Self-Plagiarism and Dishonesty on Steemit / Is Self Promotion Okay?
Good evening everyone, my name is Shello, and I am a minnow on Steemit from July of this year. After making many posts, and observing and participating on a regular basis, I wanted to make an article about my perceptions on some of the things I believe Steemit is trying to achieve as a whole, and some of the big issues I've encountered myself recently. This article is to spread awareness on:
- What is Quality? & What Does Originality Mean on Steemit?
- A Different Type of Plagiarism and the Dishonesty That Comes From It
- Why I Started to Buy Upvotes to ALL of My Posts & Why I stopped doing it
What is "Quality Content"?
We hear this a lot on Steemit everyday, and what each person finds or deems to be valuable information varies widely between each user. One of the major contributing factors to a posts quality derives from originality. A question to ask is how your article differs from what is already available online. Do you have insight from personal experiences to add, or a fresh take/ viewpoint on an already established topic that others are not writing about? What I feel is misunderstood, is that it is okay to write on a topic previously discussed, as long as you can provide a new interpretation as a contribution.
Each person here has a unique life, and you can integrate your own world into what you write about. What makes a post special to me, is if I can see that there is a unique voice expressing their insights and knowledge from past experiences, adventures, and from behind their eyes. Quality is not always in terms of length, or topic choice. A goal of mine is that in every single post I write, the reader will always learn something new, whether it's about the topic directly and/or myself!
Find What Makes You Unique
When I First Came to Steemit, I was excited to write the very things that tugged my heart, and burned my soul, in hopes that a few other people would be inspired by what I wrote. Upon hearing about writing with quality and originality in mind, I thought over many times.
When I lay it all out on the table; I live in Honolulu, which is an interesting part of the world influenced by cultural merging. I attend college for CIS (Computer Information Systems). I also like to draw, tell stories, make art, play games, have a slew of hobbies, and have a history of strange past jobs. Whenever I write, I let some of who I am shine through. Sometimes in a joke, or switching things up, a part of me is always present in my writing.
Everyone Likes Different Things
The biggest hurdle I've seen to my own posts is allowing the votes to decide for me if my post was worth writing or not. Just because your post doesn't make big bucks, doesn't mean it sucks. Quality is always going to be relative, and as long as you are writing something you enjoy, the lack of votes doesn't take away the value of what you said. I've fallen into the trap that what I care about is not important because everyone doesn't care about the same thing.
People on Steemit can vote however they want, and what they value. I'm happier to come out realizing that everyone has different values, and does not make my own any less valid.
I've seen a lot of people in a slump lately, and I think this is something important to remember; don't change yourself to appease others. You need to keep going. I make barely cents on posts sometimes, but I'm not going to give up on who I am, and want to be in order to make more money. Isn't it why we are here? To be ourselves?
I'm just kidding, but for myself, that's a good part of it. My point is that you shouldn't feel bad for writing something that you really like.
Self-Plagiarism is Dishonesty at its Worst
A couple of days ago I came across a post with triple digit up votes and the payouts to match, hanging out on the trending page. After some investigating and running plagiarizing checks, I realized that the exact same article word for word was posted from a blog on a different site owned by the same person... from a while ago. At first glance this article looked like it was slaved at for a long time...
When discussing originality, this was an original idea from the user themselves. However, there was no indicators or citations that this whole article was already published before. The user was not revisiting the topic or contributing any new information, providing no value since the exact information was already available online... somewhere else.
In academic writing this is known as self-plagiarism, but can be simpler to understand as post recycling. Doing this in college, will get you expelled. Copying and Pasting something you wrote before from somewhere else is deceptive behavior. I'm not sure if I announced this on Steemit before, but I used to be a Hub Pages author. After seeing their post, I thought to myself;
"Well shit. If they can get away with this, then what's stopping me from copy/pasting all of my posts and past content, and passing them off as new articles on Steemit?"
It apparently works, and I can just vote myself for continuous profit.
I feel that self plagiarism deserves attention, because this type of behavior should not be okay on Steemit. The educational system already acknowledges the lack of effort and sincerity of stealing from others including yourself. What do you guys think, should we be allowed to freely recycle our content without citations nor repercussions?
Everyone Has a Different Definition of Upvote Abuse
When I first began using voting bots, I thought to myself that I would finally be able to give my articles the love and attention they deserved. Man, I was so wrong! It felt nice to see my articles up there, so nice that I did it to all of them. It relieved the anxiety of not knowing how well a post would do, because that clearly would no longer become a problem.
I am certain that my perception of what quality was took a huge dip because of it. If I were to be really honest, there isn't anything wrong at all about wanting to endorse yourself, but doing it all the time offers up a false sense of security, and prevents real growing to take place. You really can do it all the time, but it's on you. I eventually realized that voting all my posts up wasn't making me a better writer, nor helping me engage with others more- In fact I began to try a lot less on my posts for a while.
