Do you think having the same topic is a cheater?

I think if they copy it word for word they might be cheating but they might just have had the same idea as you. Some topics I see over and over and over again, it doesnt mean anyone is cheating, they just had the same ideas that someone had. I hope this is the case, I hate to see others stealing other peoples discussions. Cheers, Tianna

I do not consider it is a form of cheating. Sometimes the answers from our co-mylotters' boards are not we really want to get, So we try to introduce a similar topic to search for more replies from more people around.

I haven't had that happen before but there has been a few times that a thought for a discussion has come to mind and there was one already posted by someone. There have been times that I have seen lotters have the almost same discussion. Yet there is always something different when you start to reading there post. So I wouldn't consider it cheating. I have also see discussions that have been reposted again. I have noticed one thing here. That everyone has different ideas and opinion on things so I think that cheating on a discussion is hard to do. When someone else can have a different view than you.

well it is stealing an idea yes. but frequently i feel before posting a question, no one here will explore that so and so topic is available among the questions or a similar one has already been posted . but on recent affairs like some kind of special news , most of the people wd like to post and it will appear to be some kind of repetition and perhaps copied conversation!!!

i think it really depends.. if its the same thing but it would be a popular thing everyones talking about and worded differently then i would think it would be ok.. but if you stole an idea that is really original sounding and really made it sound the same thing i think its cheating.. i know its happen to me because when i first started here my search never worked so i accidently posted similiar things but now i go to the interest then look around then post.. i think some post can be similar but the way the poster eventually ends it and puts as a question makes or breaks it as cheating.. also if this person is always doing it or "happens" to do it then i think it should be looked into as possible cheating.. i think its impossible for every one to be original now but if 99% of the posters post are already done then thats showing no attempt to being original in my opinion.. but this is so confusing just because there are so many people and this site is a lot older than a lot of its members to where topics have been used up quickly.. i think you just need to make sure you put YOUR spin on it and that would make it more original or original enough

I think it's not really a problem as long as it is not intentional. Maybe the person who had the same topic as you didn't know that you have started the same discussion. As long as Mylot allows it, it's not really a problem. Besides, people need to be reminded by the same thing over and over again because human beings are forgetful so having the same thing brought up a lot of times is part of of life.

as long as it is not a copy and paste from a certain discussion then i dont think that would be cheating. there are a lot of members here and sometimes it is natural to think of a discussion same as what someone out there is thinking of. i havent encounter something like this but i've seen discussion who are sometimes the same. just like at ice cream.... almost all the questions there are somehow similar.

I don't think that creating a similar topic is cheating, I know in a lot of my interests, that there haven't been any new discussions for a long time, some over a year! So I do try to reply to old ones that I find interesting, but sometimes I would like to pose similar questions or discussions because most the time I see discussions from people who have like 40 posts and the discussion is like 2 years old! But I usually answer it anyway. So far I haven't started any discussions that I found really similar to others. I usually just think of something myself, and go to the interest, hit post discussion and start writing. I see it this way, as long as you put your own thoughts and ideas into it then it's not gonna be cheating, not in my eyes anyway. We all have different ideas about different things.. and I think there is room for all ideas, as long as they are YOUR ideas!

I don't think so. Probably the other person would not have come across the topic created earlier. In a busy community like Mylot, this happens often.

Yes I think it is cheating. I have seen some recent discussions that are very similar to my old discussions and what makes me uncomfortable with it is that they get more responses. Although it is bad to copy other people's discussion ideas, it is sometimes beneficial because it allows us to earn more.

no, i don't think so. i know what you said. i have encoutered the same situation. just now i posted a topic "what's your pet phrase", after i finished i saw there had already been one called " what are your pet phrase". obviously i didn't know it and i didn't mean to copy this idea. BTW, there's no answer for the former topic though it was posted one year ago. i hope mine can be lucky. :P

you can have the same topic just dont copy any of the words or sentences in the other discussion as mylot will simply just delete it as that is a no no. make yours quite different from the other one so it shows yours is original just the topic was the same. I have done this several times by using a different slant on the topic than the other person did. you can even change your title a bit to catch our eyes.