Should we tolerate spun or rewritten content in a writing platform?

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2 years ago

Should we tolerate spun or rewritten content in a writing platform?

A professor gave an essay assignment to his business ethics class.  The topic is 'The Corporate  Social Responsibilities to Different Stakeholders".

Two students, Donald and Daisy (not related to the Ducks) are competing for the top of their class.

After class, Daisy, a bright and hardworking student went home right away and started working on her essay. She searched the Internet for resources and wrote her essay. At the end of her essay, she credited the sources of her information.

Image source, Unsplash

Meanwhile, as Donald was about to go home, Daffy urged him to play ML with him and Howard. Just one game, Daffy said. So Donald agreed.

But the one game became a dozen games. And it was already late when Donald went home.

After dinner, he remembered his essay assignment. He opened his computer and searched 'essay on The Corporate  Social Responsibilities to Different Stakeholders'.

He found one. Then he ran the essay through an article spinner. After that, he printed the essay.

The next day, Donald and Daisy submitted their work, and the professor scanned their work and praised them both.

(To be concluded later...)


Hello, dear readers and content creators. I suppose you might be wondering why I started this post with a school scenario.

The story may be pure fiction, but you might have seen or heard something similar in reality, right?

Disclaimer

Before I continue, a little disclaimer. The story above is pure. The characters mentioned are all imaginary. And the characters are in no way related to the feathered cartoon characters or real-life persons bearing the same names.

Possible Endings

There are several possible ending scenarios to this story.

A. Donald and Daisy Got Equally High Grades
After reading both essays, the professor gave both outputs a grade of 99% each.

Both students are happy.

But later on, Daisy found out how Donald did his work. How do you think she would feel? And how do you think the other students who squeezed their brains out to write their essays?

B. Donald Gets The Highest Grade.

The professor read Donald's essay with delight! It was well written and covered almost all the necessary points. He praised Donald and gave his output a 100%  grade. While Daisy got only 99%.

Donald was so proud of his achievement.

C. The Professor Gave a Surprise a One-On-One Interview.

The professor knew that some of the students would try something fishy. So he prepared some questions that he intended to ask his top students.

The first question was,

"Can you name at least one of your resources aside from Wikipedia?"

Daisy instantly named two of her resources and even pointed out which part of her essay those two resources are used.

Then the professor asked Donald the same question.

Donald simply replied.

"Sir, I wrote that essay myself."

How do you think the professor would grade their outputs now?


Now how is this story related to the title of this post?

"Should we tolerate spun or rewritten content in a writing platform?"

To answer that question let's answer several questions.

What is Article Spinning or Article Rewriting?

According to Wikipedia

Article spinning is a writing technique used in search engine optimization (SEO), and other applications, which creates what appears to be new content from what already exists.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_spinning

Image source: Unsplash

And according to Plagiarism Today (https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2018/03/08/a-brief-history-of-article-spinning/)

"...it’s a way to easily defeat plagiarism-detection technology."

And this can be done automatically using article spinning tools or manually.
Thus, article spinning is the process of re-writing an existing article so that it will appear different from the original. It is used to create a unique copy of an article.

But, why create a copy of an existing article and make it look unique?

The practice of duplicating an article and spin it to make it look unique is a way to cheat Google for SEO (search engine optimization).

Is Copying Content Legal?

If you have noticed, I underlined the words copy and duplicating.

If the source is copyrighted like from published or printed books or ebooks, copying the content without written authorization is illegal. That includes text, photos, and videos.

If you have or have not heard or read before, LeBron James was sued for using a cropped photo of him on his social media.
https://www.si.com/nba/2020/03/23/lebron-james-lakers-photo-copyright-lawsuit

He (or his social media manager) copied, cropped, and republished a photo of him. Yes, he is the subject of the photo, but the photo belongs to the photographer.

The point is, copying, modifying, and republishing content without authorization from the original author is either copyright infringement or PLAGIARISM.
In the post, I will focus only on Plagiarism.

