We are carrying out due diligence and take plagiarism seriously. When there is a suspicious post, it is run through plagiarism detection applications and sources are requested and checked. While I agree that the post payouts for this should not overshadow the fine work of others, it's an important statement. If there is an issue in the future, where someone wishes to shut down Reggaesteem because they think we reward theft, this post is a permanent record on the blockchain about the position and action being taken from the start. Furthermore, there is your attestation that it was trending and the community noticed this so it can't be said we hid it in the fine print or back pages.
The problem is as the token gains traction we have attracted a few people who are not here for the right reasons. There was a recent large influx of plagiarised posts and I wanted to let everyone know why some posts were downvoted so others won't be afraid to post here if they are adding value. I will flag all plagiarism and this post is the only warning. We stand by content creators and artists. These Warning posts won't be repeated as the position won't be changed. I hope that excerpts from this post are eventually put into an FAQ. I can't think of anything else that needs to be declared at this point so you won't see something trending like this again anytime soon.
Risk mitigation is an important consideration when growing a business. The blockchain, unfortunately, attracts a lot of unethical players who think they are anonymous. Some tribes don't care what happens, there is next to no regulation and the only thing they are manipulating is the price of their tokens. What attracts me to ReggaeSteem is that the team is ethical, they are playing by the rules and they are trying to grow something real.