Plagiarists (once proven): Should we ban them?

67.65% • 23 votes • Yes
29.41% • 10 votes • Yes, but only after they’ve been given a second chane
2.94% • 1 vote • No
Total votes: 34
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Plagiarists (once proven): Should we ban them?

Wafflenose
Ellie
Dangerous Mind
United Kingdom 19awards
Joined 1st Aug 2021
Forum Posts: 1127

I got so cross when I realised how much of it was going on that I was sorely tempted to name, shame and expose them on every pilfered page. I've tried to be restrained and go through the right channels, although I'll probably end up writing about it in some roundabout, guarded way!!

poet Anonymous

<< post removed >>
poet Anonymous

Just don’t understand the ego & mentality of anyone who unashamedly accepts praise for words they have stolen. Morally corrupt on any psychological level. I’m not an armchair psychologist so will leave that for others. I do know, however, that many are now inclined not to believe a single word of certain folks, poetic or otherwise.

In the real world, we get to choose the people we hang out with. Social media is a breeding ground for fake folk. Guess I was being naïve, thinking a poetry site should be any different.

Casted_Runes
Mr Karswell
Fire of Insight
England 5awards
Joined 4th Oct 2021
Forum Posts: 386

I set up this thread more for general discussion purposes than a new Salem, so maybe we can just discuss plagiarism as a concept and our experiences of it as opposed to naming names, settling scores, and so on.

Wafflenose
Ellie
Dangerous Mind
United Kingdom 19awards
Joined 1st Aug 2021
Forum Posts: 1127

Personally, I'm more than happy if people want to preface their works with excerpts from poems by more well-known writers, fully referenced, then bounce off those for inspiration. I've done that myself before, when 'Brian Bilston' wrote something I wanted to have a go at. I actually sent him my attempt via FB and he acknowledged it. The problem starts when people try to pass works off as their own, whether in part or in their entirety. I'm sure that the intention sometimes is just to write a poem inspired by something else, but that should be properly referenced and acknowledged.

poet Anonymous

<< post removed >>
Razzerleaf
Fire of Insight
United Kingdom 26awards
Joined 15th Sep 2019
Forum Posts: 487

I can see how someone could be so inspired by another persons writing that they want to create something based on the same idea, but these are not the people who plagiarise others work, the act of copying work to claim as your own has to be more about receiving accolade and the link to other people and the comments they hope to receive. To me it is all a bit sad,   and I suspect that the Face Book mentality of passing on something you thought was cool, has a lot to do with modern day plagiarism if indeed it is readily seen even on our own pages.

I do have one topic that I wonder where people sit on, and that is Fan fiction, they steal the characters from the author and generally write a pile of crap but why is this not considered plagiarism ?    

I voted to ban but having read and thought a bit more, I now think they should be warned first

Wafflenose
Ellie
Dangerous Mind
United Kingdom 19awards
Joined 1st Aug 2021
Forum Posts: 1127

That's interesting. I haven't really thought about it before. I guess with fan fiction, everyone knows what's what. Nobody is pretending to have created the characters, are they? So the level of deceit is the same. Agree that it's mostly a pile of crap.

MadameLavender
Guardian of Shadows
United States 86awards
Joined 17th Feb 2013
Forum Posts: 5593

Razzerleaf said:

I do have one topic that I wonder where people sit on, and that is Fan fiction, they steal the characters from the author and generally write a pile of crap but why is this not considered plagiarism ?    


Because they aren't copying the creator's words and passing them off as their own.  It would be the same as writing a story about a movie character or someone on TV-- someone else created the persona and the fan fiction writer is adding a story to that character's existence.

Razzerleaf
Fire of Insight
United Kingdom 26awards
Joined 15th Sep 2019
Forum Posts: 487

I agree that nobody is pretending and I'm sure the author gets the proper recognition, but I was more thinking of the motivation behind it, is it that far removed from the answer a plagiarist would give if asked why they did it ? I totally agree that taking lines from someone else's work is unacceptable when you try to claim them for your own without giving due recognition, however I also think we are a community with a shared interest and love of literature especially poetry. I think its safe to say we attract many different people with many human conditions and sometimes complex needs, including youth and naivety.  I'm not trying to justify anything here and on reflection Fan Fiction is a bad example for the reasons you point out. I guess I'm just trying to give credence to why I think people should be given a second chance provided they do the right thing when they are called out.

SweetKittyCat5
Tyrant of Words
26awards
Joined 5th Sep 2018
Forum Posts: 1376

My works of art have been plagiarist on so many sites. I did take my complaint to the Moderator with one; however, I was advised since there are no guidelines in place to protect our passion, I will have to contact the site where it occurred, which I did.

It was a female escort using one of my poems for her introduction to her service. I would have not minded my words being utilized, but it would have been proper to at least acknowledge the poem was not hers and inserted a link where she copied it from which was from DUP.  

Now comes the question, should we ban anyone found at fault. I think it is rather harsh, everyone does deserve a second chance, to correct their action, and then if that person is found to be repeating their action, then yes leave it up to the Moderators to ban them.

Be advised that is my personal option

Enjoy your evening everyone

SKC🐾🐾

Cipher_O
WarlordoftheWrittenWord
Tyrant of Words
United States 19awards
Joined 7th Mar 2021
Forum Posts: 250

I personally subscribe to "WIldean Theft"...

But, to me, that means seeing something,
something that maybe the  creator didn't
even see...

Seeing that and making something
that makes the initial inspiration, unrecognizable...

Or...  Recognizable...

Anything goes...

But...

For me, "WIdean Theft" is an extension of Rimbaud's "thief of fire"...

For me, "Plagiarism" is a legal term...

Like with "fan fiction"...

Did you know you can actually "legally"
publish and make money off of "fan fiction"...

I took a business law class and am an aficionado of the law, in general...

Concepts like "free speech" and "plagiarism" are certainly complex...

It makes me very angry that people will steal from my fellow poets...







Cipher_O
WarlordoftheWrittenWord
Tyrant of Words
United States 19awards
Joined 7th Mar 2021
Forum Posts: 250

(on a side note...

I want to use "fan fiction"

to create a market for the poetry of authors on this site...

I know that sounds crazy...)

rabbitquest
Dangerous Mind
Ukraine 2awards
Joined 20th May 2012
Forum Posts: 2051

FYI one of the very few feature length movies that lost its copywriters protection and entered the public domain around 1980.  Once this happened the movie distribution company kept selling the movie but stopped paying any royalties. The plagiarized movie
was none other than "Debbie Does Dallas". Available on the Wikimedia commons
So since this is NSFW
I will simply instruct you how to search:
"Wikimedia file Debbie does dallas"





MadameLavender
Guardian of Shadows
United States 86awards
Joined 17th Feb 2013
Forum Posts: 5593

We always do give plagiarists a second chance-- when we get notified, we contact them and request that they remove anything that doesn't belong to them.  If they ignore it, we remove the content and ban them.  If they keep plagiarizing after the ban, then their account gets terminated.

That's why it may look like we aren't addressing it or taking too long in resolving it, but there's a lot of waiting involved -- member in question has to log in to see communications, time zone differences between moderators, etc.

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