Thread: Posting Plagiarised Work

Unfortunately it has come to light that a member has been posting plagiarised work as his own. The person concerned has confessed to this and all his work has been removed from the site. The member has also been permanently banned.

The January edition of the Newsletter has also had to be withdrawn as it contained work by this person. I apologise to all contributors to that issue who are also affected by this.

Plagiarism is an issue that we do not take lightly. I'm glad to say that this is only the second severe case to emerge in the history of this site.

Aww sad that such things happen.

It is sad that this happens, and it begs the question why? What's the point?

I agree. What's the point? When I write something or draw something it may not be great, but it's mine, and I can show it to the whole world and say, 'look, I did this'. What satisfaction can there be in passing off someone else's work as your own?

I agree with the above, why? even if you post plagarised work that gets praised how can that praise feel good? you don't have the satisfaction knowing that it came from you, rather you're being praised for nothing. I don't understand how someone can take that praise and feel good from it.
It's not their work, they havn't contributed anything to it so the praise cannot be attributed to yourself.

I am of course assuming the work that has been plagarised is good as it would be strange to steal someone elses work and try to improve upon it from critiques.

The January edition of the newsletter has been revised to remove offending content.

What form of plagiarism was committed? Full blown word-for-word, changing the sentence structure or wording around, paraphrasing without citing the source, etc.? If it is was word-for-word, it's odd that it would take someone this long to spot it. I agree though; it's odd that the plagiarist was getting some kind of satisfaction from doing this.

It isn't necessary to reveal all the details. The situation is dealt with and is now past.

Originally Posted by Foxee

It isn't necessary to reveal all the details. The situation is dealt with and is now past.

True. Sorry, I am just curious as to how strict WF is regarding plagiarism -- in particular unintentional plagiarism. Some people can plagiarise without actually knowing they are doing it, if they are not familiar with the different forms of it.

Originally Posted by Brock

True. Sorry, I am just curious as to how strict WF is regarding plagiarism -- in particular unintentional plagiarism. Some people can plagiarise without actually knowing they are doing it, if they are not familiar with the different forms of it.

Deliberate plagiarism will automatically be rewarded with a permanent ban when discovered.

No action is taken without discussion between staff and communication with the member concerned. Beyond that, for the benefit of all concerned, moderation isn't discussed on the public forums.

Do moderator's know who's work he stole? Would it be appropriate to inform the original writer? I know if somebody was stealing my work I'd want to know about it, and informing the original writer could get the group new members from the literary community. If the guy stole work to put in this website, then he is going to continue to put elsewhere.

All necessary action has been taken.