was the case with my discussion and that was the reason for the accusation. Thoughts to ponder. I truly wouldn't let it upset you for to long. I do tend to take those types of things personally for a short period of time, but try to quickly move on. As I stated before unless the entire thing was copied word for word, title and content, it can't be considered cheating. To many people run along the same lines. I have thought of many discussions that I would like to post only to wake up and find the same discussion from my "mind" in my in box. Can I consider that this person is a mind reader and therefore stole my discussion, before I ever made it to the forum? Certainly not. It's a ridiculous notion. Titles are just that titles. Unless it's copyrighted as someone else stated it can't be considered cheating/stealing. As always my 2 cents worth. :)

What you stated is not cheating at all and I think the person who accused was too impulsive and overreacted to the situation. Cheating is when the content is copied word to word and pasted without any own words being added to it. Cheating is also when users copy discussions, responses, articles off the net posting it as their own etc. Don't let the other person's anger bother you, we come across such people all the time.

Well said! There are over 80k people here on the myLot community. Even though we are all different people, many of us will have like ideas and wording. This is part of what creates a friendship at times and bonds when some are very similar. I have been accused of cheating also. Because I had read a news article that was so funny, I wanted to share it with my friends. But then, even though I searched, turned out, another person had posted about the same news only an hour before me. Now, none of my words or even title were the same. Heck, I even asked different questions for the discussion about the news. But this person was upset because she thought I was cheating and not properly searching discussions before posting. Note: I have found that if you do not use the same wording the search, you often come up with different results to nothing at all. So, please do not take the person's accusations too personally. We all are going to have like discussions from time to time. Heck, it just happened to me again recently when I posted about my Best Responses no longer being marked...turns out, another user posted a like discussion using different words a little before me.

Many Many people will write the same things the same way every day, as long as it's in short form, millions of people come across the same idea one day or another. I think cheating is basically this, When someone copies and pastes another's personal words, of the BODY of the article/piece/or otherwise. Titles mean S&*# Really, all they do is show the person what to expect, and even then half the time, it isn't even in the same ball park, For example, One person can say what color are you? And then in the body ask about mood and such, what color specifically sets it's sites on your personality, like i did in one discussion, and another can say what color are you, and then in the body only be asking what the person's favorite color it, QUITE the difference, and what you did, was not cheating at all. Also, i've had people copy things from me word for word when they couldn't copy and paste, so i ask you, what the hell are they getting out of it? I just don't understand people and their idiotic ideas sometimes (NO This Is Not A Bash Towards Anyone Reading This!!! Unless You've Copied My Discussions, Or Responses! Then I Don't Care What You Think!) Anyway hun, don't worry about it, they don't have a hope in hell of getting you in trouble in any way, nor do they have a hope in hell in getting anything other than anger. I think this person should take the stick out of his/her A**. Hope your having a good day :D

how can that be cheating? it was only a word. the problem lies in not reading the whole blog entry i think. ok frustration maybe a bit a problem, but its not cheating. in these days we are all very fast in judging without thinking a bit about what we are talking.

The situation you describe is not copying, it is pure and simple coincidence, nothing more nothing less. Tell the person that emailed you to examine the article and get back to you if they still thought you copied them. Titles can often be the same and have nothing to do with each other.

With how many discussions there are on here it's really difficult to be coming up with something 100% original that has nothing to do with another discussion. Really what you did isn't cheating because you didn't copy just because the title of your discussion was the same. Really the discussion is the rest of the paragraph. I think a cheater is someone who completely copies a discussion on purpose. Not by chance. We are all human, and believe it or not we are more alike than everyone thinks so it is very likely that we may have the same opinion or question and we shouldn't be called copy cats just because of that.

The important criterion here is intent, so as long as there was no intention to copy someone else's discussion then there is no level of cheating involved. When you consider how many people are having conversations at any one time on this planet, there has to be a vast number of people chatting about the very same thing, but they are not copying each other. It is very difficult to avoid covering similar subjects as others at times, mainly due to the fact that you are unaware of the other discussion. It is virtually impossible to know the content of every discussion at Mylot.