What is plagiarism?

I have already discussed this in my article "What you should know about spamming, plagiarism, and copyright violation"

Plagiarism is an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plagiarism

But if we look closely at the meaning of the term plagiarize as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary.

"to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarizing

So Is Article Spinning Illegal?

If you are spinning your article and repost it on your blog, then it is completely legal. Assuming that your source article is not plagiarized in the first place.

But if you spin an article written by another author with out authorization then that is plagiarism.

And according to simplewriting.org (https://simplewriting.org/plagiarism-paraphrasing-spinning-original-writing/)

Spinning is just disguised plagiarism.

...Spinning, to me, is worse than plagiarism. At least someone who plagiarizes doesn’t try to hide and might even be ignorant of how serious it is.

Now let's go back to the first question.

❓Should we tolerate spun or rewritten content in a writing platform?

If you are copying the works of others and spin them to avoid the plagiarism checker, then the answer is NO! We should never tolerate stolen content.

If you are spinning your work, that was already posted elsewhere and you indicate where you have posted it, it's fine with me.

HOWEVER, before you start spinning your content and upload them to a platform, have you read the rules yet?

In Publish0x, you can repost your work, as long as indicate where you have posted it before.

But in Read.cash, the rules as stated thru the bot's article 'Have I Tipped You Yet?'
(https://read.cash/@TheRandomRewarder/have-i-tipped-you-a12541ca)/ isquite clearer

And it says...

Non-EXC content. Articles that were published somewhere else. Sorry, guys and girls, but for me, it's original content or nothin'!

Post on read.cash first if you want my tips!

No "EXC" mark - no tip.

Spinning and transactions. If I catch you publishing "spun" articles (where you send your article to a program that replaces all words with synonyms) or articles/new stories translated from other sites in other languages - welcome to my blacklist!

As content creators of a writing site, why should we NOT support spin articles?

If we go back to my story above, there are lots of Daisy's in any writing platform. And paying platforms would always attract a lot of Donalds as well.

Writing platforms were created to support and encourage ORIGINAL content creators to showcase their talents... Your talents!

But the Donalds are just here for the money, and they want to earn, without breaking a sweat. If we tolerate them (by not reporting them), we are encouraging them to continue.

If you are like the Daisy in this platform, who spends some hours composing your article, would you be happy to see a stolen content and earn more than yours?

What are the repercussions if we ignore plagiarized content?

The following points that I will discuss are just my assumptions on what possibly could happen if we continue to allow plagiarism on this platform.

  1. If the admins don't do anything against plagiarism, the original content creators will leave and this platform will be filled with nothing but stolen content.
    Naysayers will have a feast then and give negative reviews to this platform and will discourage other writers and content creators from joining. And soon this platform will be nothing but a garbage dump of stolen content.

  2. Running and maintaining this platform requires resources- machines, manpower, electricity, and others. And the owners and sponsors spend thousands of dollars for these resources. And the Donalds are stealing those resources. And they are stealing from you as well.

And those stolen content are also consuming those resources.

  1. If we don't help the admins maintain this platform free from plagiarism, they will spend more time and resources detecting and blocking the plagiarists instead of developing the platform further.

Ultimately these three scenarios might lead to one outcome. The closure of this platform.
And we don't want that.

  1. Or a fourth scenario is, this platform will have to implement an article verification that would take days to finish because they are a small team.

  2. Or we will start earning a fraction of a centavo per post, because the funds are diverted to finance the development and maintenance of anti-plagiarism system.

Why Am I Doing This?

I have joined several paying platforms before. Even now, I have active accounts in other writing/content-sharing platforms. But I am most active here in readcash and noise cash. I consider them my online homes.
On other platforms, I was also active in fighting against spammers and plagiarists.
Users like @Bloghound , @MarSou , @Panky@frenchtoast78 among others, whom I knew in tsu (now known as display) knew me (as artbytes26) as one of the members who tried to fight off the spamocalypse tsumbies. Yup that what we call the spanners and plagiarists. It was a loosing battle though. A lot of original content creators left that platform.

