**LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT CONTENT THEFT IS** And why it is important to be original and yourself on Steemit
Actually...
Let's start at my favorite place, Steemit.chat because I have met some really great folks. @mobbs is the reason that I actually removed some flags from a few posts. We had a not-the-best-person come in and brag.
Don't brag -- or try to make others fee bad for no valid reason. I went back through and checked their posts. Not only was most of it plagiarized, but the images were not their own (for several posts).
I am still reviewing this person's blog, and thus far, I have removed one flag as they removed the image that was not theirs. But I want to write this post first. Because a lot of folks do not have a good understanding of what theft of content is and why we care so much.
Why Care About Someone Using Stolen Content?
I don't know if you folks realize this, but their is a finite amount in the reward pool where are funds come from. So not only are folks being rewarded for work they did not create, but they are draining a reward pool that should be going to folks that are truly adding value to the community and world-at-large.
Secondly, as somebody that creates ideas for a living, I am reminding you know that ideas have value -- We are living in the Information Age. I suppose we need to do a post about what that means too...
What Is Content Theft?
I hear so many folks here scream that they have Fair Use rights. Expect you don't. We are earning money that could have gone towards the content of that other person's work.
I spent 30 minutes just thinking of how to describe it, but really, it boils down to could you find the information yourself or was the content created in the writers head:
A quoted (properly) line or two IF IT IS A FACT is fine as long as sourced properly. Make sure the other website did not steal the content -- I have seen this as well.
Should the writer being telling you how they believe a thing to be or needs to be --- guess what, this is the writer's opinion -- don't use it. Instead say, "I found this great piece and this is how I felt about it, you can find the original work here" at XYZ.
Images
Under no circumstances should you be using images unless they come from a site like Pixabay. Still list the source on your images as a courtesy to your community. You can use mark down to make it look pretty source.
The image site must say:
Free for commercial use
No attribution required
Google marks items wrong all the damn time. Do not use Google.
Or better yet. Go outside and take some pictures. You all live in some amazing places. Show them off.
You All Matter
Greed and chasing pennies is not going to help you grow into a better person. Just as I said in Shallow 4 Shallow -- take the time to learn and grow.
This is not instawhore, twatter (yes, I still use this one...), faceslime, or snapclap... Stop treating such a neat platform with such blatant disrespect.
BE ORIGINAL
Go buy a t-shirt, with art created by a STEEMIAN -- @saywha and @beyondthecrypto:
https://notshakespearesschool.com/collections/steemitverse
Here is a great article to help you find content that is stolen:
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/find-remove-stolen-content/
"You All Matter
Greed and chasing pennies is not going to help you grow into a better person. Just as I said in Shallow 4 Shallow -- take the time to learn and grow." Point taken @clevercreator.
So I'm just curious to know how people stand on resteeming other's work and curating content on your own.
I know there's a love/hate relationship with that aspect of the Steemitverse and I'm trying to figure out how I can both curate and build my follower base...or tribe to a point where I feel it's worth the effort to pour hours and hours into creating my own content.
As you may or may not know it's also considered, by many, to be plagiarizing if you bring up your own content after a decent amount of time has elapsed.
I'm sure many feel that they'd like their best work to be seen by the new Steemians that have come along since they last posted a particularly well recieved piece in the past.
Also I am curious about the general consensus about presenting your content in different languages using a translator. I see this happening quite a bit while surfing the feeds. Is that not considered plagiarizing too?
Lastly, what about long replies in another's post? Is it better to not reply if you have difficulty making your point short and sweet? I'm getting a reputation of being too wordy.
Some enjoy and encourage it and others make it known that it's just TLDR...not that there's anything wrong with that...I mean I do get it. One's banter is another's bone to pick.
It's hard to find the sweet spot here for people who've no previous experience with blogging. I am trying my best.
With that being said I'm not going to apologize for this longish reply, but I will say I hope to get some feedback here as I feel I've left these thoughts in an appropriate place...yes/no?
Don't apologize for the long comment -- it is beautiful that you put all your words out there.
I was just reading a long comment from someone else -- on someone else's post going mmmm, I think I would love a long comment.
Thanks for it. Give me a few days, and I will build you a response in a post and link it here for you. Those are all great and complicated questions.
~smiles~ "Don't apologize for the long comment -- it is beautiful that you put all your words out there." That right there, @clevercreator, is why I continue to be myself here. I could get so lost if I tried to be anything but.
I do look forward to your thoughtful reply to my sincere questions but I also am aware of the difficult situation you are having in the walking world.
BTW it was suggested by @aggroed that I stretch the few SBDs I have that I'm more than willing to send your way by making use of various upvote bots and my MSP #$upvote. This is one of your posts I'm trying to keep an eye on to time the upvote closer to the 6.5 day time limit.