I think that everyone tends to think a little differently, and therefore an idea or concept will evolve slightly differently with each person who touches it. So I don't think a similar topic, or even the same headline is cheating. I mean really, how many different ways can you say the same thing? Eventually the wording is going to overlap. What I do think is cheating is when someone simply copies and pastes what you wrote somewhere else. I actually took a bit of a break from here because I kept getting messaged that my posts were being copied and pasted elsewhere. And then I found one I had made on a completely unrelated forum when I was doing some reasearch, so I just got disgusted for a bit. But then I decided, Hey, if people are so unoriginal that they can't come up with their own ideas, then I won't let it get to me that they liked mine so much they stole them. I think that here on Mylot there are so many people, there are bound to be several discussions that are similar. As far as blogs and the rest of the web go, there are even more people, so I would have to lean toward it being mostly coincidental rather than cheating if it is a similar idea, but the content is different.

I can see how some people fly off the handle quickly. But they should read the whole thing and not just the title. You cant help it if you think the same thoughts once in a while. I say just ignore them and move on.

Sometimes when people see a headline or title thats exactly the same as theirs, they tend to overreact without really thinking or even reading the entries first. Cheating would have been if you'd copied their title intentionally and then done a post very similar to theirs - however, as you stated, the two posts were vastly different. I think you need to email this friend back and point out the differences between the posts. Maybe explain that you see where they thought you might have "cheated" but also say that it was never intentional. They can accept it or not. Either way, you did nothing wrong. Coincidences do happen from time to time.

If the content is different, how can it be cheating? I understand the frustration if someone uses the same title with you, but it would be just that - pure coincidence. Only God knows. :P

Let me tell you what I think an example of copying is. On my cousin's Myspace in her interests column, she had listed over 100 things that she really loved. The next day, a person my cousin knows, had copied and pasted my cousin's interests into her own profile. Exactly, word for word, all in the same order. I believe that is copying. But happened with you is purely coincidence and nothing else. The internet is a big place, and somewhere out there, someone else is going to have the same idea as you. But that certainly doesn't make it copying.

I think the other person is overreacting. No offense to him/her. I think of the shared subjects as a simple coincidence. It's not like you two were in a classroom and yall were filling out some huge/major tests and one of you looked over at the other person's paper and copied directly from the other person's test. I hope your blog friend will cool down soon.

how can this be cheating and how can the title (if not patented, which is quite unlikely)can speak for the content? i mean, they should have read through your blog. 'Cheating', for me, is a strong word and i just cannot compromise on someone or with some thing on this. from time immemerorial, we have seen so many writers penning down the same kind of thoughts, is that plagriarism!! circumstance and time can lead us through same phases in life when we actually might end up penning the same ideas. That is not wrong, that is not cheating atall. I think you should revert back to them strongly and ask them to go through your text and take back their words. Thanx.

I don't believe it is cheating, although copying and pasting is against myLot policies and done quite often, I believe most people title those discussions that way cause they get more traffic and more responses.

cheating is really cheating when u get caught...!!!lolz... i might sound funny but logically its the truth! cheating isnt cheating until its caught..no matter wat it is, but getting cuaght in the attempt to cheat is called cheating!!!!hehe..cheerrrss!!

I believe cheating would if you had the intention to copy of someother person. But you sound innocent so i guess you are. I mean i would pissed off too if someone accused me of copying theirs when i so happen to think of the same topic. Please i wouldn't want people to think me as desperate and had to copy off somebody. I guess you weren't cheating.

im sure it must be a coincidence...and thats not ur fault at all...so just take it easy..:) ...but somewhere in the discussion uve raised a point that are writers always expected to come up with an original content. well....my mother is a writer too..and as far as i know about writing(though very little...lol) ... is that writing creative form....and very few people have the talent to write ordinary ideas in an extra-ordinary form...and only that....to me is actual writing. its true that when painters keep on painting a particular thing....for instance a lady...noone says that they have copied it. but even if the slightest of incidences have been repeatedly referred to by a writer...he/she is said to have copied it...or people even say that the writer's creative hand is fading!!...lol. whatever mayb the matter....but in your case i think u should not pay any attention to whatever crap they say!:)

i think it is really a coincidence!!!Huh? you really a honest man(i can feel it),i also met this kind of thing before!!! and i am more angry than you!