A couple days ago I wrote a post on how the repetition of generic content is of little value which was based on a fair bit of experience and observation on Hive. However, it was "inspired" by an article and conversation I had seen in trending.
There is one good thing about getting into Trending, and it isn't the rewards. While one or two times there doesn't bring a lot of attention, but attention isn't always a positive thing for a "content creator" - if they aren't actually creating their own content. It is even worse they have portrayed themselves as full-time bloggers, yet aren't actually the ones writing the blog.
Hitting trending a few times is great for the rewards, getting there consistently brings curious eyes that will look far deeper than the content itself. So when the content is common, it gets noted and when comments aren't answered, it gets noted.
The other day I brought this up with on one post where I said that considering the couple hundred dollars consistently on their contentm they should answer comment and that searching the title brought up many similar articles. Not long after, it received a large downvote from a curation account, which was likely to trim the rewards based on the same observations. It was only then that the comments started to get answered, but there was a problem, the language used in the comments section and that of the post were fundamentally different.
So, this gets brought up too by me and others who noticed the same and I asked who was writing or editing the posts and as it turns out, that very-well-rewarded account was paying people on Upwork to write the blogs for them. Not only that, they were not proof-reading the content and checking it before uploading, which means that the post was indeed like others, in fact it was 63% plagiarized.
Those that have been around here for a while and actually pay attention, have seen this kind of behavior many times before and pretty much every time, the excuses as to why it was done come thick and fast. But, hitting Trending often and staying there, while no guarantee, essentially means that those people posting have run the gauntlet and come out the other side - it is a "trial by fire" and those lacking, like the account mentioned, are going to get burned.
I was just talking with a couple friends who are often up there over the years and asked, what would happen if one of our accounts was caught plagiarizing or paying some randoms off the internet to write our content. Just imagine if it came out that it wasn't me writing the 4800 posts I have added to this blockchain so far and all the times I was talking about "my consistency" I was just consistently paying instead - would you feel cheated?
Hell yes!
You would call bullshit on that and while there is very little that could be done about the Hive I have already extracted and hold in my wallet, it would be very unlikely that I would earn any more in the future. And rightly so, because I am not a noob, I am an old account that knows better, invalidating any excuses.
Just imagine, since currently I am a bit of an invalid myself - I said some thing like "I paid people to write my posts so there were better than I could do my myself, as I am busy, have two jobs including my own business, raise a young daughter, have chronic stomach issues that require treatment, am renovating a house and three months ago had a stroke that heavily affects my mental and some physical capabilities".
All of that is true - but are they good excuses to justify paying people to write my blog and calling it my own?
Fuck no.
It is my blog and I own it, which means that I am solely responsible for the content that I put there, unless I have lost my keys. This means that if I plagiarize, I do so with full responsibility, my keys, my account, my stolen content. I am very aware of this and drive for ownership of experience, which means taking responsibility and paying the consequences of what I have added to my stream of content.
Don't shit in the stream.
Not only because it affects everything downstream to come and destroys reputation on the platform, but because it also taints everything upstream too, all of the work that came before it. No matter how good, original or useful it was - I become a shitposter, and it dates back.
While the "number" reputation system on Hive is broken and is not a great indicator of actual reputation, it doesn't mean that reputation itself isn't important on the platform, it just means that it is not counted by the blockchain well. I would expect that when it comes to content reputation, I am not only the highest by the blockchain count, but also rank pretty highly on the social count too, along with several others.
This doesn't stop taking flags, in fact, it likely comes with more flags than most. As regardless of the content originality, usefulness or technical quality - gaining attention doesn't mean the attention is all positive.
It is about building trust though, which takes years of work, yet people seem willing to throw their away for a few extra dollars worth of HIVE, by deceiving the audience. Yes, the audience was deceived as they were under the impression that the content was firstly original and secondly, from the account. This is implied by the rules of "my keys, my account" which assume that the account owner has control of their own account and therefore, takes responsibility for it.
