First to set the record straight, I have never, nor do I plan on having an 'alter ego' account on here. If I have something to say, by golly you can count on it comming directly from here (ask anyone who knows me in the 'real world', I don't care to step on toes to call people out on their crap :D)
Anywho. .
Since my other two articles are flagged currently (both as hate speech, both as Harassment and one as SPAM) I guess I have to write another one while I wait on the Gather Team to free my articles from the iso-tank :D
Since religion is one of my favorite things to study, I will take a religious stance on the issue dear to me at the time: Posting content on gather (or any site for that matter) that is not directly created by the user, or if it is borrowed content failing to give credit to the original source.
Since I would wager the majority of you are Christian let's start there.
In Christianity what does Jesus teach about stealing?
Mark 15, verses 19 and 20
"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."
Also Mark 7 Verses 20 through 23
"And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
So, according to Jesus theft is an evil act and defiles humanity. Bible experts please feel free to elaborate.
But maybe you perfer the more to the point lessons found in the Old Testimant,used by both Christianity and Judaism:
Exodus 20:15
"Thou shalt not steal"
Well now, that's pretty direct wouldn't you think? But in case that isn't good enough lets find a few more shall we, maybe a little more specific to Judaism:
"Because what is yours is not yours, how then can you regard what is notyours as yours?"
Talmud, Derek Eretz Zuta 2.5
(This Rabi argues that even what we have as our own is not really our own, only on loan from God to us, so. .. if it isn't even on loan to us how can we claim it as ours? I can always count on the Talmud to give me a good mind twist and something to think about)
And we can't forget the third Abrahamic faith, Islam. What does the Qur'an say about theives and theivery?
"As for the thief, both male and female, cut off their hands. It is thereward of their own deeds, an exemplary punishment from God."
Qur'an 5.38
But Heather, what If I do not believe in said monotheistic religions? What do other world religions say about theft?
I am glad you asked, me in third person, because I am not a monotheist and so the following 'ideas' are more to my understanding:
"Where you did not sow, do not reap"
Traditional Nigerian Proverb
Good advice!
"To take to oneself unrighteous wealth is like satisfying one's hunger withputrid food, or one's thirst with poison wine. It gives a temporaryrelief, indeed, but death also follows it."
Taoism. Treatise on Response and Retribution 5
People who post stolen content may benifit from it now (points, cash, ego stroking etc) but the results of their action will fit the crime (hopefuly they either are removed from gather, shunned by the community or sued by the rightful owners of the content)
"The wickedness of evil-minded thieves, who secretly prowl over this earth,cannot be restrained except by punishment"
Hinduism. Laws of Manu 9.263
Here we can see that the theives may not always be obvious, they are crafty in their ways of deception. We should always pay attention to the content we rate, comment on and support.
"These acts are included in stealing: prompting another to steal, receivingstolen goods, creating confusion to overcharge or underpay, using falseweights and measures, and deceiving others with artificial or imitationgoods"
Jainism. Akalanka, Tattvartharajavartika 7.27
I believe posting images without citing your source (if they are not your own) lets others believe the work is your own. This deception is a form of theft.
"Confucius said, "I do not see what use a man can be put to, whose wordcannot be trusted. How can a wagon be made to go if it has no yoke-bar,or a carriage if it has no collar-bar?"
Confucianism. Analects 2.22
People who claim the work of others as their own are liars and cannot be trusted.
"Whoever steals what is considered to belong to others, whether it besituated in villages or the forest, he is to be known as an outcast.
Whoever having contracted debts defaults when asked to pay, retorts, "I amnot indebted to you!," he is to be known as an outcast.
Whoever is desirous of stealing even a trifle and mugs a person goingalong the road in order to take it, he is to be known as an outcast."
Buddhism. Sutta Nipata 119-21
The Gather community should stand up and let the world know, we will not accept cheaters, frauds and theives as respected 'citizens' of our community!
"An ye Harm none"
Wiccan Rede
This is more close to home for me. Harm is caused when you post, or award stolen content. Not only does it take possible financial gains away from the real creator of the work, but it also harms the quality of this site, the crediablity of its members and your own personal karma. If you see stolen content, and ignore it, or rate it favorably and applaud the poster, you yourself are guilty of the crime by association.
As usual, in the spirit of Nippy Katz (whom I haven't seen on here in a while, I must go track his page down. . ) digression, topic changes and assorted ranting is encouraced and embraced.
Long live Original Content on Gather (and the internet at large!)
( Bible passages can be found in any King James Bible (I have actually about four versions of the bible on my bookshelf) but if you perfer internet sources: Bible Gateway is my favorite. The other religions quotes can be found at World Scripture (Chapter Nine, Major Sins to be exact) and my Jesus Clip art can be found at Free Christian Clip Art )
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Comments: 55
Right now I'm in a hurry to get this in my group before it's flagged. I'll be back later...
Thank you for posting this to Best Original Photos, Art and Writing for 2008
I wonder if the bible has anything to say about Netwinner gaming.
