What Should Be Punishment for Plagiarism for an Adult?

upsideguy said:

It was far more than "borrowing a few sentences". He "borrowed (or, in reality STOLE) complete works" and presented them as his own.

If Americans had any decency, shaming would be appropriate and sufficient. Unfortunately, we are losing our decency (or sensitivity for right and wrong), as many see little wrong with this.... as evidence per above. As someone else pointed out, this will get you expelled from most schools, including ALL of our military academies. They think its a big deal.

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I can't believe I'm on the defense for Rand Paul but I've just gotta say that:

“America now jails a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, including China and Iran, at the staggering cost of $80 billion a year.”

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is a pretty minor issue and just like everything Obama says or does is converted to "staggering incompetence" by his detractors, the exact same thing is being done here.

REPEAT: Much Ado About Nothing (borrowed from Shakespeare)

Oh, and your comment "It was far more than "borrowing a few sentences" is a borrowed comment since it appears on google quite a few times. So, should you be shamed as a plagiarist?

Be reasonable.

4 people voted for the death penalty? LOL oh you 4 are so funny.

Hmm.

These days, nearly any form of media can be transferred into an electronic version, uploaded to the internet, and (this part is my opinion) instantly become completely available for use by everyone who can find it.

Someone could plagiarize it, and someone else could plagiarize them, and it could run round in a chain until the original author plagiarizes a vastly-removed version of their own work. Wild example, I know, but it amused me.

This cannot be reliably stopped without restricting accessibility to the point that it will push away some customers/users.

And with today's tech, nearly anyone could upload said media, if they had a non-electronic copy.


In short, it seems to me that media, however recorded, has effectively ceased to be something which can reliably be considered goods/property. Since effectively anyone can access it.

Granted in many cases "access" requires either good computer/internet skills up to and including hacking, but still...

specklebang said:

I can't believe I'm on the defense for Rand Paul but I've just gotta say that:
is a pretty minor issue and just like everything Obama says or does is converted to "staggering incompetence" by his detractors, the exact same thing is being done here.

REPEAT: Much Ado About Nothing (borrowed from Shakespeare)

Oh, and your comment "It was far more than "borrowing a few sentences" is a borrowed comment since it appears on google quite a few times. So, should you be shamed as a plagiarist?

Be reasonable.

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A phrase is not plagiarism... using multiple paragraphs verbatim is. As I said, his indiscretion would have had him thrown out of West Point, Annapolis or USAFA. They would think its a big deal. Accordingly, its hardly unreasonable for others to think its a big deal as well.

upsideguy said:

A phrase is not plagiarism... using multiple paragraphs verbatim is. As I said, his indiscretion would have had him thrown out of West Point, Annapolis or USAFA. They would think its a big deal. Accordingly, its hardly unreasonable for others to think its a big deal as well.

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I think the concept of big deals is often in the mind of the beholder. Schrödinger's Deal.

specklebang said:

While I'm DEFINITELY not a Rand Paul fan, this is much ado about nothing. So what? Borrowing a few sentences? This isn't a novel for sale, it's a speech or whatever.

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Especially when you consider cueing. People who read a lot tend to regurgitate what they read; regardless of whether or not they realize they are doing it. I'm not saying that is definitively what happened, but I would tend to also suspect that this is much ado about nothing.

cpwill said:

Especially when you consider cueing. People who read a lot tend to regurgitate what they read; regardless of whether or not they realize they are doing it. I'm not saying that is definitively what happened, but I would tend to also suspect that this is much ado about nothing.

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Precisely. While I try to not be a copycat, I'm sure many of my expressions and thoughts have been inadvertently plagiarized. Just as when Obama farts, some people will claim he def3cated, when Paul does something, sheer animosity will cause excessive reaction.

So it goes.•






•Kurt Vonnegut

specklebang said:

Precisely. While I try to not be a copycat, I'm sure many of my expressions and thoughts have been inadvertently plagiarized. Just as when Obama farts, some people will claim he def3cated, when Paul does something, sheer animosity will cause excessive reaction.

So it goes.•

•Kurt Vonnegut

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Plus, in this day of digital research, it can be hard to track some stuff down. After all:

"Many quotes that you read on the internet are mis-attributed."
-Abraham Lincoln

cpwill said:

Plus, in this day of digital research, it can be hard to track some stuff down. After all:

"Many quotes that you read on the internet are mis-attributed."
-Abraham Lincoln

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Now that's funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!