Plagiarism, plagiarism, plagiarism

     It has become a problem.  All over the web, people are plagiarizing.  There are even different varieties of plagiarism.  You have your straight up copycats;  copy and paste, submit, and you’re off and running.  You have your creative plagiarism; change a word here and there, rearrange some, turn it loose.  And then there are your spinners.  Take an article, put it through a translator, and run it through back into English.

     And while there are a growing number of people focusing on the issue, no one seems to know what to do about it.  The problem has grown too fast for any one individual, or even a group, to regulate or police.  The web is simply too big.

     What people seem to be missing is that this, as with any number of similar issues, is a phase.  with the transition to the internet, publishing has literally re-invented.  The evolution is exponentially faster than we’ve ever encountered. 

     It isn’t as if plagiarism is a new problem.  It’s simply much easier now.  But as we work ourselves into a frenzy, a few facts need to be kept in our sights. 

* On line Plagiarism takes place mainly on the lower tiers of the publishing community.  Sites like Triond, Bukisa, Factoidz, and Redgage are the hardest hit.  The higher you climb up the publishing ladder, the more exposure they are exposed to, and the more filters they are put through.  So the odds of someone stealing your work and putting it on one of the upper tiers is nil.

* From a marketing standpoint, it doesn’t hurt you.  I have had a number of my articles spun, and if anything, it is more likely that they bring additional views.

* Eventually, the offenders get caught.  Enough people police their own work, and the procedure is pretty much the same across the board.  Let the publishing site know, they take it down, and in most cases, ban the user.

* This will pass; there simply isn’t enough money in it.  95% of what we do on this level is about promotion, not content.  And the more you promote, the more they get caught.  If they’re able to figure out the promotional aspects, they catch on fairly quickly that this just doesn’t work.  The ratio of work/ reward simply isn’t high enough.

* There are two main ways this affects us negatively.  One is a portfolio.  If you fancy yourself a serious writer, and are putting one together, this could conceivably have an effect.  But the biggest way this impacts us is on a purely emotional level.  We take people stealing our thoughts personally.  And as far as resolving that, all I can say is handle it and get over it.  The online publishing community is rapidly becoming a cut throat environment; it isn’t a place for those offended easily.

     So what can be done?  Many have attacked the publishing sites, but to do so is to ignore the very nature of how this works.  There are no regulations that keep this from happening.  They aren’t going to launch a campaign to fight plagiarism; that wouldn’t be cost effective.  You can go on all you’d like about integrity and reputation, but sites like this aren’t here to save the world or impress; they’re here to make money.  Catch someone, and they’ll remove them.  As it stands now, that’s the best result you’re going to get.  If you want to try and take the problem down, you of course can.  But it’s a drop of water in the ocean.

     In the end, your time is best spent (if you choose to care) policing your own work.  Here are is place to start:

Detecting Online Plagiarism

     But in the end, it’s a matter of choosing your battles.  You can, with a bit of effort, keep your own work from plagiarism.  You can not stop plagiarism as a whole;  simply let it run its course.