How doth the little dung beetle
Improve each shining hour
Reprocessing excrement
Amidst the fields and flowers.
For articles, it's whenever someone posts another's work as his or her own without giving credit to the actual author.
For pictures, it's like someone visits a professional photographer's site and downloads a picture then posts it here with no attribution and without the copyright.
Another member commented on the eerie similarity and the "author" explained that it was due to being pressed for time. The phrase "a likely story" popped up in my head for some reason or other.
Anyone who is interested can take a look here: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977236202
Love the title, by the way.
In the past they did.
Now they will only respond if the copyright holder of the stolen material lodges a complaint. I guess I can see, when there are so many people doing it (including their very own Writing Essestial Member Editors) how much of a strain on Support it was to follow up on. Who knew there were so many dishonest people? Part of the problem is that so many people think that if they found it on the internet it must be free, even though the Gather TOS and COmmunity Guidelines state you should only post things that are yours.
Here's one of my recent favorites--
Someone was upset because someone kept flagging the photos she stole and so she wrote this article:
"To the person who keeps flagging the photos of Mt Washington
by Karen K.
December 15, 2007 09:05 PM EST
rating: 9.5/10 (21 votes) | comments: 26
If you go to their website they give your permission for use of their pictures, hence , it says on the photo Mt Washington Observatory"
There was a long comment thread about how nasty and horrible the flaggers and trolls and poopyheads who don't appreciate stolen content were until the person whose photos were stolen weighed in with this comment:
"Karen K,
A friend alerted me to your site.
As the ACTUAL photographer of 'your' top rated photo, I must sternly ask that you remove it from this site immediately or follow the real terms of use spelled out on the Mount Washington Observatory webpage:
http://www.mountwashington.org/photos/
I have chosen to donate my work to a worthy not for profit institution, under which the rights are protected from use on a for-profit webpage such as yours here. I work very hard for my images, and your use of them is not only dishonest, misrepresentative and immoral, but also illegal. Please see this link if you do not understand the seriousness with which I will approach this issue:
http://webdesign.about.com/od/copyright/a/aa081700a.htm
Please do not continue to represent the work and artistic vision of others as your own, or I will take action with gather, the Mount Washington Observatory, the other photographers whose work you have stolen, and the athorities.
Jim S., Dec 16, 2007, 3:05pm EST"
Sorry for the bitterness, but this stuff always ticks me off.
But in that case, there may be an estate or foundation that owns the copyright.
Hi all,
There were some copyright concerns expressed in the comments above that I can address.
Gather follows the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA is explained in section 21 of the TOS. The act was instituted to protect the copyrights of content posted online. It states what steps copyright holders or their agents are required to do by law if their copyright is infringed. According to this act, Gather's responsibilities are to uphold the copyright of anyone who brings a violation of their content to our attention. In today's law, it is not Gather's responsibility to verify what is copyrighted and what is not. But it is Gather's responsibility to immediately react to a copyright holder's, or their agent's, notification of a violation.
It is very important for each of us to realize that we are responsible for content we post to the site. If content you post is not your own original content, you are putting yourself at risk of violating someone's copyright, and at risk of a lawsuit. Please see section 4 of the TOS "…This means that you, and not Gather, are entirely responsible for all Content that you upload, post…".
Copyright can be a confusing subject. The safest thing to do is to only post your own content. There are some fun sites that have content that is not copyrighted and can be used by others. Please make sure you are checking the copyright of any content you post on Gather that is not your original work. If you have follow up questions, I'll be checking this article, so please feel free to leave the question here. You can also send me a private message if you prefer.
MaryAnne Flynn, Jan 2, 2008, 12:20pm EST
So--basically, any Gather Member or Member Editor can post plagiarized content and just hope the real copyright holder doesn't come after them. Anyone is welcome to try calling them on it, but it is easy for the dishonest members to either simply remove comments calling them out or get a whole bunch of their connections to gang up on you and call you a poopyhead for exposing them.
The only recourse is to insulate oneself and only read content by reputable people, write an article about the dishonest "authors" here (you *will* be flagged, but it will probably be removed), or report stolen content to the copyright holders.
Matt--I think the pictures were taken down. I know the article disappeared after the real copyright holder weighed in. For all I know, the member lost her account, but I didn't follow it that closely.
"Permission is granted to freely print, unmodified, up to 100 copies of the most up to date version of this document from http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html, or to copy it in off-the-net electronic form. On the net/WWW, however, you must link here rather than put up your own page. If you had not seen a notice like this on the document, you would have to assume you did not have permission to copy it. This document is still protected by you-know-what even though it has no copyright notice. Please don't send mail asking me if you can link here -- you can do so, without asking or telling me. The only people I prefer not link here are those who mail me asking for permission to link."
The article was titled "10 Big Myths about copyright explained", "by ashish j." although the real author is Brad Templeton. When I pointed out the irony of an article about copyright being a copyright violation, the article went poof!
I am more than a little disappointed in Gather's lack of interest in addressing obvious copyright issues - even if the original author does happen to be dead.
