How to avoid having discussions deleted – Don’t Plagiarize
By byfaithonly
@byfaithonly (10698)
United States
May 8, 2007 12:26pm CST
Lately it seems very common to hear of people’s myLot discussions being deleted and the poster of the discussion doesn’t understand why. If you or one of your myLot friends has had a discussion deleted for no apparent reason it could possibly be the information you posted was plagiarized.
Do I believe all who have had this happen have done it intentionally? NO!
Do I believe some people do this intentionally out of laziness, an attempt to get one over on myLot, or simply to earn a few cents? YES!
I would like to discuss the ‘unintentional’ plagiarists… I’m sure most if not all of us have gotten those wonderful email messages forwarded friends or family members. You’re all excited and want to share it with your friends on myLot so post it as a discussion and get many responses…
You may have just plagiarized someone else’s work! Even those messages that are marked ‘author unknown’ can still be consider plagiarized if copied and this is very common on the Internet.
Before posting think where did this actually come from? Someone wrote that message, poem, or story who? Where did the person who first started this email circulating get the information?
For those who don’t know, plagiarism is copying the words, thoughts or ideas of someone else’s, not your own. This is stealing!
I can tell you from experience most of those forwarded email message came originally from a web site some place on the World Wide Web… Before YOU post it as a discussion you may want to find out first or there is a good chance it will be deleted and not only will you lose earnings from myLot but so will all your friends who responded to the discussion – this is not a good way to make friends.
That said, a little tip with mylot is: before posting a discussion such as this, even if you got it from an email, is to search the internet (I use Yahoo.com) and search for a site where the content was posted previously. The best way to do this is to take the title or a line from the article, put it in quotations in the search box, and look at the results from your search.
For example if you were searching to see if this discussion was plagiarized you might search for this, “Do I believe all who have had this happen have done it intentionally? NO!" If I did this right it shouldn’t show any results at all – or hopefully one, this discussion.
If you find the information posted on a web site you have several options:
1)do not post the message as a discussion,
2)post a portion of the message and include a link to the web page where the rest of the message can be read,
3)post the entire message with the web link,
4)or post it as is and take the chances of it being deleted down the road.
Please note, if you suspect that a myLot discussion has been copied you can use the same method to find out if it is indeed online some place else before reporting it to myLot staff.
I’m sorry this was so long but do hope that it helps others in the future.
18 people like this
32 responses
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
8 May 07
Yes, yes, remember to brush your teeth everyday. Floss them too so that no plague will accumulate. Without plague, then you would be less tempted to plagiarize. LMAO. :P
5 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
LOL - fact is I just can't keep up with you Wiz, I have no imagination when it comes to being funny. Now they did get a laugh from me at the grocery store this morning. This is what happens when they play 60s music while Faith is pushing a shopping cart down the aisle - the girl has just gotta dance. It seemed to have been quite entertaining to several elderly people who caught me :)
Hanging my head in shame - didn't mean to spoil your fun :)
2 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
ROTFLOL - you got me with this one Wiz I have never heard this but hey if someone tries it and it works all the better..
3 people like this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
8 May 07
It's no fun if you answer every question literally.
4 people like this
@charms88 (7538)
• Philippines
8 May 07
I know what you mean, faith. About 2 days ago, I had deleted someone from my list who did nothing but to keep posting topics that was obviously copied from website. She basically posted some facts and issues and I was left staring at the computer not knowing what to say. She didn't leave any questions and didn't acknowledge where she got the articles. Now that's plagiarism.
I have also a friend whose discussions here were copied and pasted in another site. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of my articles at hubpages copied and pasted too. Some people can be pretty nasty about stealing our articles. :/
5 people like this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
8 May 07
I feel this is the same person I had as a friend also. Also appeared the discussion was word for word from a self help type of site. hahaha!
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
4 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
LOL - often that is a good sign, when your left with nothing to say but "thank you for the information" it is very difficult to post a quality response to something like that.
It seems to me the last month or so there has been a rash of this happening - I'm sure it went on to some extent in the past but it seems nearly every day now there is someone doing it. I can understand the 'unintentional' but most are doing it just to cheat everyone.
