Crowdsource.com craziness

[AG1976]

Sorry to say that yes, what you wrote does qualify as plagiarism. The sentences are in the same order, and you used many of the same words.

[Blair Girl]

I just started writing a whole lotta stuff for CrowdSource. This is making me real real nervous, even though right now I'm on their good side and have gotten a bit of money. Have no idea what a "fail" is or a "pass" is. I've gotten alerts on some articles and they still paid me for 'em.

Not writing for them right this second 'cause I have over 10 articles waiting for editorial comment -- or whatever it is.

I think it's funny they want expert writing even though some of those questions are absolutely silly or make no sense. The top 10 names for chickens? What's the element Nu? (There isn't one as far as I know). Writers are supposed to take this deadly seriously?

Not that I'm complaining, I'm enjoying myself over there for the time being. And they pay SO much better than TB.

Still, got a feeling that most writers don't last very long ... well, I'm gonna make hay before the sun sets.

Their rules seem to be very mysterious and labyrinthine. ....

[daytonjenn]

CS worries me a little. For some reason, when CC work went over there, I earned credentials and access to work that I didn't have at CC or work that I hadn't had access to in months. I did some of the Q&A work and gave up because the comments on my work made no sense. I've done some smaller and larger pieces, but I usually only log in, look for movie articles and run away. I did a bunch of work on one project, and payment was incredibly slow. I think I was still getting a few dollars here and there from work that finally went through two or three weeks later.

I had a problem a few months ago on movie articles from an editor. The editor kept constantly leaving comments that I needed to watch my spelling on actor and character names. Well, since I copy and paste names directly from IMDB to double check spellings, it's not on my end. I've also had problems with medical terms and other longer words showing as misspelled in their system, even when I copy the words directly from a credited source. Then editors complain that those words are spelled wrong. I think some people are just nitpicking and looking for any red line under a word.

[Bree Normandin]

Marakk, it is abundantly clear that you had no idea that what you were doing was unethical and illegal. You should never turn in work to any client that is reworded in such a manner. I could cost the client money and hurt their reputation. It also puts you at risk for being sued by your client or the original writer that you took the content from.
I believe you realize your error, but please, even if a client asks you to do this for money and approves, do not do it. I guarantee that if you do and the client gets sued, they will sell you out in short order.
I wish you better luck in the future. This is a hard and embarrassing lesson to learn.

[Marakk]

Originally Posted by Bree Normandin

Marakk, it is abundantly clear that you had no idea that what you were doing was unethical and illegal. You should never turn in work to any client that is reworded in such a manner. I could cost the client money and hurt their reputation. It also puts you at risk for being sued by your client or the original writer that you took the content from.
I believe you realize your error, but please, even if a client asks you to do this for money and approves, do not do it. I guarantee that if you do and the client gets sued, they will sell you out in short order.
I wish you better luck in the future. This is a hard and embarrassing lesson to learn.

I do understand the potential dangers of plagiarism, but how does an article qualify as plagiarised? If I had been a little more cautious and substituted more words, it would have been fine with the client. Would it have been a plagiarized article even then? This article passed duplichecker and plagiarisma, which I used as a test for plagiarism because I thought that's what was required.

In all such tasks, a source is needed. The client asks for a reliable source for every claim. The information is being taken from somewhere else. So it's only about altering it sufficiently. I get your point about legality, but please enlighten me about the ethics. Take for example a car company, they take a successful engine design of another car, modify it enough so that the other company can't file a case. Is that ethical? It's legal. What is is legal is ethical? If I masterfully stole the content, it would have been legal and ethical?

[blinky]

If I masterfully stole the content, it would have been legal and ethical?

The answer is NO. The content you wrote is exactly the same and does qualify as plagiarism. What you are failing to understand is that what you should be doing is reading other sources so you can learn enough about a topic to write your own ORIGINAL content. Your content was not original. I am a professional editor and I would have flagged your article, too.

Writing isn't about altering someone else's content sufficiently so you can fool others into thinking you didn't steal it. Writing is a craft. It's an art. It's a talent. It's a way to communicate your thoughts, ideas, and knowledge in a way that teaches and enriches others. It's not a regurgitation of what other people have already written.

Maybe you should take a step back and learn about the writing process. I know you're going to say that what you've done so far has been acceptable, but that's only because your client didn't know any better. That's why clients need professional writers and editors who do.

Blinky :-)

[Marakk]

Originally Posted by blinky

If I masterfully stole the content, it would have been legal and ethical?

The answer is NO. The content you wrote is exactly the same and does qualify as plagiarism. What you are failing to understand is that what you should be doing is reading other sources so you can learn enough about a topic to write your own ORIGINAL content. Your content was not original. I am a professional editor and I would have flagged your article, too.

Writing isn't about altering someone else's content sufficiently so you can fool others into thinking you didn't steal it. Writing is a craft. It's an art. It's a talent. It's a way to communicate your thoughts, ideas, and knowledge in a way that teaches and enriches others. It's not a regurgitation of what other people have already written.

Maybe you should take a step back and learn about the writing process. I know you're going to say that what you've done so far has been acceptable, but that's only because your client didn't know any better. That's why clients need professional writers and editors who do.

Blinky :-)

First of all, my question was hypothetical, which you failed to understand. The content I wrote was not in question. Didn't I concede I should have done better with that? Let me elaborate the question to help you understand. If I reordered the sentences and substituted more words, would it still be plagiarism? If not, what makes it ethical this time around? The fact that I stole it better?

Second, regarding learning enough about a topic, like I mentioned earlier, that's what I did for my previous client. However, I don't know if you have worked with CS on Q/A, but they require a source for all claims you make. So I can't read 10 pages about blue whale humping procedure and create "original" content. I have to provide a source for every sentence.Also, no filler or unrelated content. So I can't write that these creatures have an elaborate ritual for mating because of their intelligence. I will be flagged for unsubstantiated claim and unrelated content. In a way, they do want a regurgitation of sentences, which also meets their style guide.

Out of 70 tasks that I have done, I received a good or excellent work comment on at least 10 tasks. More were accepted with only minor corrections of typos. If you factor in the nitpicking habit of the editors that two people have also mentioned in this thread, that's a good record. Don't come to conclusions with incomplete data.

[blinky]

I didn't use incomplete data. You plagiarized an article. You asked us if it was plagiarized and we all told you that it was.

You asked someone to explain it to you. I did. I guess you don't want to understand the difference.

Blinky

[Marakk]

Originally Posted by blinky

I didn't use incomplete data. You plagiarized an article. You asked us if it was plagiarized and we all told you that it was.

You asked someone to explain it to you. I did. I guess you don't want to understand the difference.

Blinky

Read your previous reply. You answered another question. That question is the first sentence of your first reply. Come on now, you can't use such pathetic arguments because I am guilty of plagiarism on one task.

[blinky]

Then maybe you shouldn't come here and whine that you got caught for plagiarism. Insult me all you want, but that's what happened. You asked, we answered. Sorry you didn't like it, but you're the one who is in the wrong. Don't come to public forums and expect to defend unethical, illegal conduct.

Blinky