Plagairism on YWS
I would say that a plagiarized story or poem on YWS comes to our attention about once a month. Ninety percent of the time, it’s one of the moderators that catch it. Another nine percent of the time, one of the members catches it. Only one percent of the time (in this case, only two instances ever) do the original authors catch it.
Plagiarism is also one of only two acts that will get you permanently banned from YWS without one warning, and without me ever considering allowing you back on the site. The other? Posting pornography on the forum (only one account of this ever fortunately).
But I have always wondered why people do it on this site. After all, it’s easy to get caught. Most of the time, a moderator catches it because they read a lot of the poems & stories on the site. After a while, they get a sense for your style of writing. Then one day comes along, and you post a poem written in a completely different style. That raises a red flag. After that, it only takes seconds to check.
Then second of all, it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. At least in a classroom I can understand why someone may resort to plagiarism, even though plagiarism in a class is a far more despicable act. But on YWS, it’s just a Web site. You’re not getting grades here. There’s no prestige system here either. Indeed, people become moderators on YWS based not on the strength of their writing, but rather on their helpfulness.
But, it’ll continue anyways. Fortunately, the vast, vast majority of members do not plagiarize their stuff.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Nate…. *flails* I’m sorry, I’ve turned into a grammar freak lately. XD
“But, it’ll continue anyway.” No S on “anyway”. ^_^
and, yeah… it is a problem. I don’t know why people do it? It’s silly! If you have nothing to post, then don’t. I love critiquers as much as I love writers! Although I sometimes do wonder what someones writing is like. I’ve been “yelled” at on forums before because I critiqued stuff and then never posted my own. They wanted to see why I thought I was so darn good at writing… well. *rambles* You don’t have to be a good writer to be a good critic, which is really surprising but true. I give good critiques on poetry, but I can’t write poetry at all…So I think.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I think I’ve seen this posted somewhere else before…
December 18th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. At least in a classroom I can understand why someone may resort to plagiarism, even though plagiarism in a class is a far more despicable act. But on YWS, it’s just a Web site. You’re not getting grades here. There’s no prestige system here either. Indeed, people become moderators on YWS based not on the strength of their writing, but rather on their helpfulness.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
^^Lol.
I seriously think that some people don’t even see it as something that is wrong. They’ve never experienced the fact that they could get in trouble for using other people’s work without permission. Twisted, if you ask me.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Yes… you can almost see it go back to the writer’s strike? Not getting your money’s worth (even if your name is on it…) is nearly like plagiarism. Now, I do say “nearly”.
What makes me really sick is when you hear about the people who plagiarized their essays in college and then loose all of their scholarships and get kicked out… Come on people, think. At this point in my life, if I am struggling to write a paper, I would rather not do it at all (or not finish, or turn it in late…) than plagiarize. Make it my own fault. Don’t be stupid.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Perhaps it’s a pride thing. Maybe they’ve got very low self-confidence, want to hear someone say something good about them, and so post a poem that they’re sure is going to get a good critique, just to hear someone say something good about them, and to boost their self-esteem.
Or they’re idiots. Whatever.