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Plagiarism!!!!

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jmw

jmw

Industrial
Jun 27, 2001
7,435
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so they say.

There are many many forums on the internet and an increasing number of web sites similar to Eng-Tips. Cheresources, is another authoritative site and I also browse Control.com.

But there are lots more and I find them usually when googling something.
I have found, as I'm sure we all have, I'm sure we all have, cross references to threads here.

But occasionally, when browsing these blogs I find similar questions raised there as here and find myself agreeing with some of the answers given.

BUT: and I guess others have found the same, when I find myself thinking "I agree with that answer." it seems rather familiar and then I realise it is my answer copied across almost verbatim.

I at first think it is kind of flattering to be quoted. But then I think I ought to be concerned because quite often I find the quotes are not attributed and there is no link to the original Eng-Tips thread so the bloggers can refer across and see the original question in context and review the entire discussion.

I'm not sure that how safe its is for my answers to be given even by myself, except that in this forum I have some confidence that others will jump on any errors I may make which allows me some confidence, but offered up by others in other threads to other questions.....???

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

JMW
 
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Yes

That is why different people make different interpretations of the same law.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &
for site rules
 
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Interesting.
Does that mean that if we post anything here we are in breech of copyright if we repeat that comment elsewhere?
Does posting here automatically surrender copyright to Tecumseh?
Does we retain any copyright in our own material? Did we somewhere relinquish copyright?


JMW
 
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JLS, some interesting stuff about products and services being rated (which I can't think actually happens much but it must have seemed like a good idea at the time) but nothing about copyright except that bare statement at the bottom of the page.

JMW
 
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In fact... Just using this web site implies that the user has entered into a contract with the owner of the site. Due to the copy right the owner holds. If you break the rules of the copy right, the owner does have the right to take legal action against you.

jmw: No i do not believe we surrender our ideas once we post them here. This is a public forum and is understood that anyone can access it. I believe that is written in the mission statement of eng-tips somewhere - that it's a public forum. By posting information on this site you are basically proving that the information came from yourself, and not from the site. If you are not being paid, and have not entered into another contract with the site owner which shows consideration to you from the site own for postings made than nothing exists to show you have surrendered your ideas.

The reason the site owners have a copy right is because they have to do work and use their time to maintain this site so it can achieve its purpose. If people copy and paste parts of this site - including postings made by other people - than that is a liability to the site owners and they have the right to be compensated for that. In saying that, it usually isn't worth the time, energy or money to pursue legal action in those cases.
 
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Have you tried contacting the moderators/owners of Eng-Tips to see if they have any policy, official or unofficial, about site rips? Do they care to be notified if we the users come across such sites?

I don't see signficant harm done to the contributors (beyond being perturbed). The same thing happens offline often enough - how many times have you heard an idea or explanation you shared openly repeated (often poorly) without attributing the source? Repercussion of public communication.

If anything the site owners have something to lose in ad dollars and brand equity by losing web traffic which would be directed elsewhere based on content generated here.
 
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YoungTurk,

I well recall attending a meeting at which a new scheme was put forward by some plank whose previous scheme had been shot down in flames. Most of them were.
This scheme was very much better received.
I recognised it as being mine but he failed to mention that.
I can tell you I was not amused and made it clear.

These things may happen but we don't have to like it.

JMW
 
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> The site management is often apprised of such sites. Depending on the situation, the site may or may not be eventually closed.

> As for stolen ideas, we worked on a contract with a government lab, but nothing came of the initial effort and our briefings of a potential solution. Lo, and behold, many years later, I run across a patent with our idea, issued to the government employees we briefed, applied for about a year after our briefing. A mathematically sound idea, but not that practical, but still, should have at least gotten some credit for it...

TTFN

FAQ731-376
 
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marks1080 said:
Drawoh:

Yes you can. That's why we have lawyers.
Click to expand...

My question was not rhetorical. Legalese is ugly and convoluted because nothing is left to the imagination. Contracts and waivers methodically specify who the affected parties are, and they methodically specify which party is responsible for each action.

People reading contracts and waivers can be pendantic as all heck, especially if the new interpretation suits them.

Critter.gif
JHG
 
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The Eng-Tip and Tek-Tip copyright holding is not that different than what is typical for many technical journals. SPIE and IEEE hold final copyrights on journal articles, and many authors wind up resorting to posting "preprints" to get their stuff onto the web for people to read without paying $20 to a journal publisher for that "privilege."


In general, the copyright hurdle prevents willy-nilly quoting from ET content, which allows many discussions to carry on unhindered. As with recent court cases about Justice Department internal memos and discussions, we, as engineers, may not want out-of-context, random, excepts from our own postings to be posted on the web by some "journalist" or blogger who's only interested in getting "buzz" for themselves and who has no concern about whether we look good or foolish.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
 
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Do you think females in China are getting upset about being ripped off by some guy named "JMW" right now?
 
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One of the other reasons, as partly mentioned above is the web traffic. This site has advertisers. If the traffic is diverted to another site, containing the material from here, the site does not get the traffic and does not get the income from clicks/impressions. Also lower traffic could cause some advertisers to stop, or not start advertising here.
 
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