There's been a lot of talk about plagiarism, copyright, external links, and original content. Some pretty heated arguments have ensued on what the Steemit site/community should and shouldn't allow.
Maybe some people don't understand what content curation is. Copying and pasting entire articles even when the source is included is copyright infringement. I've seen any information on what curation is so I've posted a couple of links to articles on content curration:
Content Curation: Copyright, Ethics & Fair Use
“Curation” Versus Fair Use: How to Keep Your Content Safe
The idea isn't to excise external content from Steemit completely, it is about using external content responsibly to create original content.
Here's my view, and slightly off topic. I don't want to see Steemit turn into just another Reddit, Pinterest, or Stumbleupon site that is bombarded with external links and posts that do not add anything of value. What I mean by that is a post that consists of nothing but a link to an external site, or content curation that doesn't actually add anything of value. I can't find the article, but I noticed that there is a bot that is copying/pasting articles from news sites. While it does cite the source, it posts the entire article and adds no original content except the notice at the bottom saying it is a bot.
Another user suggested that Steemians should be able to submit just links to external sites instead of creating posts as Reddit does, my question is why? What value does that add to Steemit? How many users will sign up and bombard the site with links in hopes of earning a few pennies? And in the process will that "bury" original content created by Steemians?
By the way, thanks to @anyx (@cheetah), @murh, @intelliguy, and others for your hard work in trying to combat this issue.
My opinion may be in the minority, but I'd like to see Steemit filled with original content, even if it is just commenting on articles from other sites.
#curation #steemitabuse #steemit