Steemit combines blockchain cryptocurrency technology with a blog platform, so it is essential to use it responsibly and ethically. Too many here just want to get rich quick by spamming copy/pasted content from elsewhere on the web instead of creating original content themselves. Steemit isn't Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc. where you are encouraged to share content in a social media setting. It is your obligation as a user here to follow the terms of service, which state,

If you're posting anything you did not create yourself or do not own the rights to, you agree that you are responsible for any Content you post; that you will only submit Content that you have the right to post; and that you will fully comply with any third-party licenses relating to Content you post.

Intellectual property laws like copyright do have problems, and I dislike appeals to legality, but basic respect for others still requires a few basic steps. Don't be a plagiarist. According to Plagiarism.org,

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

• turning in someone else's work as your own
• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
• copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not

Avoiding Plagiarism

While I make no claim to any legal authority, the following is a good litmus test to apply whenever you want to share content from elsewhere.

Are you using the content in the context of your own original work?
The quotations I included above are not my own, so I stated the source and provided a proper attribution link. When I share images from other sites to illustrate my posts, I try to always include an image credit link directly to the content creator. I strongly suggest you do the same.

Is the content CC0, public domain, lapsed out of copyright, or otherwise not copyrighted?
Even when the material in question is definitely in the public domain, link to the original source if possible to positively demonstrate you are not claiming authorship. Go the extra mile to provide credit where credit is due, and you can't go wrong.

Are you sharing a Youtube video or other embedded content?
The attribution is in the video I included above. I also verified that it is an official source, uploaded by the sponsor of the content, and not a mirror or re-upload. I am also using it in the context of a wider post that includes primarily original content.

Attribution Code & Declining Payout

Attribution

In order to provide links to your sources, it helps to know Markdown code as used on Steemit. When I embed this link to Steemit, it looks like this in my text editor:

 [Steemit,](www.steemit.com)

The code is created by typing the hyperlink text you want people to see in square brackets, followed by the website URL in parentheses, and no space in between. The general format is shown below:

 [hyperlink text](website URL)

The post preview pane below the text editor can help you verify that it works properly. You can even open the link in a new browser tab to verify it works as intended!

Payout

If your post is entirely copy/pasted content from one or more outside sources, provide proper attribution links and decline payout. It is easy to change the payout settings on a post as you create it. Click the Advanced settings link above the Post button as shown here, and select "decline payout" from the drop-down menu in the pop-up options box. Your screen may looks lightly different from my screenshot because I have night mode toggled on in the Steemit UI.

Tangent tip:
You can turn night mode on or off by clicking your avatar image on the top right of the screen, and then clicking the Toggle Night Mode option in the drop-down menu!

Also, I added the red arrow, text, and border, but you probably figured that part out on your own.

Quotations

Use quotation marks around any material you quote from someone else within your posts. Alternatively, Steemit is also designed to allow longer quotes to be shown as a block quotation instead. This is done by using the '>' (the greater-than sign) with or without a space immediately following it before the line containing the quotation. For stylistic guidelines, see the MLA formatting tips from Purdue University.

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If you found this post helpful, please consider upvoting and resteeming it. We need to all do our best to promote ethical blockchain behavior if Steemit is to avoid becoming just another wasteland of spam and plagiarism, and Steem is to avoid becoming another forgotten altcoin.