A newish account could make many mistakes in this area, as they might not know the sentiment of the Hive community. But for an old account, there is no excuse to not understand these things, especially if they purport to be full-time bloggers.
It is disappointing to say the least.
I wish that more people would learn to be creative and not post generic content that can be found everywhere, but it is unforgivable when that content isn't even written by the blogger themselves, it is paid for and plagiarized.
The irony is, they were cheated too!
They paid someone in order to cheat the Hive community into paying for content they thought was original. And they were cheated by paying for content that that was meant to be original, but was actually plagiarized. The level of incompetence shines bright.
I completely understand that there is a lot of pressure on people in their lives to earn and socially perform, but there still has to be some level of personal ethics involved, doesn't there?
For me personally, I imagine I would feel pretty damn shitty if I was posting other people's content and saying it was my own, regardless of how much I was earning. I would feel the internal turmoil and conflict of knowingly saying one thing and doing another and likely constantly fear being caught out for my behavior.
I remember when I used to play Ghost Recon back in the day and there was a guy in the clan I played with, who was really good at the game, often saving our team in online matches. The European members got together for a weekend of LAN gaming and they were surprised at how bad the guy was, but put it down to his surprisingly heavy drinking. However, as you already have assumed, the guy was actually wallhacking and aim-botting when in the privacy of his own home.
Fucking pathetic.
The saying is that, "cheaters never prosper" but that is unfortunately not true. They often prosper, it is just that we have no visibility on all the cheats that don't get caught and in the world we have created, there is very little economic visibility anyway. However on Hive, we do have visibility on what is added to the blockchain, which also means there is accountability and consequences of action too.
As disappointed as I may be when these things happen, I would far rather have it discovered and in the open, than not. It isn't to punish the person directly, but we do learn from examples - even the bad ones. I would far rather people follow good example, but good example generally comes through a lot of good work performed consistently. Ain't nobody got the time for that apparently - so many pay to cut corners instead.
Reputations aren't based on what you think about yourself.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Plagiarism. Such a fancy word for theft, isn't it?
I didn't know.
I have a kid to raise.
I need the money.
ETC
I was the shit finder for a big account on the previous chain. I actually got paid for checking the curated posts there. It was a nice vote and there was a ton of plagiarism. I've heard all the excuses.
I was really disappointed when the leader of a community I actively supported got caught at 're purposing' old posts and posts from others. She and the whole place are now gone, no more than dust in the desert. Really sad.
Reputation and reputation number are two entirely different things. Once you've trashed your reputation it really doesn't matter your reputation number.
I really like the way this place polices the cheats. A few might get away with it for a while, but it's going to bite them in the ass sooner or later.
And let the record show. I got caught on the second post I ever made here. I'd posted my 'intro' post on the first day then posted a motorcycle post that I had previously posted on another website. I sold posts to the place as single use and retained ownership so I thought it would be a good idea to use parts of the previous post verbatim. Silly me, But I learned what my mistake was and talked to the 'finders' extensively and it had no lasting impact on me.
It is really lame. I have never been officially tasked, but I keep my eyes open and have been "involved" with a lot of the big ones in the past. It has been interesting what happens with some of them and how they react.
They know what they are doing. Denying it doesn't help.
I know what and who you speak of and it was a shame. People seem to flip our under life pressure which is understandable, but not necessarily excusable.
Early on, I had the same happen actually, as I used some of my own writings from my business. It was obviously mine though, but I didn't know I was meant to mention it at the time. I think over the years, I have probably been looked at more than a handful of times by people. What I like is not having to hide myself at any level, if I did, consistency is impossible at the volume I write.
I figured you would know who :)
I have an app that I keep misc junk in. Current stuff is on the top, and I delete the bottom now and again. I still have a note titled "Suspected Assholes Comments Club". I'd copy paste comments from people I had caught red handed. I use the note for other things now, but I left the title because it makes me smile every time I look at it.
