Unintentional plagiarism

[KingsDen]

It is no longer news that Plagiarism is a serious offence not only in this noble forum, but also in the extensive academic fields. Newbies take note, its penalty in this forum is permanent ban. It doesn't actually matter when you are caught. You might commit plagiarism as a newbie and later caught when you are a senior member+, you will also face the consequences - according to rule 33 of the forum.

Without digressing, two cases of plagiarism has been identified;
1. Intentional Plagiarism(Purposeful appropriation of others work)
2. Unintentional Plagiarism.

I want to dwell on unintentional plagiarism;
Plagiarism may be said to be unintentional if the plagarist misuses the appropriate method of citation(citing an unexisting or different url from the source). In parentheses is as related to this forum. Or when the plagarist does not know that what he/she copied needs to be cited. Or when the plagarist intention is not to cheat.
I want to understand the basics of the unintentional plagiarism as regards to this forum. Is it that if found guilty of unintentional plagiarism, you will only get temporary ban.

Personally, I don't believe in anything called unintentional plagiarism. Since professionally it faces same penalty with intentional plagiarism. Unless the intention in the context is the intention to make money. Maybe, if your intention of plagiarising is not to make money, it should be called unintentional plagiarism.
Also, is there a possibility that someone will copy some chunks of knowledge that is not a general knowledge and forgets to cite it?

Having rejected unintentional plagiarism, I think it should rather be called plagiarism due to ignorance. Maybe, you are unaware of the conventions of citation. Then, you are unwilling to find the appropriate way to cite(plagiarism due to laziness). These are understandable to me, but unintentional plagiarism I do not understand.
Thanks all!

[Upgrade00]

I want to understand the basics of the unintentional plagiarism as regards to this forum. Is it that if found guilty of unintentional plagiarism, you will only get temporary ban.

All cases of rule breaking are considered uniquely and not as a general case with the same outcome, while unintentional plagiarism might not exist on the forum, if a user us caught plagiarizing and gets caught, the details of the case would be considered before such user is banned or when they appeal.
Some members are judged on merits of their contribution to the forum over the years, this could result in a lower ban, with restrictions of signature space possibly,
• If a user makes an error on imputing the site link, this would also be considered by the mods, sometimes using quite tags, or simply "" "", is usually enough to avoid any punishment.
• The intent is also considered, was the user wearing a signature when the post was made? Does it bring them any form of benefit, or were they just excited about sharing some new information.

All these and more are considered, but these cases make up a minor part of rule breakers, majority simply broke the rules, cause they do not care about the forum.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Having rejected unintentional plagiarism, I think it should rather be called plagiarism due to ignorance. Maybe, you are unaware of the conventions of citation. Then, you are unwilling to find the appropriate way to cite(plagiarism due to laziness). These are understandable to me, but unintentional plagiarism I do not understand.
Thanks all!

Its case to case basis actually. There are some in the past who committed some plagiarism but since they contributed a lot in forum, Im pretty sure admins have considered it.

Plagiarism is a big sin so those who got banned are probably did with intent their did. If someone did plagiarism, then he is aware of it especially if he didnt understand those terms and condition you stated.

[NeuroticFish]

Personally, I don't believe in anything called unintentional plagiarism.

There's one case that comes into my mind: people telling "I've read somewhere that <this> and <that>".
Is that (unintentional) plagiarism or not? Is the source important if only the general idea is passed?
I'd say that there's no general answer for this and it depends...

So I'd go by the same statement as said just before me:

Its case to case basis actually.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

Rules are general guidelines, ands mods can interpret them for a given case. Nevertheless trying to discern whether plagiarism on a given case is intended or unintended is not necessarily something that I’d say is given much attention to.

Interpreting intention is not, in general terms, something that is going to be conclusive one way or another, so more often than not, the focus is going to be on the singular fact that plagiarism has been committed (by forum standards), that to second guess the reasons behind.

As I and others have reiterated over time, and due to this being one of the main causes for accounts being banned, a simple explicit well versed explanation above the posting textbox would not leave much wiggle room for complaints.

[tranthidung]

1. Intentional Plagiarism(Purposeful appropriation of others work)
2. Unintentional Plagiarism.

It is easy to find what plagiarism one member makes is. How?

• Look at post history
• If it is full of plagiarism, you can easily conclude that is a spammer, first and then plagiarism is made intentionally.
• If it is good and show some good effects, it is a first step to somewhat believe a single plagiarism could be unintentionally
• The forum gives members with good net-effects a chance to get a softer restriction on their accounts: signature ban, signature ban + account ban for a while, etc.

Plagiarism may be said to be unintentional if the plagarist misuses the appropriate method of citation(citing an unexisting or different url from the source).

Moderators will never ban such cases if members make typos, mistakes when quoting, editing or leaving sources.

[Jawhead999]

There's no such unintentional plagiarism, all of them is considered as plagiarism if they copy someone works. What I mean isn't copy and paste all entire other people works, but someone who paraphrasing general opinions and claiming as his own. Of course no one will know since other user might think it's general/appropriate answer.

I'd say user which writing other people idea is also plagiarism too, you can find it on Spam mega thread (mostly on Altcoin section) and read pages after 3-5 all they said is only repeating answer on the pages 1.

[Pokapoka124]

Recently made a similar post about plagiarism. It is still an ongoing discussion and one I doubt will end soon. The forum doesn't take kindly to plagiarism. If you go to LoyceV's thread. you will find dozens of accounts reported for plagiarism some new some old. Turns out that even if you are Legendary you could get banned for plagiarism you did as a newbie. Personally I think a first time offender should be given the benefit of a doubt...a warning maybe. That way if the user plagiarises for the second time then he should be banned.

