Why Cross Posting is a Form Of Plagiarism
College and High School Students are often assigned similar essays from similar classes
If you learn about "American History" in Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and again in college, chances are, you will receive very similar assignments from each of your teachers.
Turning in the same exact essay, for two different classes, is considered plagiarism.
It does not matter if it is your own work, and your own words. You are expected to write new, fresh essays every time an work is assigned.
Self Plagiarism Is Real
The previous description is called self-plagiarism and carries across into the "real" world.
As a freelance writer, if I try to sell the same piece to two different content mills, it is considered plagiarism.
It does not matter if I kept the rights to the work when I published. It does not matter that both sites have very similar reading demographics. It does not even matter if neither publication paid me.
Turning in the same work at two different places is considered self-plagiarism and is extremely looked down upon.
The Split of the HIVES Blockchain Created Lots of Plagiarists
When you write one article and post it on two blockchains, you are in a way being a self plagiarist.
It is your work, and your content, and you should be able to do with it as you please, but cross posting, without so much even a nod at how you are posting the exact same content in several places is a form of self plagiarism.
A simple blurb saying you are cross posting is enough
This post has been previously posted on ...
(Please note that I have posted this idea, but this is completely fresh content)
Another way, is to write an intro to your post, and then write:
You can see the full post here Making sure to link where the full post can be found.
Your Cross Posting is hurting both blockchains
When you cross post, you are duplicating the content on both search engines.
This means that both blockchains are getting weaker and weaker every single time you cross post.
Google and other engines don't know where the original content is, and who the copier is.
We already had all our content copied over, continuing to copy content is hurting every single blogger on both chains.
When you cross post, you are Building Your Reputation at the Cost of the Blockchain
The double rewards you receive, the extra eyes you get on your content. It is all at the long term price of both projects.
Bring in the different front ends, and here we are, shooting ourselves in the foot.
If we want long term growth, we need more original content.
The rules of plagiarism have become blurred
And the rules will keep changing and evolving as the digital era makes knowledge more and more common.
I learned these rules regarding plagiarism, from years of teaching and attending school.
Perhaps 100 years ago, I would have had to quote and cite where each and every single one of my ideas was seeded. I no longer have to do that as the digital era has made much of this information "common knowledge."
Whatever direction we decide to take writing, and sharing knowledge, let us make sure we don't do it while hurting ourselves with lazy cross posting.
It really is as easy as letting readers know that there is similar content out there.
thank you for your comments especially the ones about disagreement, it helps me I know that you are reading my words and considering them
Dear @metzli
We in project.hope disagree with an idea, that cross-posting is in any way form of plagiarism. Especially between steem and hive blockchain.
The fact is, that HIVE (during HF23) copied all content without asking any user for their permission. By doing that, they created
precedent.Many new members who are becoming part of our PH community has been asking questions about our community approach towards STEEM and HIVE and cross-posting between those two.
I personally do not see a problem with cross-posting to both chains. Apart of the facts mentioned above, it's important to point out that from legal point of view it has nothing to do with plagiarism - as long as we are legaly an owner of published content.
Cheers,
@project.hope
You are correct. Legality is not an issue ethics is.
You own your words and writings of course and it is your choice what you do with it - but cross posting hurts both chains and that should be taken into consideration when cross posting.
Thank you for your opinion. Disagreement and discussions are good and I appreciate you taking time to read my work.
I forgot to mention the precedent of HIVES copying all our work. I was not in agreement with that, but responding by cross posting all my work is not a solution, it is a magnifying of the problem.
Again, thank you for your opinion @metzli
Example has been given to the world. It's simple as that. Cross-posting for many people is solution.
Also you've mentioned that HF23 didn't impact price of steem. I'm not sure if you're actually for real. I cannot somehow take it seriously. Basic understanding of economy should be enough to understand, that it had a crashing effect.
Increase of price had more to do with the fact, that Justin Sun is pumping his own resources to maintain price of STEEM and counter-balance dumping of STEEM by those who created and promoted hive chain. Your reasoning is really not valid.
Right now, I even more disagree with your view on this topic and I'm closer to majority of users, who shared their opinion.
Yours, Piotr
I think there is no problem with the duplicate content, you own your words and your thoughts and are free to use them as you like.
I think it is an exaggeration to say that it hurts steemit and hive, I think it is an incorrect analysis, on the contrary I think that both chains benefit
This may be considered unethical to some extent but, as there is no law regarding it, one cannot say that the act of cross posting is equivalent to plagiarism.
