REMINDER: Plagiarism

[Kagamine]

Makes me wonder how many people got permission to use or created their own avatar in this thread.

It's assumed a lot of the time that people are using avatars not made by them. The difference is that we're not claiming we did and thus undermining someone else's work.

[Ylanne]

If I can just be frank, we all know the internet isn't public domain, but it's set up so that everything should be. An artist who really doesn't want his work to be copyrighted should liberally watermark or just completely avoid posting the actual artwork onto sites like Deviant Art. To me, they're free pickings, and I'm not about to go out of my way to make a Deviant Art account just so I can ask some dude if I can use his picture in a roleplay or as an avatar. Every single modern artist that is familiar with trending visual arts on the computer should know that their work isn't protected when you say "don't use this". . . chances are that I 'accidently' don't see the disclaimer because I need my ultra-rare perfect picture of something extremely specific. Love the artist to recess pieces, respect the crap of everything the artist does and who the artist is. . .But when push comes to shove, it doesn't hurt to make a single picture mean something much more.

There's an entire difference between using artwork for applicative purposes and not citing the sources because of the marginality (read: unofficial nature) of the situation and claiming a piece of art is your own when it isn't. One is harmlessly finding a use as to enhance the nature of ones project, the other is an attempt to misguide original sources which leads to misunderstanding of the original and intended meaning of the art as well as providing a fabricated source of inspiration (that further misleads and misconstrues from the essense of the art).

I personally try my best to find a specific application of my art into others exploits; and if they can use the same song or one of my solo songs for their own gain, good on them. Even if I'm not cited, I'm still heard. . .And that goes for my poetry/prose as well. I don't really care about the credit, and if I need to get down to $$$ business I'll always have the upper hand because I literally conjured the piece of art if it comes down to the courts. It's like claiming a child without DNA evidence-- people know who's actually created the art, and in the end, it really doesn't matter who did. . .Just that it's there and that people find it important. I never knew why some people didn't think that's enough.

When someone copy-pastes a piece of your writing and posts it as if it is their own, without any kind of attribution (with or without a link), it implies that the writing was in fact produced by them. On a roleplay site, if a piece of writing used as a synopsis or introduction or as an actual in-character post is either not famous (i.e. the opening of a Shakespeare play, or the opening of A Tale of Two Cities) or not credited to someone else (i.e. a published book, video game, manga, TV show, movie, etc. or the original author elsewhere on the internet), the standard assumption is that the person who posted it wrote it.

[Zombiedude101]

Does this count towards linking to an image (Say, something off DeviantArt like artwork of the Barrow Downs from LOTR) to give an idea of what a place looks like, is that against the rules? I mean, it's not like I'd be taking credit and you can't expect people to search out the authors and credit them with EVERY single link.

[Hound55]

It's time I came clean. I've long been riding the coattails of genius, its true.

I too have been copy/pasting huge slabs of text for my own character sheets from one of the greatest examples of humanity. While imitation is indeed the highest form of flattery, the man quite simply doesn't get the adoration and praise that he clearly deserves.

Hound55 of Superhero Hype Forums, you magnificent bastard, here's to you!

[The Australian]

Did we really need a thread for plagiarism? Has it gotten that bad?

[Kadaeux]

Does this count towards linking to an image (Say, something off DeviantArt like artwork of the Barrow Downs from LOTR) to give an idea of what a place looks like, is that against the rules? I mean, it's not like I'd be taking credit and you can't expect people to search out the authors and credit them with EVERY single link.

Unless the original artist complains most people won't believe that the image was made by you anyway so it doesn't count as plagiarism. However if you opened a thread in the gallery and posted those it certainly would be and acted on as such.

[Chapatrap]

I'll admit, I just found my avatar on Google Images. I don't know who created it, as it linked me to an inactive Tumblr page and the search ended there.

Until recently, I used a map I found on Google Images. I credited the guy (found it on Deviant ART) and everything but I still got kinda worried. So, I made a Deviant ART account just to PM the guy. And he hasn't been online since January 7 2013....So, I guess no map for me? Unless....

If I linked the guys profile, said I didn't make it at all and maybe slightly edited it, would that still count as plagiarism? The thing I'm most concerned about is my slightly editing it ( Example: A circle around that island or a dot at that place to show where this certain town is)

[Kadaeux]

Check his page to see what license he's using. If he's using an open license (Share and Share Alike) then I don't see any problems *Shrugs*

[Shon Harris]

I'll admit, I just found my avatar on Google Images. I don't know who created it, as it linked me to an inactive Tumblr page and the search ended there.

Until recently, I used a map I found on Google Images. I credited the guy (found it on Deviant ART) and everything but I still got kinda worried. So, I made a Deviant ART account just to PM the guy. And he hasn't been online since January 7 2013....So, I guess no map for me? Unless....

If I linked the guys profile, said I didn't make it at all and maybe slightly edited it, would that still count as plagiarism? The thing I'm most concerned about is my slightly editing it ( Example: A circle around that island or a dot at that place to show where this certain town is)

Like Kada said. DeviantART auto-suggests Creative Commons, and the different pieces to that. It will blatantly tell you what you're legally allowed to do with their work. If you do use a thing without permission, make sure it does not say not for use. You're probably fine so long as you let them know, or try to, and are not making any money or other gains from use.

[Rilla]

Which is why I ask people now if I can use their characters from older RPs of mine, as NPCs, instead of assuming I can, even if I know they won;t have a problem with it. Last time I did, I had to remove the NPC as it was a 'foul spit in the face' since I used it and invited the guy to the RP.