I LOVE THIS PLATFORM. I have learned a lot from the different ORIGINAL content creators here. And I want this platform to exist and meet more great writers.

I love to read, this I love read.cash. Image source, unplash

If you love this platform, and if you want this platform to keep on running for a long time, and if you want the sponsors and benefactors of this platform like Mr. Marc De Mesel to continue supporting this platform, STOP SUPPORTING the Plagiarists, and content spinners!

Before I close this post.

@jane remarked that she did not know that a post that she tipped was a plagiarized content and she doesn't have time to check it on a plagiarized checker.

In my next post, I will give share information on

  • telltale signs of plagiarized content.

  • What to do and not to do when you spot plagiarized content

  • some tips on how to share information without plagiarising.

For now, I encourage you to read the following for your guidance

The rules of ReadCash -' Have I Tipped You Yet?'
(https://read.cash/@TheRandomRewarder/have-i-tipped-you-a12541ca)/

More information on plagiarism, paraphrasing, and spinning.

https://simplewriting.org/plagiarism-paraphrasing-spinning-original-writing/

Thanks For Reading


Shoutout to my newest sponsors,

@sembrandounpais

@LykeLyca

Thank you for your support.

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2 years ago

Comments

I like to say congratulate you because you have done very hardworkingly. Therefore, you succeeded in getting good marks for your bright future, and now you are deserved of scholarship. https://www.usessaywriter.com/essay-writing-service-in-san-francisco/

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1 year ago

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1 year ago

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1 year ago

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1 year ago

Oh di ba ngayon na lang nagsisink in sa akin yung tungkol sa issue na toh. Hahaha. Ang hirap ng walang alam 😁

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2 years ago

A fascinating read, you have spent slot of time and effort putting this together. I love it and wish everyone would read it. I see too many people here using pictures from Google and just putting Google as s source, as if that makes it alright 🤣. I tend to write wee stories here, so I know it is all my own content!

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2 years ago

Thanks. True, I did spend a lot of time in making this article. Yeah. I noticed from your title and opening statement that you are 💯% authentic. 😁😁😁

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2 years ago

You clearly explained it here. I hope some noob will be educated by this and as refresher to old ones here too. Thanks for this awareness.

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2 years ago

Thanks. I noticed some writers are plagiarizing unintentionally. Like, there's one user here that the sources of information are there but most of the content is copied from different sources.

Where did I see your name before? Are you a web designer?

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2 years ago

I have been commenting in some of your previous post. Nope, I'm just a trying hard blogger.

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2 years ago

Yup. I noticed that and I appreciate that. Anyways, I thought you were this guy who owns the page that offers web/WordPress dev services that I saw maybe three years ago.

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2 years ago

oh.. i know some guys here who have Wordpress blogs. Actually i'm planning to create one, i'm still figuring out about how to start and if I have still extra time for that.

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2 years ago

Bloghound is a good guy? If so he was accidentally blocked by me.

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2 years ago

She. I think it was thru her post in tsu (display) that I found read.cash. Yeah. She's a good content creator. I don't know her personally, but I could vouch for her.

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2 years ago

Next that should be completely banned and removed is Macronald. This guy doesn't even understand what he is copy-pasting. Even worse than Wrabbiter.

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2 years ago

Hmm.. I think I have only read his weekly sponsorship thing... I'm not sure if I did read some other posts. He's from another country, I think.

Hmmm. When I left tsu.. I thought my tsumbie hunting days are over... But I can't keep using the name. 'Tsumbie' here. Hehe he

Edit: I meant one of his weekly patronage posts

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2 years ago

If you are spinning your work, that was already posted elsewhere and you indicate where you have posted it, it's fine with me.

This line also came to my mind when I read this, as long as you did it on your own and you are the original author, it is totally fine. No need to tolerate plagiarism, it is completely illegal.

