RE: Imitation maybe the best form of flattery but Plagiarism is not
You're a much more forgiving person then I am. I would have flagged the post in question. Steemit is still in its infancy and at present, the quality is quite subpar and amateurish in many instances.
The problem with flagging is that it requires SP. So if you don't have enough or any at all, you can't even flag bad content down. It's a flawed system. Especially flawed when the original author can see you've flagged and then get retribution by flagging your content back (it'd happened to me before).
I see rampant theft on this platform and I am so grateful for Steem Cleaners being there and the fact it costs nothing to report content and it's anonymous, is how Steemit itself should be.
As for the motivation of most people who steal, it's money. Definitely money. People are stealing content in an attempt to make what usually equates to cents in profit.
Indeed and bad if the person you flagged has bigger SP and a vindictive streak that starts flagging you down.
I agree that the SP for flagging should be different as you waste valuable SP and neglect those people you want to support if you are left to flag content.
I have used Steem Cleaners a lot of times especially for phishing scams which I absolutely hate!
The way they do it is completely anonymous and they verify so its a great service in the community that is why I have them voted as witnesses.