ARTICLE: Character, Trust, & Plagierism, was FWD:Re: Fai

[Bholanath]

In the neutral-ground forum, we are discussing the possibilities
towards starting a campaign against plagiarism, which some consider a
serious issue within our community. While the campaign is still
being fleshed out (and there are issues to be resolved about what
is "original" and "fair use"), I wanted to share a portion of my most
recent message upon the subject:

--- In neutral-ground@yahoogroups.com, "Cody Allison" <mrendier@h...>
<snip>
> Once we can get the character of the members of
> this community built up and the standards upheld, then we can deal
> with plagiarism, which is as most ethical decisions, a matter of
> principles.

Standards can only be upheld via only three methods: legal recourse,
public awareness, and vigilante justice. For most of us and over
most issues, the third method isn't really an option. Realistically
speaking, most of the problems we need to deal with in this community
don't really make the first method a viable option either, less so
when one considers cost.

Which means the only method we effectively have of establishing
standards in our community is raising public awareness that these
standards are in place and public outcry (in a hope of inspiring
shame) when they are breeched.

Just as morality is subjective, so is having "character". However,
we can agree that the reason [a presumably 'good'] "character" is
desired is to ease relations between and two [or more] individuals
within (or even outside of) our community.

The cornerstone of any functional relationship, after communication
is established, is trust. If I can trust you, I can work with you
towards a similar goal, even if I loath you. If I can not trust
you, I am a fool to work with you even though I love you.

While being honest and being trustworthy are not necessarily
synonymous, having either quality tends to imply the presence or
absence of the other quality.

There are certainly many ways to establish and ruin trust, whether by
design or by circumstance. However, the role of plagiarism shouldn't
be underestimated. The problem is not just whether the plagiarist
copies one or more works, but rather his/her potential motivation for
doing so. The plagiarist doesn't copy the works merely because he/she
can, but because he/she wants to establish a reputation. Presumably
the reputation he/she wants is one of wisdom and understanding. Why
would someone want such a reputation? I can think of no other reason
except in order to gain followers.

Let us now assume that the plagiarist is successful. These followers
develop a sense of loyalty to this plagiarist-leader. Can we trust
this plagiarist-leader not to abuse such loyalties? Can we trust the
followers to be more honourable? Does this "leader" not set a bad
precedent, not merely for his/her followers, but also for those who
admire his/her success? Might they not, realizing but winking at the
dishonesty of the plagiarist-leader, attempt to pave their own road to
success with the stones of falsehood?

The problem with plagiarism, then, is not merely that the author has
had his/her intellectual property abused and that (in some
circumstances) there may be financial repercussions for that author.
That is only the most obvious problem. The bigger problem is how it
affects out ability to trust each other.

And to be in a community that fancies itself "vampires", we already
begin with a serious credibility problem. Add to that pompous titles
which might have made six young Confederate veterans in 1865 happy,
and we only go further on the road uphill. Throw into the mix
failures to agree on what anything means and a hodge-podge of people
some of whom are serious, some of whom are not serious, and some of
whom are not serious but pretending to be serious, and you discover
that we aren't marching up a hill, we are climbing a mountain: Even
those who are on the inside will have trouble knowing who we may look
to for proper guidance and aid as we climb, or (even) where to safely
place our feet. Every falsehood that comes on top of that is like a
loose stone with the potential to cause a landslide bringing the
mountain down on our collect heads.

Before we can truly hope to establish anything grander within the
community, there is an imperative to establish trust. Because
plagiarism undermines trust and because plagiarist-leaders abuse trust
and fosters both mistrust and distrust, finding an effective method
of discouraging and dealing with plagiarists should be considered a
fundamental step towards building an ethical community.

_Bholanath_

[The Madame X]

To clarify:
Plagiarism is taking someone else’s written work without proper acknowledgment or permission and passing it off as yours. Plagiarism is not only a serious ethical issue but it is a serious legal issue, and is considered criminal behavior. Plagiarists are not only stealing from legitimate writers but they are also lying to all those who read the work.

That is why it is so important to put your name and © date on any good material you write and post on any forum. Similarly, it is very important to document all your sources whether they are books, magazines or on-line resources. Sometimes authors can object to have their material, even with proper kudos, presented on ‘specific’ sites; so if possible, get the author’s explicit permission before cross-posting an article, or parts there of.

[nar'suan'ark]

Very true on that Bholanath and The Madame X .. " Plagiarism is not only a serious ethical issue but it is a serious legal issue, " and thats why on any art i do ( graphic's).. i do not © or list as mine.. Since i am just useing all ready done picture's..

[The Madame X]

You are quite right.
While in Savannah I had lots of experience making club fliers, posters and similar image adverts.
Even with images it is important to request permission and to credit source, i.e: photo: Compliments of KMF Designs generally stated in a corner of edge of the image on the final product.

In fact, an ex-member of our forum is being legally processed for unauthorized use of images. This is not a joke.

[The Madame X]

Written works are the only way in which we can demonstrate our level of understanding on-line and while the plagiarist seeks only acceptance, their poor-form not only earns our distrust as a family, but also manages to get us publicly entangled in their dishonorable choices. In our community, our only true asset is reputation… any act of plagiarism means its loss. Posting plagiarized work on a forum, particularly on a public area like the Articles Section of our forum, draws community attention as it reflects poorly on not only the reputation of the poster, but of our site and by extension our family.

It goes without saying that any such bad-form will get you permanently removed from most forums. A plagiarist may also expect to be contacted by the original authors of the work(s) in question as well as to be unwelcome on many other forums, as certainly the news of such indiscretion is expected to propagate. Depending on the degree of offense and the leniency of the parties involved, the plagiarist may also find them selves being sued, answering to the community at large, or to multiple communities, for their offense(s) and may even find themselves excommunicated.