I worked for a company that owned a top 1000 Alexa site-a pay per click where people could make up to $1.00 per day clicking on ads. They put me on cheetah patrol for duplicate accounts. My best day I found, proved and cancelled over 1000 accounts. Most of those people weren't just very bright...
lol. I should have a list of "default" comments too :D
Well, if you are willing to do that for a dollar a day... ;D
There is no excuse. As Tom and you have stated, this is all stuff we have seen before and it's ultimate aim is always the same, to farm rewards. Would you pay someone to log in to your work account and do your work? Hell no. I don't care what people post just that it's their own work. Especially if it hits trending where as you rightly point out, you attract attention and it isn't always the attention you are after!
Hit trending enough and you are going to get seen eventually. It is why Sweetsssj would upvote her circle on the third or fourth day...
On the contrary, I do put the blame on the user alone.
I don't think the system is broken. I think the system isn't perfect and it has its faults. Not all users seek to exploit those faults. I know many users and I don't think that even the majority look to exploit loopholes where they can.
It depends on the mindset how you view it.
I agree. It is interesting how large stakeholders are to blame for all the ills of the world. THey push people to be criminals! :D
Lol. It's always someone else's fault! :0D
I think this person has some grudges and a chip on the shoulder or something.
I think a chip, a bitter one. It hasn't done much so I suspect it is probably an alt used for sniping and grumping.
I am sorry that you are so ridiculously presumptuous when you receive a challenging viewpoint.
Well, not really sorry. But you get where I was going, I'm sure.
Oh dear, a buffoon.
You say there is no challenging viewpoint. How about...
You say its not the users fault. I say it is.
You say the system is broken. I say it isn't.
I mean, do you even understand the basics?
Jealous much?
I suspect that you are a friend of the user mentioned in the original post. Quick faithful dog, leap to her defense!
Finally and I mean finally...
Decentralisation means not having people like you tell us how the rest of us should act.
Cutting corners sounds like something that would lead to a crash sooner or later x_x
Yep - but perhaps the thrill of getting there faster is worth it? :D
I guess if you're a particularly slow learner XD
every time I've cut corners either from sheer laziness or being forced by time constraints or had to deal with someone else's cut corners it has almost always ended badly so now I just get cranky especially when the person doing the cutting decides that the aftermath is someone else's problem
I remember back in the early days where people could sometimes make nearly $1000 on a post you'd find people who were paying content creators from Fiverr... it was outrageous... and not because it was genius but because as you said, everyone feels cheated.
Not just for the SEO damage it does for the blockchain but because one of the reasons we vote is because of the author. We like the content but we also want the author to succeed because we appreciate the value they bring to us all. So if it's not their work then I hope they do suffer downvote hell... especially now that we've got a separate downvote resource.
Yeah it was crazy. People could write shit, bidbot for a return freely. Downvotes ended that :)
This is the thing. When I first brought it up, I think people thought I was attacking the account owner, but actually gave the benefit f the doubt. But it set off a sequence of events that uncovered that they were cheated too... lols.
This and the comments is part of building a Hive Community and society. There are things that are accepted, and things that are not. Of course all the excuses will come out and all the reason, but one thing plagiarist never show or allow to come out is their remorse over cheating the original content producer or of cheating their viewers.
Yeah. The funny thing here is that they didn't even know "their content" was plagiarized, because they paid someone to "write" it for them... incompetence.
This will be really heartbreaking especially to those ones who have grown to look up to you.
I have seen lots of new accounts plagiarize, at first I consider it a mistake because I don’t blame them for not knowing how worthy Hive is. But after the third time I kinda lose interest in trying to explain why they shouldn’t. This means they are not serious in contributing to the blockchain. Most times this people see blogging on Hive as an easy money medium, the simplicity and easiness is over emphasized so they overlook it and plagiarize. But this is for the case of newbies, as for oldies on Hive, I can’t say the same
It would be pretty bad. I wonder what all the people I have met in real life would say :D
Quite a few accounts no what they are doing. They plagiarize to attract some big votes. when caught, they make a new account and try again. It is a numbers game for them.