I hope this doesn't change any thoughts as to why I asked the questions in the first place. I haven't forgotten you own project in getting Steemians together to help others.
For me specifically in the manner of proof reading...or as you put it somewhere here...nitpicking ...and yes I do know the difference between solicited and unsolicited advice. }:-)>
Here is a good article that explains how I feel about life in general. Sure I have a couple of problems, but solutions exist all around us... We will always have some sort of "problem"....
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathankontny/2017/07/15/you-wont-get-rid-of-your-problems-best-you-can-do-is-trade-up/#3ab35c977e1b
I tried to get an upvote for you from minnowsupport but it's down right now and the window on this post is closed...so I'm going to wait for the next opportunity to maximize the value of my upvote for you.
I'm a man of my word who's learned not to make promises. This is one I've made and will keep.
I hope things are easing for you some @clevercreator. <3
No worries. You are free to let it go :)
We are going good. I paid the July rent today and the court case was dismissed.
Next business item is to drive traffic to the site, organize it a bit better, and sell the art to give these amazing Steemit Artists a decent non-standard income.
I'm so happy to see hear that things have taken a turn for the better.
You know I have an original oil painting I got in an auction and I have the rights to reproduce it as well. It's called "Into Genesis" with the ETH logo. I wonder if something like that might be of interest to help raise funds.
Non standard income has always been my first choice too. ;)
oh please do email me :)
I won't go into why but I rarely go to the Forbes website anymore. I made an exception in your case just to test my flexibility.
To be sure, no one get's through this life without their share of troubles. Some have a way of making things worse for themselves in the way they choose to deal with them.
Others are more pragmatic and deal with each as they crop up. Sorting priorities is a great leveler. The fortunate ones are those who figure that out early in life.
For every basket of problems there are a bushel of solutions...generally speaking.
I stopped reading at "steemit.chat" 😉
Lies :)
And really, if they would not come in with guns blazing, I never would go back through their account.
How ya doing????
Doing good. Just started week 9 of #pixelartweekly
Really insightful article! I never considered the effect of content theft on the rewards pool. Totally makes sense though. I am fairly new to steemit and I am learning new things all the time. I am so far primarily a photographer, and I have been slowly slugging it out for years, so when I discovered Steemit I got very excited! Then while browsing the content and seeing how RAMPANT content theft is, I got very discouraged. I have not had theft happen to me that I know of yet. (Maybe my work isn't worth stealing lol). But it still grinds my gears when I see other's work blatantly stolen. I have started to flex my flagging muscles (contrary to my nature). It feels good. I'm not sure on how that affects my curation rewards yet. Does it affect them negatively? I guess that is my learning project for tomorrow. :)
Don't flag too much...but it does not affect your curation "negatively" -- it just doesn't leave you vote power for good stuff.
If you find plagerized content, take the steemit link and the real link to steemit.chat and go to #steemcleaners-linkdrop
Some truth bombs here @clevercreator.
I think what bothers me the most is that people are just trying to make this a "get rich quick" scheme by posting whatever. They're often the same people that won't bother to upvote your post and comment, "Nice post!", sometimes even followed by a link to their plagiarized post.
If Steemit is full of bad content, it will not thrive and NO ONE will make money. I think everyone is capable of making good posts with original ideas, but you can't make them want it.
I agree. At the same time, I don't think they understand how the platform is designed to work.
I agree with both of you. There's a lot of shit stuff we each have to wade through each day.
True, nor do I think they care. For many, it's about easy money.
Thank you for the great information, I am still new here and love it but I'm learning a lot from others posts and this is great, thanks so much! Upvoted & Resteemed! :-)
Read a lot! And then read some more!
Welcome!
Can't stand content theft
Well, it is worse, when they think they can just give a source or even quote a few lines and give a source.
They do not understand the nuances. And then you add the special flair of the barging into the room and demanding everyone follow them....
sobs
typo
probably you meant except.
Oh that was so a Freudian slip. But I do make the exception that I am leaving it there.
Welcome to Steemit -- this is not Rednot, Twatter, or Faceslime -- Grammar Nazi's need not apply.
This is not Grammar Nazi or whatever, I am just fixing your mistake you can do same for me. If you want it to be left like that whatever, but I see no reason not to fix it since later you will be unable to edit post and it will look like that forever.
And no, I am not going to watch a 30 minute video, if it is related then make a time code.
It is a culture shock issue.
It is one thing to leave a comment on how to improve an post to be seen more. It is entirely different beast to nitpick, if one was not asked to comb the article.
This place is amazing -- can we rise above the other places? Please and thank you.
Whatever really I will just ignore you if you are so afraid of someone helping you.