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In a recent article, I asserted that we have bigger problems than plagiarism to deal with on this platform. I stand by that statement, but plagiarism has taken a higher priority for me because of some recent cases I've seen.

The rationale behind my post was a plagiarised post that popular "proxy-poster" (I'm coining that term, and because this post will remain in the blockchain forever I will always retain the credit) @crazymumzysa posted for another user. I ran the post through Copyscape myself (I pay for the premium edition), and found a few examples that looked like the original author may have ripped them off. I attributed it to @crazymumzysa not having used Copyscape and being a bit too trusting, and assumed it wouldn't happen again.

Unfortunately, today, another proxy-post originally written by @dedi ended up being another plagiarised piece. This post passed Copyscape, but upon a Google Image search (which is what I am assuming the discovering party used), was found to be ripped off of a post on the Buffer blog.

In many cases, users are just not aware of the resources available to them to determine whether a post is plagiarised, as was the case here. That is something that we will likely run into as more everyday users interface with the platform and I will address it later on in this article.

To be clear before I continue, I am not saying the person posting the article does not have some responsibility for the material that they associate themselves with. Their business plan (and it is a business) needs to factor in some form of check or balance against plagiarism.

I believe there also needs to be steeper forms of punishment for the original author. These users are the true problem, the source of the cancer. Their predatory business plan is to plagiarise content, have someone else post it, and then it becomes a win-win dice roll. If the content doesn't get pinged, they profit. If it does, they haven't lost anything and usually reap no other consequences, besides not getting paid for something they put no effort into. These parasitic worms just crawl to the next victim and repeat. Meanwhile, their past victims are left picking up the pieces of their reputation and the other authors that post through them are hit with lower payouts and less exposure.

The way I see it, there has to be a two-tiered approach:

1. Prevention
2. Punishment

Prevention

If you are an existing or prospective proxy-poster, you need to be aware of the resources that are available to you. While not foolproof, there are a few basic resources that you need to be aware of.

Detection Tools

Copyscape

One of a few plagiarism-checking tools, Copyscape has a premium feature that is worth every penny. Especially useful for proxy-posters, this service costs $.05 USD per search. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the loss in revenue and reputation that a plagiarised post could cost you!

Grammarly

Not only does this tool check for plagiarism, it also points out grammatical errors, which can be useful for proofreading your potential posts. At $29.95/month it is more expensive than Copyscape but serves as an additional check.

Google Images

Always check your posts images! Many times, a plagiarist will be able to evade the above detection tools by changing a lot of the words and formatting around, but if they use the images from the post they are ripping from, you can catch them. You can just drag and drop the image right into the search bar.

Community Resources

Steemit History

The great thing about the blockchain is that everything an author has posted becomes permanent. Research new authors. Talk to other proxy-posters that have worked with them. Read the comments on their posts and check their old posts for blatant plagiarism. Often times they are repeat offenders.

Steemit.chat

Some of the best ideas on the platform have been hatched here. The steemitabuse-classic channel is an excellent place to report suspicious activity and plagiarism. Additionally, I have created a channel called proxy-posters-support. This channel is for proxy-posters to find each other and discuss their business and their authors. It will be an excellent place to vet new authors with other proxy-posters and exchange ideas that will help improve the quality of the posts.

Steemitforum.com

A new resource and an underutilized one. I have created a thread here for reporting known plagiarists. I hope that it will become a resource for users to report plagiarism, and prevent future plagiarism.

Steemcleaners

A new conglomeration that is dedicated to fighting abuse on Steemit in all categories. They are a good resource for users that are concerned about potential plagiarism and for proxy-posters that need additional help when vetting a post.

Punishment

The consequences for plagiarism in a proxy-post are very unbalanced. Typically, the proxy-poster gets penalized, loses some reputation (which they normally have plenty of), and the actual plagiariser gets off with no consequences. In an armed robbery, you wouldn't give 25 years in jail to the guy that held the door for the robber. While I understand that this is not quite the same level, it is essentially how the community has been handling plagiarism.

Flagging the Post

There is no doubt that the post should not receive a payout. Regardless of where the fault lies, a plagiarised post should not receive any revenue. I would not argue against that and I think that it is part of the necessary procedure.

Flagging and Tagging the Original Author

This is the part of the procedure that we have been missing. The original author needs to have consequences beyond not receiving a payout. I have created resources in addition to what is already available to document these abuses. Additionally, any of their recent posts still eligible for payout (24hr or 30-day) should be flagged. By betraying the trust of the community they have forfeited their right to receive a payout on any of their work.

A bot can also be created that comments on future posts, notifying potential voters that the user is a known plagiarist.

Conclusion

This may sound harsh, but the reality is that there are users that are simply here for drive-by exploitation. They will game the system for as long as we allow them and take what resources they can, before crawling to their next scam. A little pesticide goes a long way and these slugs need to get out of our garden.

Photos courtesy of Pixabay

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For a great non-plagiarised article, be sure to check out: The Sky is Not Falling: Overpopulation - Coming Disaster or Myth

If you like my work don't forget to upvote and follow me! I'm looking forward to hearing from you in the comments below, and you can find me on steemit.chat under jaredcwillis.