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2 years ago

I think I should remove that 'with me' though. Because it doesn't matter.

But yes, there are platforms that allow just that like PublishOx. I also repost my photos on different platforms.

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2 years ago

So do I, I also put my works in Publish0x especially if it is crypto-related content.

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2 years ago

Thank you so much for this timely message. I guess it will clear the air and help people know what to do in cases as this.

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2 years ago

I hope so. Anyways. When the OC detector is up, this will be a cleaner platform. But those who refuse to learn what not to do will greatly affected.

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2 years ago

There should be a check for everyone and a clean up of those that abused this platform and earned too much by cheating.

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2 years ago

Hi friend, is a pleasure support You. We actually are supporting to all the writers that will can.

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2 years ago

Thank you,

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2 years ago

Thanks po sir sa pagpapalawak ng kung ano ang ibig sabihin ng plagiarism. Malaking tulong po ito sa akin na medyo litong-lito pa sa kung ano nga ba talaga ang matatawag na plagiarism. Sa mga nababasa ko po kasi sa iba medyo pare-pareho lang pero ngayon po sa article na ito, may natutunan po ako na iba sa mga usual ko pong nababasa. :-)

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2 years ago

Salamat at nakatulong ito. Yun Lang bawi na ang pagpuyat ko sa pagsulat nito. Kailangan kasing ipaliwanag ng maigi eh. Nakita ko kasi maraming nagaakalang OK Lang, o tama ang ginagawa nila. Sayang lang ang effort nila pag na block sila. Nakakainis din pag nagpatuloy sila sa Mali nilang ginagawa

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2 years ago

Kaya nga eh. Nadadamay din kasi tayo na wala namang masamang ginagawa.

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2 years ago

Sometimes, it's not the error that counts.. But how we respond to the error and how we correct it.. Plagiarism isn't acceptable here.. But criticism and racism SHOULD NOT BE ACCEPTABLE AS WELL...BECAUSE BCH MASS ADOPTION IS INTENDED FOR EVERYONE NOT JUST FOR A CERTAIN COUNTRY OR PROMINENT WRITERS..I

If you are an old user here, for surr you know that I, including some users here fought against spammers way back..

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2 years ago

Well... The thing is, kasalanan din ng mga kababayan natin. Nag post ai noise noon na pangalawa ang Pinas sa pinakamaraming spammers. Sa tsu din, ang ibang kababayan natin mismo ang nagrereklamo sa ginagawa ng ibang pinoy. Kaya tuloy tingin ng iba sa atin ganun na tayong lahat. Tulad din sa tingin nga mga tao sa mga Nigerians (no offense to Nigerians here). Lagi silang nakikilala bilang spammers. Yung nagyari ke wrabitter, hindi sya ang unang kinompronta ni Pantera. Yung isang pinay (nakalimutan ko ID nya), ang ginawa nya dinelete nya ang post nya na, inamin nman nya na, kinopya nya at nirephrase. So walang nagging problema. Si wrabitter naman, hindi umamin at nagmatigas pa. Pero kung tingnan mo mga post niya, ibat ibang topic tapos wala man lang ni isang reference. Bago sya nag post na tinawag syang fraud, hindi ko binabasa posts nya dahil sa titles at opening statements palang, nagdududa na ako. Kahit anong paliwanag gawin nya, ang ebisensya nasa posts nya. Kasi Kahit PhD holder sa isang field pag sumulat ng article me references.

Ang saklap e, dahil maraming pinoy ang gumagawa ng ganun, nadadamay tayo. Meron pa akong nakitang nag copy paste din. Me reference nga Pero copy nman word for word. Bawal din yun.

Tama, masakit ang sinabi at ginawa ni Pantera. Hindi ko sya kilala personally Pero nakikita ko na ganun talaga sya, TACKLESS. Pag galit, galit. Inamin nman nya at ang apologize sa nadamay sa pag block nya. Kaya Lang d mo na yata mababasa Yun.