[GeorgeJohn]

Can one actually Carry out Unintentional plagiarism  ?
Not at all, they're all performed intentionally as a result of ignorance over a topic, laziness,idea or event,not been aware of how the regulations and rule of an organization is meant to be, one can put oneself in a bastardized situation as a result of plagiarism.
The Fear of not making up a quality post leads to plagiarism, Most post are actually for the quest of Merits,so trying to make a quality and lengthy but post will want to carry out such acts......So Unintentional Plagiarism can't be done.

[TheNineClub]

The problem here is that the forum itself (and I am not talking about this forum in particular, but web Forums in general) is treated more like a casual conversation than a scientific information resource where citation and acknowledgment are required. I am referring to unintentional plagiarism of course. Most people have never written a serious paper in school and actually have no idea that those things are required when you are conveying someone elses ideas. This is a much broader problem than just not following the rules of the forum.

[KingsDen]

I'd say user which writing other people idea is also plagiarism too, you can find it on Spam mega thread (mostly on Altcoin section) and read pages after 3-5 all they said is only repeating answer on the pages 1.

This is very correct, I noticed this several times. Most posters will just read the content of others reply and summarise all by paraphrasing. Then drop it as their own reply under the same thread. That act is irritating and depicts laziness at its peak.

The most annoying aspect of it is that established members do it too. It should only be a newbie thing if it's to exist, but surprisingly I have seen established members upto snr members doing it. I have not actually seen a hero or legendary member do it.

[zasad@]

• The intent is also considered, was the user wearing a signature when the post was made? Does it bring them any form of benefit, or were they just excited about sharing some new information.

I also heard the opinion that "no signature means the user is innocent", but this does not work.
The user can shill the project or increase the number of posts.
__
KingsDen, you better try to be a useful member for the forum, and then you will have a better chance of being exonerated in case of a mistake.
Plagiarism is not liked and not forgiven here, many users' accounts have been blocked for this reason.

[KingsDen]

• The intent is also considered, was the user wearing a signature when the post was made? Does it bring them any form of benefit, or were they just excited about sharing some new information.

I also heard the opinion that "no signature means the user is innocent", but this does not work.
The user can shill the project or increase the number of posts.

It is now I understood @Upgrade00 reply.  It is assumed the intent is to make money if the user us wearing a signature. And if no signature, it is assumed the user just wanted to impress readers.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

I want to dwell on unintentional plagiarism;
Plagiarism may be said to be unintentional if the plagarist misuses the appropriate method of citation(citing an unexisting or different url from the source). In parentheses is as related to this forum. Or when the plagarist does not know that what he/she copied needs to be cited. Or when the plagarist intention is not to cheat.

There shouldn't be two ways about it, it's either you plagiarized or you didn't. The moment you intentionally copied an article from online, the source should be given credit to, that's how it should be. I don't blame those that come into the forum and plagiarized though, I mean it's becoming a norm thing in the society these days so they might think it doesn't matter here. There's no more morals in the society, people easily steal people works without giving credit to and they go unpunished.

On other social platform, plagiarism isn't been punished as works are been stolen daily without no credits been given and yet there's no punishment to it. e.g on twitter, Facebook etc you can easily copy someone works, post it and get all the credit. Credit has to be given to this forum for still implementing rules that helps keep humanity in check.

The punishment the forum gives for plagiarism help resharp those guilty of it (atleast those that are sorry about what they did and want to change) as it helps them understand that when you steal you'll get punished.

[petyang12]

It is not intentional when a post stated "I've read somewhere about ____ and _____ about ____ when that user knows that it is not his/her content in the first place unless he/she will provide the link where he/she read that content from and it won't be a plagiarism as result.

[Pokapoka124]

It is not intentional when a post stated "I've read somewhere about ____ and _____ about ____ when that user knows that it is not his/her content in the first place unless he/she will provide the link where he/she read that content from and it won't be a plagiarism as result.

Hmmm it still is. It is possible the user " forgot" to cite the source or didn't remember the exact source they got the in formation. But that will be for the moderators to decide.

[AniviaBtc]

It is hard to believe those people who do unintentional plagiarism and for those who are doing it on purpose.

Some criminals are saying that they don't know what they are doing and they just do plagiarism accidentally, they are denying some accusations.

Even if it is unintentional or not, it is still prohibited in any platforms that's why keep in mind to always cite or to give credit to the original owner of a certain article or something.

[UserU]

There's one case that comes into my mind: people telling "I've read somewhere that <this> and <that>".
Is that (unintentional) plagiarism or not? Is the source important if only the general idea is passed?
I'd say that there's no general answer for this and it depends...

IMO, that doesn't fall under plagiarism because you did specify that the content was sourced elsewhere.

For instance, we can see the difference between "I read an article on CoinDesk that (this guy) claimed that Bitcoin will reach 0" versus blatantly copying a quote or source without citing any source.

[Westingcote]

There is no accidental plagiarism only ignorance. If you recite or get your information from another source please include the link. If you're paraphrasing and building your arguments based on some research you've done it's probably still better to include the source.

[Eureka_07]

<snip>

If I am not wrong, I believe most of those who have been caught users that committed plagiarism are caught not on that  scale in which the user has been promoted to higher rank. And I don't kinda believe on unintentional plagiarism since there is no such thing IMO.