Plagiarism

With Thoul's permission, and, in lieu of some recent occurrences, I felt compelled to post a topic clearly conveying what plagiarism is. Plagiarism is a very serious offense. Hopefully, others will pay close attention and take the necessary steps in order to avoid it. Below, is information from http://www.plagiarism.org/

What is Plagiarism?

•to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
•to use (another's production) without crediting the source
•to commit literary theft
•to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

But can words and ideas really be stolen?

The answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).

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 (see our section on "fair use" rules)

In conclusion, my words: Don't do it. Ask permission if possible, give credit, and always cite.

Lastly, I'd like to make a formal request to please not plagiarize my work. Thank you.

Thanks for posting this, RW. I think it's important to note since we do have a pretty active creative community here.

My thoughts are that, while it may seem like a nice way of honoring someone else's work you admire, to take from it and call it your own is still stealing. It's better to draw inspiration from works you love rather than take from them verbatim.

Well said, RW!

I get paranoid when it comes to plagiarism, simply because I didn't wanna share my work and keep a lot of it to myself since I didn't want people stealing my ideas. In saying that (and as an example), that's why I don't look at fanfics when I am working on something fan game-related, since I didn't wanna use anyone else's ideas, whether it was intentional or not. I like drawing inspiration from my own thoughts.

But... Sharing your work with others is something that's really cool. You put your own thoughts and ideas out there, and people either appreciate it (I know I do ^_^) or not. What's really important is that people respect others, and respect intellectual rights, rather than "borrowing" an idea or two. That doesn't make it right.

A very good post on a serious topic, and well-timed given the heated discussion that sparked not long ago. Something to avoid as much as you can, but also something that's easy to do without even knowing it.

I would also like to point out the following from the Participation Guidelines:

Quote:

Do not post works by others that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute. Fair Use legal clauses, though interpreted in different manners on a case by case basis, generally allow for reproduction or distribution of small portions of works. For most works, you may post a small portion (usually no more than one-fifth) of the work, while also providing the source (including a link, if it is online).

This has Fringes of Algo's anti-plagiarism rule for a long time. It applies to all forms of content everyone posts, whether it is artwork, fan fiction, or even a news story found on Yahoo. Whenever posting something on this site that is not your own work or a result of common knowledge, the concept of Fair Use allows for small quotes, but it is required to cite the source.

Thoul wrote:

I would also like to point out the following from the Participation Guidelines:

Quote:

Do not post works by others that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute. Fair Use legal clauses, though interpreted in different manners on a case by case basis, generally allow for reproduction or distribution of small portions of works. For most works, you may post a small portion (usually no more than one-fifth) of the work, while also providing the source (including a link, if it is online).

This has Fringes of Algo's anti-plagiarism rule for a long time. It applies to all forms of content everyone posts, whether it is artwork, fan fiction, or even a news story found on Yahoo. Whenever posting something on this site that is not your own work or a result of common knowledge, the concept of Fair Use allows for small quotes, but it is required to cite the source.

So it's fair to say that if you use someone else's artwork for your avatar or for your signature, you have to have a link citing the source, correct?

An Avatar would be filed under a fair use clause.

You're not making any profit off of it. Most of them are made and given out freely to use.

Fair use clause covers alot of material. One should read up on it.

Rick wrote:

An Avatar would be filed under a fair use clause.

You're not making any profit off of it. Most of them are made and given out freely to use.

Fair use clause covers alot of material. One should read up on it.

What about someone who's work (like fanart) is taken and fashioned into an avatar by someone else for their own use? Is that all right to take and use without permission? I am not talking about a pre-made avatar, Rick. I am talking about artwork that someone invested a lot of time and effort into that is taken and used by other people without any nod towards them or permission. I do not believe that is right at all.

Tsunami wrote:

So it's fair to say that if you use someone else's artwork for your avatar or for your signature, you have to have a link citing the source, correct?

I've never had occasion to enforce that rule regarding avatars or signatures in the past, but yes. I'm not going to go looking for a source every time someone changes their avatar, because then I wouldn't have time to do anything else. But if someone brings a specific case where artwork is being used without permission and/or credit to my attention, then I would pursue that.

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What about someone who's work (like fanart) is taken and fashioned into an avatar by someone else for their own use? Is that all right to take and use without permission? I am not talking about a pre-made avatar, Rick. I am talking about artwork that someone invested a lot of time and effort into that is taken and used by other people without any nod towards them or permission. I do not believe that is right at all.

Eh.. I see where you're coming from but if we followed that rule, almost every anime from the 80s and 90s would probably never have been made. I've seen blatant character copies in shows and such/

It's a hard thing to enforce because I've seen a friend reproduce a piece of artwork by hand, add one small change and it's considered a brand new product. Certain stories get marketed the same way. Art classes at college sell self copied work.

I"m not advocating theft but it's somewhat hard to enforce avatar usage. Even harder for signature usage.

Besides, I doubt you could call Reika Kodama or Naka or Sega and ask them for permission to use their images as avatars and get a response from them o.o

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Once.. I plaigarized myself in college. The name I go by Rick, isn't my real name. I don't ever go by it IRL because when I was born, like 2 seconds later that was my name. Most people can't pronounce it anyways. So usually I have to sign my schoolwork my real name.

So anyways, I wrote a paper for a class under my real name and turned it in. I think it was a psychology class at the university. 2 semesters later, a similar class needed the same type of paper and I already wrote mine. I just added extra stuff to the end and changed some paragraphs. I submitted this paper for a sociology class.

I didn't know the professors were friends and so the sociology professor talked to the psychology professor and called me up and told me I was getting a F on my paper for plaigarising and copying someone.

I had to laugh and show him that it was by the same person and professor admitted he thought the last name was similar but he was being safe.

Now this all occured back around 2004ish when it became big news that kids up north, New England area, were using cell phones to cheat on tests and copy them. A big plaigarism campaign came down at the college.

Anyways, Alot of music artists had problems for plaigarising themselves also.

If Aoi Nishimata changed her name, she'd be accused of plaigarising on a new work because her style has never changed in 15 years XD She's a great artist though!