"
Heather,
Gather adheres to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and follows the same policy as LiveJournal, YouTube, etc. What this amounts to is that you can publish the work of others (writers, photographers and videographers) without penalty, and without the ability of the community to report said content. Unless you are the copyright holder, or their agent, Gather will take no action.
So, asking Gather to do something would be a lost cause. :-("
Kevin (gatherbuzz.gather.com) V., Jan 20, 2008, 1:44am EST
Janna that is hysterical and sad at the same time the original photographer chewed that person up. What kills me most of all is when you try to alert the community to a fraud, the fan club of said frauds swarm your content and flag everything as harassment. I don't see how pointing out the truth is a harassment. T.S. Eliot rip off person and I duked it out this summer over videos with CR'ed music.
I wish that for flagging, the 'tick boxes' would be a little better defined. "harassment" is entirely too vague. Did you know you can also report an article for the comments the article receives? I kid you not. . .
"What part of this article are you reporting? (required, check all that apply)
Article Content, Images, Comments, Tags"
I guess you have to be the thought police on your own articles :|
Well at least someone at gather has some brains. .. maybe there is hope yet!
> Long Live the Gather Original Content Posters
Posting Unoriginal Work is Uncool! Not Defending Original Artists!
a small victory is mine. .
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Doyle I wonder if I can get by with copying the works of Freud into my psychology paper . .. drat he's only been dead 69 years as of September 23rd of this year. . . oh well there is always grad school. . .
But really, how hard is it to give credit where it's due? And links are easy to create. This shouldn't be an issue, but apparently there are enough small-minded people out there who need to wrap themselves in someone else's glory. Too bad!
This is a great idea, Heather. If you create that wall, or a group, since there might not be a wall big enough, I think many of us will support you.
I hear ya! I've even seen some of my work stolen from other websites and posted here. It's not hard to write something original here and get points for it, so the copyright infringers, imitators, thieves and adaptation specialists really baffle me. I can't figure out why it is even necessary to imitate or copy the work of others.
It depends on who gets to contribute to it. Some of the people here are so stupid, they think properly cited quotes or quoting people in Gather conversations are copyright violations. These are sometimes the same dumbasses who are busted for stealing content "because it was on the internet!".
Regarding posting only content that is your own, I do blog articles from a variety of sources. Actually, at Gather, I typically blog my own external blog(s) or photos. The usual purpose of my external blogs, and their republication here, is to explain scientific or technical articles or to comment on them, though helping to popularize and disseminate the information is also a goal.
In my blogs, only a legal (under copyright law) "fair use" sliver of the text is used, similar to what might show up in a book review. Of course, there is always a link to the original source (and if that was a secondary source, there is most often a link to the primary source(s), also).
I believe that I am helping people both find and understand technical articles on the environment, and I provide attribution to the source.
So, I agree with the post entirely, and with most of the comments. However, I'm more than OK with blogging technical articles for others (it seems to be a good thing, using my scientific training to help the general public). On the other hand, given the perfectly reasonable "post your own content" statement:
How do the rest of you feel about blogging in this way?
There are several other sides to this same coin. For example, some sites, run by other people, republish part of, or occasionally all of, my blogs without my involvement. Some of the bloggers asked my permission, some didn't, but they all attribute the blogs to me, so I am happy to have what I consider to be support. It does get a bit dicier if someone is making income with my content (I have made a total of 23 cents in my blogging career, which started on Sept 1). These income streams for others are actually happening, including with my original photos, but at least with the photos I was asked and gave permission (they aren't being sold, but advertising is being sold around my images by an online map company).
Also, I have occasionally written pretty extensive commentaries on other people's work here at Gather. Not criticism, but what I would call "enjoyable interactions on the content" or "positive feedback with attempts at substance" (I realize that many of my comments on Gather lack substance, also- what can I say, life is too short, and this "points thing" is a factor that people take seriously, so I respect that). Anyway, I wouldn't feel very happy if I had taken the time to comment thoughtfully on some plagiarized work, though the real author would be the one with the true complaint.
Thanks for your feedback! (maybe I should have published this as an article, it's about as long as "Exodus"... )
Heather: I too am sorry you have had a hard time with your articles.
I met someone (online) who has been banned from DIGG for what seem to be political reasons (she is an outspoken libertarian). I"m not a libertarian, but I believe in free speech. I also believe in copyrights! Best wishes, and may your troubles end forever. Jim
Copyright law and fair use are very tricky subjects. Plagiarism is very simple, claiming someone else's work as your own. If you avoid plagiarism you should never have to worry about being sued.
One of those dumbasses asked a couple of us about fifty inane questions one night. When the article was removed before morning, someone else published his questions to her, with her answers. I answered his questions to me in that comment thread. The dumbass question asker reported both of us for plagiarizing him (believe me, neither of us would ever want to claim any of his work as ours). Gather supported the dumbass and asked the author of the article to remove it. Later, he published the T.S. Eliot poem and copyrighted it under his own name.