Copying Posts and Comments is Illegal
And wrong. It's called plagarism, and we are seeing more and more of it on Steemit.
What is plagarism? Plagarism is the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original work. ~ Wikipedia
When you copy someone's post or images and publish it to your page, even if you cite the source you are still stealing. Unless the original author gave you permission to use it, and even if that is so you should only copy a little tiny bit of it to place amongst your own original creation.
When you create your Steemit articles, you work very hard. Typing takes time. Research takes time. As does formatting, finding legal images to upload, etc.
When you steal another author's hard work, you will be looked down upon. You will only gain the respect of the community by creating original posts. And when @steemcleaners, @cheetah, or a fellow author finds the articles you posted are copied and not yours, you will be flagged or banned.
And you could be sued by the original creator.
It can be deemed a criminal offense, and you could face a prison sentence.
Do the right, and legal, thing and only post articles, images and videos that are yours.
Do not copy others work!
Steemit is a wonderful and supportive community. If you need help thinking of things to write about, ask! Most anyone here will be willing to help you come up with a few ideas.
If you need help editing or formatting your posts @blue-pencil is here for you.
Creating your own articles is rewarding. I understand the frustration when you first get here, you don't have many followers and you do not receive many rewards. At first! But, by creating original content and being a part of the community by commenting and upvoting, you will grow! I grew organically, with zero investment. It can be done, and will be done if you post original work and comment thoughtfully daily. With a little patience and creativity you will grow.
Don't risk it by copying other Steemians posts! Be a productive member of the community and watch your rewards roll in :)
STEEM on my friends, and may the cryptos be ever in your favor :)
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I couldn't agree more. I had somebody blatantly steal my work the other night. How frustrating. I flagged their post and reported it to SteemCleaners right away. They actually inspired me to write a post about using SteemCleaners so if you or anybody else ever need to use it here's how it works: https://steemit.com/steemit/@brandonfrye/get-rewarded-for-reporting-plagiarism-on-steemit (Oh, and SC even rewards people for reporting which is cool!)
They reward people for reporting? That I did not know!
Yep, you can decide whether or not you want to accept the reward or not when you're reporting. I literally just found out about the service a day or two ago (right after I got my content stolen lol)
That is pretty cool, actually. It will encourage more people to help!
I also got some reward also - but see my other post - very strange...
MEOW
Purr!
Me neither !
You said it sister! My worst is when people copy others comments on the same thread, so then there are two comments the same! It’s so silly, and it so clear that one is copied!
Resteeming for visibility 💓
Oh my gawsh, LOL! I have yet to witness that one!!! How pathetically sad!
Thanks sweets :)
Just...wow! That's dumb and bold!
I have been seeing a lot of this too. To be honest, I've been questioning even the use of someone else's picture and sourcing them as well. Sometimes when I am writing an article, an image pops to mind. Creating the image could prove a tedious task with just basic photoshop knowledge. I see a lot of posts that are very in-depth well thought out articles with a bunch of sourced pictures. Apparently this is allowed for context as long as you are citing your source.
I still have a slight problem with this. It seems you do too.
For example, I used a snapshot in my most recent post of a dude taking down another dude. The source was already written on the picture, so I felt no need to "double source". However; I still don't feel great about using this picture because it wasn't mine. Do you agree with me? To make my post better, I originally wanted to act out that same pose and take a picture, thus making it mine, but I didn't have a second person, so I just sourced it in order to provide the proper pose in the scene I described.
What you've said pretty much confirms my thoughts that I should not have used the picture, sourced or not. This guideline would indeed make Steemit content so much more valuable and original.
There are sites like Pixabay where sharing images is encouraged. The photographers who place their photos on those websites want the exposure, and they receive donations via paypal. Others sell their photos to other sites who offer them free to us, and those sites make their money from ads. But for the ones who don't then it's theft.
Thank you! Where can I find a list of sites that offer photo's to the steemit community? I will lean towards creating my own scene pictures.
I post a list every couple months... here is one https://steemit.com/steemit/@arbitrarykitten/don-t-steal-images-how-to-get-free-and-legal-images
I like that plan :)
Actually, a lot of those "free" pictures we can't use on Steemit. i.e. Getty has free use, but they need to be embedded and lead back to their site and we can't embed anything here. There is a lot of misconception about the use of pictures and the citing. I am working on a podcast and blog post on that right now.
Many images used here are actually not legal to use :(
Your sources are great!!
Like Pixabay and Unsplash?
Yes this is very important.. originality is what brings the flavor and spice of steemit alive and plagiarizing just debunks the purpose of such a unique and original platform.
I think this is a very important message that much of the steemit community needs to hear and abide by... thanks for sharing
Regards from @conradsuperb
Some of us feel that some people just don't know this, or it's a cultural thing. So a friendly reminder was in order :)
I think your reminder was of benefit to the community, keep up the good work :)
Thank you!
Reported 5 this week for plagiarizing....my biggest pet peeve is plagiarism. I have one article on another site that got stolen. It's a pain getting the person to take it down from their site. At least steemit has steem cleaners and they are fast at down voting people.
steemcleaners and all the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes here are amazing. We do not give them enough credit!
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you're absolutely right.
Thanks :)
Yaa it's true you have to create your own content
Yes. And it's totally worth it :) Plus, it makes you a better writer every time!
Yes! Use of an image without permission is copyright infringement and can cost soooooo much money in legal fees and fines.
Absolutely. And a loss of reputation. Nobody will work with you or hire you if you do not create original work
I'm a photographer and I would 100% pursue copyright infringement on anyone that used my images without permission.
I don't blame you one bit. I had several of my books completely stolen in all the ways about a year and a half ago. Because I am registered with the Small Business Administration, I was given a team of copyright attorneys :)
I’m so try that happened to you! Theft sucks either material or intellectual property.
Yah totally it is so half assed to steal someone else writing! I am glad we have bots roaming the posts to try to discourage this behaviour.
And I just learned steemcleaners rewards you for finding these culprits, too!
Yah that is cool! I will check out their webpage to find out how to let them know.