4 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
I'm the same way - most of my discussions come from my day to day life. When I started to write this discussion I did think over my past discussions and there is one that I did copy from a web site and failed to include a web link - it was from my own site but I still should have included the link.
4 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
9 May 07
LOL - well, I just told all of myLot so guess not too worried. You did make me think of something though, I could go comment on like the first response and add that I forgot to include the fact that the body of the discussion was taken from my web site and include the link there - may or may not help but ethically at least I will feel better.
1 person likes this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
8 May 07
Actually the length may not be enough for some meMbers. Hahaha. I make a note to always just copy a couple sentences at the most of things from the web I may post as a discussion. But I also always add the website link or give full credit to the original site/poster recieved from. Some sites even have notices/warnings about it being copyrighted material and not to post without their consent. I can't think if I've ever had a discussion deleted. I am almost positive I haven't as I am very careful along those lines. Thanks for filling in the members here a bit. It's appreciated from me at least.
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
5 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
I'm glad you appreciate it Bob - I am hoping some will get the idea and stop some of these going ons. Basically this is my way of saying 'wise up and knock it off' I've been told by several I can't say things in a short way.
2 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
Your welcome, I know there are many who have done it unintentionally but I'm sure many more who do it on purpose.
3 people like this
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
8 May 07
By the way, I'm pretty sure I've never done this with any of my discussions. It was when I added a picture to my discussion earlier that I put the information from the web site in the "photo details" area. I did put their link in my discussion, though I forgot to do so when I added the information I copied from their site. Boy, do I feel dumb for forgetting to do so.
3 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
That's what's so sad about these people doing it on a regular basis and not caring or just doing it to cheat the system - those inoccent people who accidentally forget or something are also getting punished.
2 people like this
@PunkyMcPunk (1477)
• Canada
8 May 07
Thank you for posting this. I have never had a discussion deleted and I had been seeing all of the posts from people saying their discussions were deleted and I was thinking thre was a glitch in the system or something.
4 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
Punky there are still glitches and other reasons for discussions being deleted but hopefully some will learn not to do this from this discussion - give credit where credit is due, if someone didn't write something they need to let others know who did or where it came from.
2 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
8 May 07
I have been reading about alot of people whose discussions have been deleted too. I can understand why some of them were deleted.
Some are email forwards that have been going from one email to another. Does Mylot not let the person who posted the discussion know that the discussion has been deleted??
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
9 May 07
I've never had one deleted as far as I know but from what others have said it's a 'this discussion has been deleted' and no details as to why it was - this kinda stinks but I can understand with the thousands of people cheating or messing up how difficult it would be to go into great detail on each one.
@ricknkae (1721)
• United States
11 May 07
Don't apologize for your long post
It is a nice chance from oh so many short discussions like "What will you have for dinner tomorrow?"!!!!
At laest you have something to say
Plus it is very useful for those who might have encountered that problem
For my part if I want to refer to something already written, I simply paste the link to the website in case someone wants to check it out ... it is safer that way , plus at least it gives full credit to where it belongs...
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
11 May 07
Well, thank you. I too get tired of seeing the 'one liners' but at the same time I understand a lot of people don't want to set and read one discussion for an hour either.
That's the thing I don't understand, I mean their already at the web page to copy it what's it take, another second or two to copy the url address too...
1 person likes this
@applsofgld (2506)
• United States
8 May 07
This is good advice Faith. I have seen discussions like this, they are word for word copied from someone or someplace else. It needed to be brought up. I'm still working on my deleted discussion about animals being in heaven. Mylot said they would check into it, the sent me an email asking who started the discussion, well it was me. I'll let you know how it turns out.
3 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
I was thinking about you this morning, wondering if you had heard anything about that - I still can not figure out any reason for it being deleted. Please do let me know if you hear anything - I would like to know.
1 person likes this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
8 May 07
You are right that many members do not realize that they are plagiarizing when they copy emails and such and post them as discussions. I do not seek out to report ‘unintentional’ plagiarists like those that I do those who do it intentionally, but I do not generally respond to their posts either, because they often are deleted.