Pero ang nakikita ko, me ibang pinoy na hindi alam na bawal ang copy-paste at article spinning. Kaya eto, series of posts about plagiarism.

Haba na. Nito ah, naisulat ko na dito ang isusulat ko sa susunod kong article. Hehehe

Magandang araw.

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2 years ago

Lahat ng bagay magagawan ng solusyon hindi kelangan idamay ang lahat.. Parang agree kpa sa paninirang puri na ginawa nya.. Oo nga tama sya.. Masakit yun.. Pero hndi mo b alam na name calling at bullying ay labag din sa rules?

Ang mali lang ng tao ay hndi nag cite ng rules.
Pro db bga nagsusulat dn sya sa ibang platform.. Chineck ba ng mabuti kung yung source ay hindi sa kanya din? Yun possibly ang mali..

Lahat naman tayo pwd magsulat ng topic na gusto natin kahit hndi natin field yun.
At sabi ko pa nga, mali lang nya ay hndi sya naglagay ng referrence.. At may paliwanag naman sya, dapat sa both sides makinig hndi lang sa iisang side just because you think na tama ang kabila. Wala akong pinapanigan, ang pinupunto ko lang ay sana wag mangdamay ng iba.. Lalo na mga inosente.. Pero bat kelangan idamay lahat? Lucky you hindi ka blinock kaya nasasabi mo yan.. Lol..

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2 years ago

Hindi ko sya pinapanigan. Lumalabas naparang sinabi nyang lahat ng pinoy ganun. Alam nyang pinoy ako. Pero hindi sya galit sa akin.

At Kung natuto talaga si wrabitter, Sana binago nya ang pagsusulat nya. Me bago syang post, na ganun pa rin. Walang credits. Tulad nga Nung isang kababayan natin, napagsabihan. Tinangap ang pagkakamali. Binago ang pagsusulat. E di walang gulo. Hindi nyo nga siguro napansin Yun eh. Dahil hindi lumaki.

Ang sa akin. Hindi sya galit sa lahat ng pinoy. Pero galit sya sa lahat na pinoy na kumakampi sa plagiarist. Kaya ng me nabangit syang laban sa pinoy. Ang alam ko ang tintukoy nya at ang mga plagiarist at spammer na pinoy. At matagal na akong galit sa mga plagiarist. Ang nakakalungkot maraming pinoy ang gumagawa nito. Kung Lumalabas na pumapanig ako ke Pantera, yun ay dahil inexposed nya ang mga gumagawa ng mali.

At mung nabasa mo ang post ng adminn (@read.cash) me nabangit din dun na isang user na me ginawang katiwalian na nagtatagalog.

Masakit nga ang sinabi ni Pantera. Pero mas Masakit ang ginagawa ng ng mga kababayan nating gumagawa ng hindi maganda. Dahil sila ang sumisira sa pagtingin ng ibang sa atin. Ngunit, alam ko na meron nmang ibang kababayan natin na hindi nila alam Kung ano ang mali at hindi dapat gawin sa pagsusulat. Kaya ko pinagpuyatan Kong gawin ito pra ma post ko kaagad at kahit papano mababawasan ang gumagawa ng mali kahit konti man Lang.

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2 years ago

IAM also using so many writing platform where I write and earn And you said right we should play role for stopping palagrism because if admin spend time on stopping palagrism then he don't make new features and on things I don't understand if I send my article with same word it's palagrism or not ?! In your article I don't understand this point

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2 years ago

Im planning to discuss that further next. Anyway, if you mean you want to repost your work, indicate where you have published it before.

But in Read. Cash, you must post it here first.

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2 years ago

Mean first I post that article here then in other platform that is palagrism! here or in any platefrom I just want to know

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2 years ago

If you wrote that article your self and uploaded it here first. Then uploaded that same article to another platform, you must say that you posted it first in read. Cash. Than that is not plagiarism.

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2 years ago