There are times that I feel that a post should be voted in this way, but each person and voter group have varying definitions on what is and is not okay to do. As such, I'm up voting this post to spread messages that I feel is important.
Important is relative.
No one can tell you what to spend your SBD/STEEM on, but there are a lot of things to keep in mind when writing an article, and these were the ones pressing on my mind for a while now. I would like to give a shout out to @reggaemuffin of @minnowbooster for all of your efforts, including the white list that allows posts from minnows to gain more visibility.
If you have been helped by Minnow Booster I recommend you vote for his witness!
If the same author writes it, then I don't think its a problem at all.Just think as posting on other social medias,
It's kind of promoting my own content utilizing social media platforms.
And I think its allowed on the platform,I've seen steemcleaners stated
or something like that.
no offence!
cheers!! Steem on
Yep. If you wrote the original content, then you have every right to post it where ever you want. To say that someone should have no opportunity to earn rewards for something they previously posted before steemit came along and enabled people to earn rewards, is illogical. There's far bigger things to worry about here than people sharing their own writing.
Hello @ofc,
I guess that a better question to ask is when we are sharing our work, do readers deserve to know if it was made for Steemit or not?
Yes, You are right.👍🏻
Thank you for your feedback @katteasis,
I agree that self promotion is good to do, to help put yourself out there to a wider audience. However the difference between Steemit and other social media is the ability to be paid for your efforts. Self-Plagiarism I feel should be expressed in a little more detail.
Is what @steemcleaners determined counts as plagiarism in this post. The article I was referring to did this, with zero new information. If it is okay to profit now from old ideas, then I am okay with this as long as this aspect is clarified as not being a form of abuse.
Mahalo,
@shello
Yeah I think it is good etiquette to state up front if you are reposting older works.
I was pointing this.
If the ideas are not outdated it doesn't matter whether it's new or old.
When you realize our whole scientific innovations rely on Netwon's Old Theorems.
I'm actually talking about the first thing noted in your picture that
Which is excatly what happened. No idea is truly new completely, but there was no innovation made on the authors part either :/
I don't think up-voting your own post or bot voting makes you try any less. personally i save my bot votes for posts that i've worked hard on and i want to see succeed. for example I wrote a benefit post for someone, and i bot voted the heck out of it, because it was a gift. for many, bot voting is merely a form of investment. You invest one sbd then receive two; this is a good investment, especially for a minnow who hasn't gotten much notice yet or who has little to invest into buying steem.
as for self plagiarism, it's done all the time. i've seen magazine articles posted in multiple places on line, or recycled years later as a slightly different article. if it's ok for professional writers to do this, why should it not be ok on steemit? imho i think it is ethical to say something. however many posts that were created when the author was new to steemit and earned pennies the first time around do deserve a second shot. especially if the post has quality work.
authors who post the same thing several times fall into two categories; noobs who havent caught on, or those who re-post in order to make money and dont give a shit because its just business to them. these people tend to mutually upvote friends for profit. you won't stop that kind of crap, so my advice is to ignore it.
Hello @torico,
I've had a different experience before when up voting my own posts days on end. My mentality completely derailed into; "what should I post today, surely it'd good enough for me to vote on", and I wouldn't be as compelled to write amazing pieces. I spend a good amount of time on each article I write, and sometimes, my posts are good- but only to me xD
Using votes on others, whether on a post where rewards go to them, or their own posts is admirable. Helping out another author is a great use for these services.
The part that remains a mystery to me is that I believed Steemit's goal was to build a solid database on the blockchain with innovative content not found in other places. Maybe I have that wrong idea, and the goal is to create a hub and a person can bring all of their experiences here instead? I'm aware that professional writers paste the same article in a multitude of places, or even throw small spins on them. Yet, I still feel that is misleading to copy/paste the whole thing without saying anything at all to the reader.
I feel you on the people who do it for profit, being able to pin down something like that takes a lot of manpower and can't be easily determined. I only did the extra digging after finding multiple instances of other offenses from the same account.
Thank you for the advice as well,
@shello
You just summarized it all! One day I really wish I'll reach a level I won't even have to use upvote bots anymore. I'm still finding that niche :)
Resteemed and Share on Steemit Viral Facebook Page also on Steemit Viral Twitter and Steemit Viral Linkedin Group by @irfansardar Good Luck!
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Nice, you got a 22.0% @minnowbooster upgoat, thanks to @shello
Want a boost? Minnowbooster's got your back!
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @shello to be original material and upvoted(1.5%) it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
Nice article @shello!
