Quoting source ???

[Adstar]

Hello all..

I have seen a few opening posts in threads that have turned out to be copied and pasted from other sources other then the poster.. These are posted without any quotation revealing where the document was sourced from or who was the original Author of what was pasted in the OP...

I believe if someone is going to copy and paste someone else sermon or work they should be obliged to quote the original source.. This lets others know the actual source of the post and that the OP is not the person who actually produced the material..

What is the position of this site on this matter?

 

[OwzK]

I agree with you bro. But it happens often that people go into private discussions on threads and they go into private theories that have nothing to do with the original post and that aren't meant to give advice to the author of the thread who posted for advice.

I would say maybe the administrators are who should make sure that topics don't go off subject... and that people don't start private discussions on forums instead of giving advice, but the administrators have shown how bothered they are with this problem or this problem would not be here.

So there's nothing we can do about it. But I agree, you answer the original post and the original person.

 

[blue_ladybug]

Hello all..

I have seen a few opening posts in threads that have turned out to be copied and pasted from other sources other then the poster.. These are posted without any quotation revealing where the document was sourced from or who was the original Author of what was pasted in the OP...

I believe if someone is going to copy and paste someone else sermon or work they should be obliged to quote the original source.. This lets others know the actual source of the post and that the OP is not the person who actually produced the material..

What is the position of this site on this matter?

Copy/pasting an article from somewhere without getting permission first, and/or giving a link to where they got it from is plagiarism and should not be done, but several here do it anyway.. It would be better to just give the link and say "here, check this out".

 

[wwjd_kilden]

People definitely should quote their source. It will be difficult for the admins to enforce it though.

 

[Willie-T]

I don't care if they name the source, or not.... as long as they aren't trying to claim they wrote it themselves. In fact, I have seen some people on here complimenting or agreeing with an article UNTIL they realized it was actually written by someone espousing the views they swear against even considering. Kind of laughable, really. We can be so ignorantly blinded sometimes.

 

[Willie-T]

I think it might not be best to name the sources.

Just like many people here who staunchly refuse to read anything at all that Joseph Prince wrote, (if they KNOW he wrote it), I also, will often ignore an article written by someone like Hank Hanegraff, or even John MacArthur.

 

[Oncefallen]

What is the position of this site on this matter?

We've had a number of posters over the years complain about this same thing, usually via the post reporting button. When push comes to shove we, as a site, do not have the time to police this issue and really don't have a set policy other than to say that people SHOULD give credit where credit is due.

Persons when copying information that is not original to them SHOULD footnote or link their sources in accordance with the policies of that source and be aware that not adhering to those policies makes someone the potential target for both civil and criminal prosecution.

The humorous thing is that several of the cases that I've seen where someone has been accused of plagiarism, they were posting their own work published elsewhere on the internet.

 

[Oncefallen]

I agree with you bro. But it happens often that people go into private discussions on threads and they go into private theories that have nothing to do with the original post and that aren't meant to give advice to the author of the thread who posted for advice.

I would say maybe the administrators are who should make sure that topics don't go off subject... and that people don't start private discussions on forums instead of giving advice, but the administrators have shown how bothered they are with this problem or this problem would not be here.

So there's nothing we can do about it. But I agree, you answer the original post and the original person.

I'm perplexed....the OP is about plagiarism and your response is to complain that persons often don't keep a thread on topic.

In other words you just did what you were complaining about people doing.

 

[tourist]

Hello all..

I have seen a few opening posts in threads that have turned out to be copied and pasted from other sources other then the poster.. These are posted without any quotation revealing where the document was sourced from or who was the original Author of what was pasted in the OP...

I believe if someone is going to copy and paste someone else sermon or work they should be obliged to quote the original source.. This lets others know the actual source of the post and that the OP is not the person who actually produced the material..

What is the position of this site on this matter?

I tend not to read stuff that is copied and pasted. I'm more interested in the personal thoughts and opinions of the one that wrote a post and not something that someone that I probably never heard of wrote. Therefore, I really don't care that much about the source.

 

[Willie-T]

I tend not to read stuff that is copied and pasted. I'm more interested in the personal thoughts and opinions of the one that wrote a post and not something that someone that I probably never heard of wrote. Therefore, I really don't care that much about the source.

I'm not much on articles. I prefer full-length books, and I like them to be pretty much in-depth.

 

[Willie-T]

I'm perplexed....the OP is about plagiarism and your response is to complain that persons often don't keep a thread on topic.

In other words you just did what you were complaining about people doing.

I am totally against rigidly keeping a thread strictly "on topic." I am a big believer in the value of Serendipity.

 

[Adstar]

I tend not to read stuff that is copied and pasted. I'm more interested in the personal thoughts and opinions of the one that wrote a post and not something that someone that I probably never heard of wrote. Therefore, I really don't care that much about the source.

Yes and this is the problem ( great frustration ) i have with dealing with such posters..

The problem is that a lot of them are not capable of responding to criticisms of the quoted post.. or they cannot clarify the points in the post anywhere near as well as the original author.. So you read the post and see a few problems with it or you see some areas that need more clarification and you make your points in reply and ask your questions and the person simply cannot deal with your reply because they really are just people who cut and past stuff from authors they think are great men/woman of God but really they have no real in depth idea of what they are posting.. That's when you find out that they have just copied and pasted it from some preachers website or they got it from some pastors sermon who they are a personal supporter of...

I agree it is FAR better to read a post coming directly from the original poster sharing their thoughts in their own words.. When you engage them with a reply they are far more able to clarify things or respond to a counter point.. It makes things so much more real and satisfying in a forum to deal directly with the real Author of a message that has been posted..

 

[Adstar]

I'm perplexed....the OP is about plagiarism and your response is to complain that persons often don't keep a thread on topic.

In other words you just did what you were complaining about people doing.

I have no problem with Owzk addition to the topic.. Don't be perplexed and stressed ((((((( Oncefallen ))))) all is well..

 

[Chester]

I am in complete agreement with you - that if someone posts from another website it should be clearly identified and credited.

I prefer to respond to people's own thoughts and ideas, not just something copied and pasted from elsewhere. If I want to get information about another author or minister I can access it myself anytime.

Having said the above, I can see that occasionally discussing other writers/speakers on this forum can be helpful and useful. All of us are heavily influenced by others and acknowledging that is needful.

If someone posts from another source, I think as well that it is fair and should be expected that this source should be trustworthy, credible, and theologically sound.