For this reason Syngin Cunningham <http://www.myspace.com/synginslair> has been stripped of her Dedicant status with our family and permanently removed from this forum. Please consider any article posted by her to be plagiarized. To avoid unnecessary drama, the matter is being handled privately between offended parties and Syngin. House of the Dreaming conveys our deep-felt apologies to all the forum readers, and with this explanatory post is concluding this matter, considering it closed to all further discussion. Any questions or comments should be sent by private mail to the parties involved.

[Jeanette]

Plagiarism breaks the trust that people have between them or are trying to establish among themselves. Ones motivation is also looked upon with distrust. Stealing someone else's work is wrong and it is also considered a serious ethical issue by many and most.
If a person is called on it and they learn their lesson, should they continue to be mistrusted or given an opportunity to show themselves to be true individuals?

[deacongray]

It depends actually.

Some people are simply unaware of the rules and laws..even if they make a ehtical mistake, it does not mean they are totally unethical.

We also must take our time to see the intent. In another forum I am in A guy recently posted a segement from the Black Veil about the Warrior caste. Now doing so in this community is silly, but was it really his intent to claim the work, or was it simply a uninformed person cross posting somthing he thought was cool?

I think people make mistakes, and as long as it is only a mistake and not a method of operation it is somthing that can be forgiven.

Most of the time simply learning to credit the source is enough...

[Mnemosyne]

[Hesperus]

Re-posting this here because of the strong relevance of this thread to some recent events

Our community is scattered across the globe, and the best means available to us to share our insights with each other and to celebrate all the ideas and experiences that connect us is through the written word. Blessedly, the community includes more than a few exceptional writers who brave criticism to share their work with the goal of enriching and inspiring all of us. For all the risks our authors accept in publicly sharing their personal thoughts, one they should never face is plagiarism. As some of you have doubtlessly noticed, some unfortunate cases of posting written works without attributing the proper credit to their authors and even wrongfully claiming authorship of others' writings have recently surfaced within the community. Taking credit for another person's work is, frankly, theft. It runs deeper, however, than stealing some physical object, as most things can be replaced, but robbing authors of their creations amounts to tearing away a part of the authors themselves. Particularly in a community that depends so heavily on written communication, losing one's words seems indistinguishable from losing one's very identity.

The harm of subjecting members of our own community to this degree of disrespect extends far beyond hurting our authors, however. Left with understandable distrust, writers who are plagiarized are less likely to share their work in the future, denying the entire community the benefit of words that often hold the power to unite and fortify us. Furthermore, when true authorship inevitably comes to light, plagiarists and all associated with them run the risk of being discredited, creating a broader environment of mistrust in a community that all-too-often already lacks a strong sense of solidarity. The growth and the very survival of the community relies upon properly attributing recognition and genuinely enjoying the contributions of our peers and how those gifts help all of us. Petty jealousies and seeking to advance in the community without putting in the effort will not benefit anyone; who wants to be an Elder in a community whose members cannot trust each other and which victimizes and chases away genuine talent?

The House of the Dreaming (HotD) contends that the only solution to misrepresentation and deceptive secrecy is to fully and immediately flush the truth out into the open. Many others, including well-respected and long-standing Elders and leaders, prefer to handle these matters more privately, and the HotD respects the right of each House leader and each individual to decide how best to set these issues right when such distressing information comes to their attention. We expect nothing more than the same courtesy. While we fully endorse the virtue of discretion, discretion is in place to protect the identities of our community members, and protecting the identities of our community members who have been plagiarized is precisely what HotD intends to do by outing proven plagiarists without hesitation and without regret.

That said, this is not a call to arms or a declaration of war; far from it, our House sees this unpleasantness as an opportunity for the community to draw closer together. We may differ on how to correct issues of plagiarism, but certainly we can all agree that this sort of behavior is unacceptable and needs to be addressed. It is perfectly reasonable to feel disappointment, anger, and embarrassment at the discovery that someone close to you has acted unethically, and reacting with harsh words directed at an inappropriate target is understandable, and need not be dwelled upon, but in the end, this subject should offer us all common ground.

In the interests of avoiding unnecessary confusion in response to this letter, the House of the Dreaming would like to share the following guidelines that we consistently use when this troubling issue comes up:
-Confirm with absolute certainty that a work has indeed been plagiarized before bringing anything up publicly. It can be difficult to determine exactly who has plagiarized whom, but this is clearly a vital piece of information that should precede making an open allegation. Given how long the HotD's membership has played an active role in the community, this process usually begins with a first-hand recognition of strikingly familiar work, and is followed by searching old records and contacting the suspected actual author.
-Inform the community at large (typically in an online post) of the incident so that the spread of misinformation can be contained as quickly and effectively as possible. Each person who mistakenly attributes a piece to the wrong author only to later discover that they were misled is one more person who will come to associate our community with deceit. As such, we feel it is important to act swiftly and to appeal to the whole community at once.
-Open lines of communication with any Elders/leaders who have taken responsibility for the actions of the plagiarist(s). If those who have misused another writer's work belong to a House or other formal organization, the head(s) of that House should be informed so that they may attend to the matter internally according to their own standards and also, if they wish, issue a public statement to reassure the community that they are taking the incident seriously and working to correct it.
-At this point, the role of the HotD usually ends, though we may, with permission, take the opportunity to re-post the plagiarized work with the correct author's information in an effort to both promote quality writing and heal some of the damage done to the real author.

We sincerely hope that this unhappy event will motivate a renewed desire for cooperation and solidarity among all the community's Houses and groups that value both honesty and the creative works of our community's members.