Plagiarism

[+TheBeanTeam]

I was searching the FAQ for a reference to plagiarism and didn't find anything that addresses the issue. What brings it up is a submission in one of the categories I am involved with that lifted the entire text and photos from another website.

 

I was going to reference something about "original" submissions when I contacted teh submitter, but could not see anything in the FAQ.

 

Should there be something or is there something that I could reference about this?

 

How should we deal with this issue as category managers?

 

Thoughts?

[+Miragee]

That happened today for a Category I manage.

 

I rejected the Waymark, but said I would approve it if the infomation from the referenced website was used as a reference only and the Waymark text was written in their own words.

 

I approved the Waymark when it was resubmitted, but requested that a couple of words be edited so they were spelled correctly.

 

I think Waymarking could ultimately run into a Copyright problem if people continuously "plagiarized" whole web pages.

[+NorStar]

I've been wondering about that as we post verbatim text for signs, but I believe that it's OK since the signs were meant to be in the public domain (no copyright symbols, out in the open, etc.) and the fact that we are giving direct credit for where the text came from and, if possible, the authors of that text.

 

It's a good reminder, though, to all of us category managers to more carefully check the text of submissions.

[+frivlas]

I'm more concerned with copyright infringement. I declined a waymark the other day because something didn't look right about the photos...they seemed a bit too old. Upon investigation, I found that not only were they copied from the website, they had taken the time to crop out the copyright info from the bottom of the photo. I don't care if I have posted "original photos only" or not, I won't knowingly accept that.

[+Harelips]

I am new to the Waymarking side of the house but I understand the concern. Technically, putting someone else's writing in your own words without attribution is still plagiarism. I have been placing the information from markers in quotes with the source below.