It's rant time!

But first of all.. this is my personal opinion and whatever I say here is what I believe in. I am about to address some issue on plagiarism and my personal approach to it.

Plagiarism seems to be resurfacing again these days. Not just from newbie but from relatively old authors who already know their way around here or understand that there's a convention that plagiarism is discouraged and some kind of offense around here. Like I said years ago, plagiarism is basically disrespecting yourself and your brain. Our brain is there to help us think and many other wonderful things that it is capable of. Just so you know, our brain is pretty powerful too, if you use it of course. For instance, there are some amazing facts like it is capable of creating more ideas equivalent to that of the atoms of the universe or you can read more about same facts here too Amazing Human Body Facts and Trivia which is where the first web got its info. Anyway, enough about brains, now onto plagiarism. Plagiarism doesn't just stop at verbatim (word-to-word) copy of something. It also extends to paraphrasing without mentioning the source. If you get some ideas, any details that you get from web, places, anywhere, you've got to mention it. Sure, there are some general facts but will discuss this later.

But Mac, who the fuck cares?

Well... you see there are people out there who cares and that'll impact your account significantly. You may/may not care about it, that's fine but wherever you go, stealing is never right. Even your favorite creators wherever they are, they also name drop their sources. I understand that some of us don't have the exposure to plagiarism classes or even such which is why my first approach has always been educating people that I find plagiarizing or paraphrasing instead going full pitch-fork. However, I certainly have my own limit because once you are notified, I generally don't expect anyone to make the same mistake. That means, you are ready for the consequences too whatever that is.

I notice too that sometimes those plagiarism hides in plain sight especially when it is a large chunk of text presented. Trying to find these stuff are also time consuming and there's also these side where it's like, "why focus on the negative?". The thing is.. sometimes it's necessary otherwise, we never learn and continue to normalize something that is deemed wrong . I don't give a shit where you morally stand, even as a relativist, I view that plagiarism is wrong.

Maybe I am asking too much but have you ever tried to think, what if someone use my content without permission? wouldn't you feel bad especially if it's something you have worked hard over the years or something.

General facts, Cultural Facts, Common Knowledge

Now, there's something tricky about general facts or cultural facts that obviously you already know because you lived though it, heard it from word of mouth or sometimes without any single source, etc. There's also some classifications on Common Knowledge and some more opinion on what constitutes as " General/Common knowledge". I think some people are also harsh with what constitutes as "common knowledge" but I take it that they don't consider this part. This is a good example on Facts VS opinion and a common knowledge. Although like many of those mentioned, when in doubt, just give your references in which on hive you can leave it on the bottom of your page.

I have way too much HP, Power, Etc so who cares?

Right... There's a saying where I live that basically means, the law only exist for the poor and it doesn't exist for the rich. And once again, it's a decentralized system. So, whatever I say here about plagiarism may/may not relevant to you. Although certainly in scope of communities and some code of conducts around, when we are around those, we are bound to respect it which extends to upholding it.

/end rant