I don't mind people re-posting from their own blogs/sites much. I do, however, expect them to be upfront about it. When I started out here, I re-posted the recipes I had already shared on my Wordpress blog, but I was always clear about that. Now, I do it the other way around. Steemit first, Wordpress second. Mainly because Steemit eats so much of my time that I don't usually keep my Wordpress site up to date.
Thank you @playfulfoodie,
Not being upfront was a big factor for me. As Steemit climbs to larger userbases, finding and curating content will become more difficult to do. There are many authors spending hours and days on posts only to be beaten by a 100% copy/paste. I feel being upfront is a demonstration of respect to readers and this platform, and I'm glad to hear your recipes are Steemit first!
What bothers me is that the anti plagiarism checks and crawlers didn't find it at all, and it took manual effort to find out that this was completely recycled but being treated with the same respect as being new.
I feel that being allowed to import all your work without noting it, removes the unique appeal that Steemit holds, downgrading it to just another platform with cryptocurency :c
Sometimes I spend weeks writing a post and Im pissed at the reward that I get. Other times I write something in a couple of minutes and I get a lot of attention. I believe that if you ask 100 people what quality content is, they may have different opinions. Personally, if a post is too long, I'd feel like flagging it(lol) . I hate long posts. But I do it sometimes
Bottomline...
And this is my resolution.
I post whatever the F*** I want and I don't give a F***.
Steemit is uncensored right?
But if minnowbooster requires some criteria i don't mind adjusting because I'm here to make money and not fool around.
Same here lol, I think that as of right now I'll post even more the way that I want to. I feel like too short isn't reasonable, but at the same time I don't want people falling asleep trying to read one of my posts. Yes, Steemit is uncensored, and I can post whatever the fuck I want. The biggest challenge for me right now is losing the sense of pressure in making every single thing I write come out perfect.
Real expression doesn't work like that, and I personally still have a ways to go! As far as I know for minnowbooster, the applications are being reviewed- and the white list slots are available for 60 days. They are mainly looking for good track record and diversity in applicants.
https://steemit.com/minnowbooster/@minnowbooster/join-the-minnowbooster-whitelist-for-megaboost
I'm here to play around sometimes xD
It's funny cause I actually use steemit as dumping ground for content that will (hopefully) later be edited, proofed and published elsewhere. But I do agree than any content published elsewhere should be marked as such. And linked back.
Much appreciated feedback @techslut,
I also feel that previously published content should display an indication of such, and the link added would be a blessing. Good luck on your articles, and I hope that your final publications do well c: I'm currently going through a disenchantment with my understanding that Steemit appreciates fresh content.
The one thing that really made me want to be here, and made me say wow; this place is really special.
There are people making efforts to do just that. I am helping the guys running minnowbooster create a white list of quality authors. This is a start. qurator, curie and other such initiatives help bring attention to original high quality content.
ohh plagiarism..thats virus
I have thought of doing something similiar especially with the poems that I have written in another blogging platform but thought I wanted to start afresh and the content there belongs to a different person existing now.
A lot of people will not think it is wrong but i like how you maid your point.
That's an interesting way of looking at things @maverickinvictus,
I have a lot of long stories, diaries, and other articles on other social media platforms, but I agree the person who did those and the person typing this reply now may as well be two different people.
A lot of internal conflict between right and wrong, when it is all subjective!
Thank you for your insightful article, I definitely agree on your understanding of quality content and that original content should be preferred over excessively self-plagiarized content. However, I personally don't think that previous posts on other platforms by yourself should be punished. If people repost quality original content they created somewhere else here, I would appreciate it, since for me it's quality and originality that matter most, not exclusiveness.
I believe in the idea of steemit because of fair distribution of value to those who created it, not necessarily in "getting married" exclusively to steemit.
Thank you for your reply @raci,
The post is still new to you, so what is the difference? I really like that thought -But in introducing a form of currency to the system makes me feel weary about doing so. I mean, your boss at your job isn't going to pay you now for an 8 hour shift you did 3 years ago.
This is where I'm coming from.
People shouldn't feel like they are married to Steemit, but I still feel that recycling can get out of hand, with less new articles actually being made over time. Steemit owes us nothing as authors, do we not owe it effort and new content too?
Yes, I totally agree with that. Original content exclusively created for steemit should always be higher rewarded and people should have an incentive for doing so. For instance, I really like the idea of the steemit open mic contest where you have to create a video specifically for the contest
Thank you @raci,
but the problem is how to determine if something is new, things can slide under the radar. I think that "for Steemit content" should also receive more recognition. We see it in contests all the time, but not in the actual posts.
I think it's easier to determine original content if you explicitly call for it (e.g. by having a writing contest, music contest, picture contest) on steemit. Steemit itself as a platform needs to foster creativity by creating contests and conditions that spark creativity.