You started your ideas in a very solid and precise way, but then you became ambiguous.
If you affirm with so much conviction that publishing the same content in different spaces is "self-plagiarism" (which for me does not exist), then you should not argue that:
Nor do I see how the chains are hurting. That explanation you gave about search engines is very weak.
Friend, both posts are original. They are original creations of the author.
To finish, I simply must say that I do not agree with you.
Your disagreement is noted.
A blurb telling that you are cross posting changes the beginning of the content, alerts your readers, and is a watered down way of quoting.
Have a witness !BEER
I didn't manage to write a short comment, so I posted a brand new article instead. You can find it here: https://steempeak.com/hive-175254/@unbiasedwriter/is-cross-posting-plagiarism-is-it-good-behavior-further-thoughts
By the way, a really great writing and I enjoyed your thoughts a lot!
Thanks for your response. I see that your post also generated some interesting comments.
hi @metzli
Unfortunatelly, I also disagree.
If we own content, then we shall be able to post it on our blog, our linkedin, steem, hive, facebook, twitter or any other platform out there. Based on your idea, this shall not be allowed. Which I fully disagree.
Can you imagine situation, where someone would downvote you for posting something first on your twitter and then on steem/hive and accusing you of plagiarism? That would be ridiculous.
Personally, I recommend to post on both chains. Different traffic and some extra $$$ in rewards - which allows us to cover loss caused by HF23 (which obviously impacted price of STEEM in negative way).
ps.
Consider joining our discord sever: https://discord.gg/uWMJTaW
Yours, Piotr
Downvotes were not mentioned. I see downvotes as more of a police action by others and my post was more about self reflection.
Cross posting like you mentioned in different mediums is done often. I prefer it when it is more network building. A post in Facebook with a picture of your graphic and a
blurb pointed to your blog grows your network, as does publishing a quote on twitter.
I am exploring the new norms in self publishing and happen to feel that cross posting is a form of reward milking. Some are ok with that - here I post why I am not.
As to the steem price being hurt by the fork, I disagree. Before the sale/merger/fork steem was sitting at 0.12 USD now it sits at 0.20.
The block chains are different and will not grow to their full potential until they get enough bloggers sharing unique content. Cross posting keeps them like identical twin sisters with mirrored personalities when in reality they are more like a clone who decides to change their look by dyeing their hair, getting tattoos and changing their clothing style (my analogy needs work, lol, but I still think I’m making my point).
Dear @metzli
Thank you for your prompt and polite reply.
I hope you don't mind, that I will share your publication with all core members of our PH community. I actually want them to know what is our official stand on this issue, as well as I like to read their own feedback.
Again, I appreciate your mature reply,
Yours, Piotr
THank you for sharing. I enjoyed seeing all the extra comments on my post, even if they are in disagreement.
Dear @metzli
Glad to see how responsive and polite you are :)
Hi, I see this issue somewhere on the edge. I cannot say it is purely good or evil bad. And you know what? I do this from time to time with some type of content.
Here is the question - what about Actifit reports posting both on Steem and H!VE? And what about YouTubers, who put their video on 5 different platforms? Are they misbehaving if they put it at the same time? Not sure with the answer...
All of our tribes do create a gray area. When they first came out, I tried to make different content for each tribe. It was nearly impossible because of how they were set up. The result has not been so good as there are very, very few tribes who have actually been profitable and have a list of dedicated users. Most became a money grab to the bottom, something I don't wish to see for either blockchain.
I think if you feel you need to add value to the both chains you should. I don't buy this concept tho..
Hi @metzli
Thanks for sharing this nice post within PH.
I disagree with your thought that we can't cross post our original content. Its like a content that I shared on Facebook should not be shared on twitter or medium.
Its simple that I can share my content anywhere if it's my own and there is nothing wrong with this.. thanks
I do believe that a link back to the original post should always be provided, though that may change with pen-names since google tags everything
If we understand the true meaning of plagiarism, then this discussion wouldn't drag. Copying someone else's work is plagiarism. Using your work is not. Even in the world of writing,an author is free to use and share his work across platforms. We need to separate search engine weaknesses from plagiarism. Every system has its weakness. That search engines have no algorithm to identify where a published work that was first shared originated, is a weakness of search engines as a technology, and not an indication or proof or supporting argument for plagiarism.
Totally agree with you... Readers are our main priority, not search engines.