STEEM WHISTLEBLOWER: High Reputation Account Caught Plagiarizing!
STEEM Whistleblower - Third Edition:
High Reputation Account Caught Plagiarizing!
Although premonitions of this very thing happening have vividly crossed my mind in the past few weeks I did not foresee this happening so quickly.. The community over at #steemitabuse-classic have uncovered what seems to be the most highly reputed content thief yet!
The Steemit user caught plagiarizing ? @jpiper20 (67)
(Empty cupboards, copious amounts of crappy wine and a "rasta" necklace...)
The post he was caught plagiarizing on:
"Newest Illustration: Gorrilaborg"
(image screencapped from https://steemd.com - click image above to view page)
As clearly seen by his initial submission of the post to the blockchain @jpiper20 fully intended to pass this work on as his own. Many changes to the post were made after he was called out on his thievery attempts including adding the true artists name (but not even linking him) even after he'd taken credit for the artwork in the comments as clearly viewed in the screencaps below:
(Thanks to @pfunk for these beautiful screencaps - bottom one is my "fave")
What is the worst part about all of this?
Not only have we seemingly lost another great original content creator to laziness and greed but now we've also as a community got a far large problem on our hands.. How do we get rid of such high reputation level bad actors with the current voting system in place? Very few accounts exist on the network that even hold the power to give @jpiper20 a proper slap on the wrist so that he'd even feel it.
As an added cherry to top the cake when user @walden (the person who initially looked into and found out of the thievery) called @jpiper20 out on his plagiarism he was met with a revenge flag which harmed his reputation.. I commend @walden for calling out @jpiper20 at the expnse of his own reputation. This sort of selflessness is what is needed to properly combat plagurism on the STEEM network but also brings in to light the need for changes in the way the reputation system works perhaps..
Conclusion
We've got users farming reputation with good posting only to turn around and spit in the communities face by trying to pass off stolen content. This is absolutely unacceptable in my opinion and one must consider down flagging accounts such as the one spotlighted in today's post that have such high reputation in order to minimize the amount of damage they can do not only to the legitimacy of our platform but also to respectable STEEM users.
UPDATE on the Situation!
@jpiper20 Apology Post Link: An apology for the plagiarizing I have done
BONUS: Fresh New Post!
A Look at the Current Top 50 STEEM Network Witnesses
Vote @klye for Witness 
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
However you can still vote for me by scrolling to the bottom of the page and typing klye:
The sad part about all of this is that his "apology" is being rewarded and that people say, "Aww...look how remorseful he is."
The fact of the matter is that he plagiarized - likely for months - then, when he was caught, he lied about it and tried to cover his tracks. Only when he realized his reputation was about to be completely destroyed did he finally apologize and admit to some of the plagiarism.
There seems to be an unwillingness by other users to acknowledge identified scammers and to ensure that their reputation is destroyed because of it. We have a reputation system for a reason. When we know that someone is engaging in this type of behavior, how is it that their reputation remains as high as it is - earned mostly through their deceit, and especially when they are able to siphon thousands of dollars from the rewards pool?
The reputation of this user, and the reputation of other identified scammers, should be at 0. These users ought to be made to rebuild it from nothing, not to continue on as if nothing happened, with all of their Steem power and all of their reputation fully intact. It's bad enough that they've been given so much unearned money. We shouldn't be perfectly OK with them keeping their unearned reputation as well.
Uh...whoa. I did NOT see this coming...nor did I expect to have a nice little place in your screenshot. Lmao
You're famous! :D
Yuuuus! Famous at last!
Checks number of followers and realizes it's the same
...oh. Nevermind.
rofl. Just gotta show some leg sir!
How about some back?
Source
between that back and the rose in the cupboard, this is the first post to make me almost vomit.
DUUUUUDE. LOL
I've got buzzers. We can shave the Steemit logo back there!
You're sexy hairy like a BEAR!
Lmaoooo! Luckily, that is not my back...But I sited the source of who's back it is, just in case! haha
OUTLAST THE WHISTLEBLOWER!!!!!!! :D
I've got enough STEEM to power my whistle for YEARS! :D
Wow! You are doing some detective job here! When do you have time for this too?
Do you have any news from Coinpayments? I've just started this and I would really like to accept SBD directly on my website soon! Maybe you can think about something nice for your followers too...if you have time! Thank you!
I'm just summarizing what I've been seeing all day. A large portion of the grunt work was done by the boys at #steemitabuse-classic and I'm merely reporting on it so my +400 followers catch wind of this treachery.
I'm still waiting on word back from Coinpayments.net but I expect by the end of this week we should have things implemented and ready! :)
Thank you for the update! Sorry for the offtopic!
No worries. It's not off topic one of my posts... :)
Nice! For the record, my shitty contributions are entirely my own.
rofl. Better you contribute your own stuff than rip off others sir. :)
LOL, Ditto. Anyone who reads my posts wouldn't consider for an instant whether I plagiarize, more like dumpster diving.
Good job @klye. Keep it up. I am proud of the work and public sharing people like @ats-david, @bacchist, and yourself are doing. Keep it going. If you need help ask.
Thanks dwinblood! I've realized that even if I'm calling out accounts with higher reputation than mine even if they do flag me the community is very much behind me and will not allow thieves and bullies to knock me off the network. I appreciate the support!
What a scandal! Props for the blockchain sleuthing.
I'm still pretty shocked about it as well.. Such a high level account with promise pissed away due to greed / easy money.
Haha, it just shows that the ideas of "easy money" usually aren't. :>
Seems this guy is a creative himself which makes it all the more infuriating. I just also saw @pfunks post on this.
Yeah pfunk made a nice write up on this issue as well. I voted his too.
It is a damn shame in my opinion that the guy decided to take the "easy" path and get tarnished in the process.
I read this from @pfunks post first also. I support all you who look out for this and call it out. Its up to us to pay attention, investigate and hold accountable community standards!
Good job everyone!
Yet we still have a major problem because he still has a high reputation. One that is much higher than mine, despite the fact that I have multiple web sites, ventures and operations including The Garden of Eden of which feeds 40,000+ free meals a year and is out in the field helping people every day.
There has to be a way to penalize accounts like this beyond just taking away $sbd for a post.
Not only is this dishonorable but its actual CRIMINAL. To MAKE MONEY SELLING something that was TAKEN from someone else without contract.
Exactly right. His reputation should have been busted down to 0. Start from scratch. If he truly wants to rebuild his rep, he can do so like everyone else. This is absurd.
Yes Indeed.
Yup. I read it on @pfunk's blog first. You guys are on the ball!
It pisses me off that people do that...for what?
If you're tired, take the day off. Steemit will still be here. It's not worth getting your account shit-canned because you got lazy.
But, it didn't get shit canned. It got rewarded.
Wow!
Yep... Pretty crappy happenings.. He had some pretty good original content too.. Not sure why he opted to start doing shady shit like this. :/
First we must toss it in the river to see if it floats like a duck.. Because ducks are made out of wood.
(I know I botched this monty python bit.. Save my soul)
Oh ffs ,really? D: it is so easy to get caught from this. Went for that one didn't i
It's a damn shame. :/