Cheaters on MyLot?

@mariab (88)
United States
December 18, 2008 6:19am CST
Is there such a thing as cheating on MyLot? I've seen one user in particular do this and I'm always watching out for this person's post - she's already been chided publicly, but no one minded it. Are we allowed to copy and paste from another site and post it here as a discussion? This person didn't put any sources. My friend has been a victim of a cheater in Ciao and I did not nothing to report it - now I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I did report it in time. Is there a way to report this kind of cheating? In Ciao, I was afraid of getting a backlash if I reported these people. Now, I really couldn't care less. Should we "out" these cheaters on MyLot?
10 people like this
30 responses
@sirrob (4108)
• Philippines
18 Dec 08
Who would know if you reported someone who violates the terms and guidelines in Ciao and that also include here. When you report someone, that is being kept with confidentiality and you won't get a bad backlash if you have just reported someone with violations. You should have something to support the claim of violation, this is what's important.
3 people like this
• United States
23 Dec 08
why do you care? get over of it.. it's myLot's job.. not yours.. get over of it
1 person likes this
• India
18 Dec 08
We can find cheating and cheaters in each and every corner of the world.It is better to keep away from those people.If a discussion is pasted from another site,it is very easy to identify it.
3 people like this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
21 Dec 08
Yes yes and YES we should! We all know how to do it by now and if in doubt just contact a veteran member and they will help. Cheaters make everything bad for the others and should NOT be tolerated!
1 person likes this
@Verity (851)
20 Dec 08
what particular cheating is that? posting copy and paste discussion? i think you could not copy and paste a discussion here in my lot. please, clarify it.
1 person likes this
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
20 Dec 08
Isn't it sad that there have to be cheaters even on something like MyLot? I don't get why some people copy others' discussions. Do they think they are never going to get caught out? It's a really stupid thing to do and I agree that we should report cheaters immediately if we come across any.
@messageme (2821)
• United States
19 Dec 08
I think it's pretty sad someone can't come up with their own words that they feel they have to copy and paste. I think they should get in trouble for it. If it were my words they were copying I wouldn't like it. I just would feel sorry for everyone that had posted to the discussion because they would also lose out.
1 person likes this
@robert19ph (4577)
• Philippines
27 Dec 08
Hello mariab, There are good and bad people wherever you go. Just like cheaters too. If the good guys don't do something about it, what do you think will happen? The cheaters for sure will multiply and progress. The best think to do is to report such individual. Mylot have rules on cheaters and it's better that it should be reported. Have the courage to do it, and I think a lot of people here will support you by doing it. Regards.
@suruchi86 (1873)
• India
28 Dec 08
No I don't approve of such things. These peoples should be banned.
@cortney09 (1345)
• United States
19 Dec 08
It's cheating if you copy and paste someone's work, but if it's your own then I don't think it would be cheating. I can't understand why someone would copy and use someone's work other than their own. I mean if someone can't come up with their own work then don't post anything at all.
@nanajanet (4436)
• United States
19 Dec 08
You can copy and paste as long as you give the source and the link where it came from. I have done this for a long time and never had a problem. It is when people do it and try to pass it off as their own words, that is plagiarism and it is illegal, too. Also, those who post their referral links or list their earnings accomplishments. Besides that it is against TOS, it takes away from the wonderful discussions. I do not come here just to earn money. I can earn more elsewhere and I joined here before I knew it was for money. I just love the discussions and am annoyed when people post JUST to earn points and money. I report cheaters and they expect you to do it. It will help keep the integrity of this site to eliminate cheaters.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
19 Dec 08
after you have 500 points you can copy and post. I do this when ever I find an interesting article but I make sure I identify it as someone else's work. I don't think you get paid as much for these but I'd rather put the information out there then get a lot of points.
@stiener (735)
• Singapore
18 Dec 08
I don't know about copyright issues here in MyLot. But unlike Ciao, MyLot is a community for discussions and any topics or writings can be posted here for as long as they abide by the TOS of MyLot. In academic terms, if we are quoting a text from a source, we should cite it as to acknowledge the work of the writer. But this may not apply to MyLot. Maybe you should be reporting plagiarism in Ciao but not in MyLot.
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
18 Dec 08
Plagarism is an offence EVERYWHERE!
• United States
19 Dec 08
I don't know what to say about it. I'd probably be doing the same thing if I could. But I do believe in putting the source of the info that you post if you are copying something from one site to another.
@bellebads (740)
• Philippines
19 Dec 08
how could these people do something like this? maybe they were too greedy to earn more. i think the only thing we can do is to report them as abusive. i can't believe cheating is actually happening here and to some of the PTP sites.
@balasri (26537)
• India
19 Dec 08
Where there are people there you can find the cheatings.They cheat in all ways possible here.They steal old discussions.The banned ones come back , register and mylot in another name.The worst part of the cheating is they talk big and sermon like angels about the virtues forgetting that there are people who are here who know that they are cheaters.
@cripfemme (7698)
• United States
19 Dec 08
I think copy and pasting is fine as long as you modify the words to speak in your own voice. What I thought you meant was using more than one account which is not allowed. I've known people to do this too and have always reported them because I think they make the rest of us who are honest look bad.
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
19 Dec 08
Just report the user to the administration and they will decide if the mylot rules have been broken or not. If i were you I would write a detailed explanation from the source where it was taken. Leave the rest to the admin.
@anonymili (3138)
19 Dec 08
MyLot is very different to Ciao, people should really try to understand that and stop comparing the sites! You are allowed to copy from other sources on this site although you should specify your sources if it's not your own writing that you've copied. Ciao is a consumer review site - you're supposed to review products and this must be in your own words. MyLot is for discussions and we all have the ability to report discussions if we feel that they are breaking the rules. If you report people in Ciao (as someone has already said above) there is NO backlash as your reports are completely confidential if you just send details of the member's name, link to the review and link to where it was copied from. You do NOT have to leave a rating or comment like some members do to say you have discovered that the review is copied. I have reported lots of cheaters and some of them come back in different names and revenge rate me, I report those too and once investigated they get removed. SO you should NOT worry about reporting people who cheat the system, just stay honest yourself :) As for cheating here, it's hard to prove it. Once you have passed 500 posts here you can copy from external sources - it's not an issue if the bits you have copied are not the whole discussion but say it could be a discussion about something in the new that has shocked you and you quote from a news article and then ask other members their views on it. As with online site you are a member of you should always read the terms and conditions (so many people just don't bother) so you know which activities are against the rules and which are not. Good luck :)
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
19 Dec 08
If they have done it over and over again then yes, in my opinion they should be "outed". I read somewhere on here that it is okay to copy some of the article, though say no more than a small paragraph and also add a link so that those that are interested in reading more can go to the link that is provided. Though to play it safe I think it would be better not to copy even part of the article, but use their own words instead. Don't forget to add the link as well! I've spotted a couple of blatant cheaters on here in the past. And I went against the rules and posted about it on here. The bad thing about that is that my own discussion got deleted, but not before a lot of people saw it and helped report this cheater. Apparently this user was cheating their way through mylot, because a lot of their posts had been copied and pasted. I'm guessing this person got their account banned as they had stopped logging in shortly after. Now when I see a cheater, I report it to admin first, but if they don't do anything about then I would warn the mylot community of this user, even if it does go against the rules. People like this don't deserve to be on mylot and should be banned.
• United States
19 Dec 08
Well, of course cheating is bad and shouldn't be allowed, but for some people it can be hard to resist temptation for the easy way. Though this shouldn't be allowed anymore and it won't I would give this person another chance and give him a small slap on the wrist to ensure he/she doesn't do it again.