As for those who plagiarize deliberately, I think one of the funniest ones I have seen lately was the one who actually copied and pasted the copyright information from the bottom of the page and posted it along with the article they stole.
3 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
8 May 07
LOL Are you kidding? I guess they were in hurry to get it out there! LOL
2 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
9 May 07
Ok now that has got to be the ultimate of stupidity - I did think the best one I saw was the discussion that named the cheater and they responded to the discussion cheating, obviously didn't even realize the discussion was about him... This one does take first prize though.
@mssnow (9484)
• United States
8 May 07
But Faith who wants to go through discussions and take the time to do that/ I know i don't. I realize there is plagiarizing going on. But Im not the mylot police. I think there is actually an organization to do that here. lol But I guess if its your own discussion and you wanna make sure no one else has done it then you might want to check. I have not had one discussion deleted yet so I must be doing something right :) Keep up the good work sis. hugs
4 people like this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
8 May 07
I'm not suggesting that anyone go through every discussion. For this discussion I'm merely asking people to think before they post information they got some place else.
Just this morning a dear friend of mine here found one of her discussions was deleted - I had read it, responded to it, and even saved the notification because there were some great tips I will use at home... She couldn't understand why, she follows the guidelines, is true blue honest but it was gone. I used the method here and sure enough - same exact words on several web sites. She had gotten it in and email from a friend.
As far as I can tell I haven't had any deleted either but am sure my day will come for some reason or another. I do try my best though and just bore people with my thrilling life :) hugs to you also :)
5 people like this
@huggiebear22 (2007)
• Canada
8 May 07
Welll sometime that does nto even help had orginal thought deleted too but I agree people should nto Plagiarze others work either.
3 people like this
@SheliaLee (2736)
• United States
8 May 07
You have given us some very wise and informative advice. Thank you very much for caring about everyone enough to send out this post. I knw it is helpful to me and I'm sure it will be helpful to everyone else.
Have a great day!
SheliaLee
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
9 May 07
Thank you and you are very welcome I certainly hope it helps many others.
@gifana (4833)
• Portugal
9 May 07
byfaith.. I think you have just done one great service for the myLot community and hopefully the postings will be free of plagerism. I have to admit I copied a couple of things from wikipedia but I sourced it in my post or comment.
However, I do have a question? Are jokes sent in emails considered public domain? I have copied some of my jokes and helpful hints. However, I don't believe that any of my posts have been deleted but since I do not keep a list of my posts I have no way of knowing one way or another.
1 person likes this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
9 May 07
Thank you gifana - to be honest I have no idea about jokes, I'll see if I can check your profile and find some you've posted and search the net. I would imagine they would be the same - if posted some place else that means they belong to someone else. You've touched on an interesting question.
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
10 May 07
yes i have heard this time and time again"My discussion has been deleted" so far I have never had one deleted,but i might one day.I was answering one of my friends the other day,and when i got to answer it was deleted.i kept trying and i saw about five or six of her post that had been deleted.I don't think it was copied off any web because it was very simple,but i do think it was copied from someone else because i had seen the same discussions from others..i do hope that everyone reads this and follows your advice.
1 person likes this
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
11 May 07
I know with working on other things I haven't had time to even look at any discussions but those started by my friends. Even with that it seems everyday someone has had a discussion deleted. I have a feeling that most of the people who need to read this - won't.
@easy888 (10405)
• Australia
9 May 07
Hello,byfaithonly,thank you for sharing the tips for posting a discussion with us,it really helps,but it seems that mylot would have deleted some discussions because of glitches,i had two discussions deleted for no obvious reasons,they had not violated the rules nor they were copy and paste discussions,i had created them out of my own experience,i also searched in mylot discussion to make sure no one had started something similar before. One topic was about washing hand after going to bathroom and the other was about watching television,i did not feel anything wrong with them.It really made me frustrated to start new discussions.:(
@di1indilin (802)
• India
9 May 07
Thanks for the info but i haven't got any of my discussions deleted yet. Only my earnings on some days, maybe it's because somebody discussion has been deleted where i had posted huh.
1 person likes this