I've come across quite a few old timers recently who felt entitled to milk the platform and don't see anything wrong with what they're doing.
I want my content to reach the new audience who have joined since I made the pos two years ago
I didn't know that wasn't allowed
I've done it before and no one had any issue with it
This is the first time I've done it
I'm too busy with other things in my life to write my own content
If this sort of attitude continues from the old timers on Hive, we're in danger of becoming no better than the shxt hole platform we choose to leave behind
Most of the older accounts that are actually successful here, know better.
I don't know which accounts are doing that but I am certain that's cheating. I do not think anyone with positive intention can do that. New or old account does not matter. Ethics and morale are true everywhere and for everyone.
I think it is very clear and even if not cheating (blockchain allows it), the community should know what is actually going on. I dislike this kind of behavior.
Language in comments is an immediate guide to whether the post was created by the author or not. I have downvoted so many lately in sports as they can't even put a decent sentence together let alone write an article like they have just posted. If everyone paid more attention to comments and replies this would eliminate so many cheaters.
Yeah, it is a shame that it is a problem, but it is to be expected since there is very real money avaliable. People seem to think that because people need money, any behavior is suitable in order to get it.
I gather that blog writers who do the blog to make a living (via the adverts and links I'm assuming) will pay for others to write content, so I sometimes wonder if that's why some people try to do the same here. I always thought it a bit risky, though, with no guarantee of getting the votes and, of course, the downvote potential. Maybe they're paying peanuts, which would also explain why the posts are mostly plagiarised.
There is a difference between it I think, especially if in other posts they are writing about how they are blogging full-time.
I suspect so. The English wasn't great in the post either, but it was very different from the comments. I don't know what they paid, but when they are getting 200 dollar posts here, I am guessing they are making a decent profit.
You're right, I think there's a huge difference between normal blogging and Hive. I just don't think many realise that until they've been around a while.
It's been so long since I looked at trending. I'm surprised that kind of stuff is still even making it there, now that more people are onto it. I guess it's got to reach there before it can be dropped back down. Or do you think it has come back with the rise in Hive value? I've noticed a big influx of new accounts again, which of course comes with the dodgy ones. It gets exhausting to keep vetting them.
There's simply nothing more better than writing on a topic that you understand the subject matter and can defend when called up - which in this case would be in the comment section of your post, wouldn't it be a shame if you can't say something intelligent regarding the post you claim to have written.
Yeah, it is funny when people "write" posts - but can't comment on their own "work"
In compare of steemit, Hive is one of the cleanest and transparent where community upvoted the real and pure contents. I am more active on Hive because it is far better than others where your contents gets highly appriciated. If anyone find cheating with the community then let me tell you its not going to last forever because KARMA will punish you oneday. I only follow real author from my heart where i think much i can learn and observed.@tarazkp is one of my favorite content creator where i never feel plagiarised or cheated while i read the post.hopefully your consistent writing bring attention from more users who sure make you Star Author of Hive.
Steem is a shadow blockchain - I don't know why anyone goes there at all - other than to get the warmth of a dumpster fire.
People fail to realise that reputation is everything. Hive has one thing: cheats remains cheats when they're caught and that blot or tags never really leaves them for the period of time they're around. One reason I support this is, no plagiarist is ever sorry until they're caught. More like medicine after death.
That is the thing. They are only sorry they got caught, not that they did what they did. It is intentional deception.
It's of course a different thing when they don't know that the standard of the chain is not accepting plagiarism. Often popular with recent users I guess.
agree it is hard to cheat when a lot of eyes are watching you
It is weird at times who gets caught out. Usually it is obvious.
yeah so its better to do it yourself and improve as time passes
I have never really understood the concept of taking credit for something that you had no part in. It really breaks my heart knowing that someone put in a lot of effort and sleepless night just to have someone else take all the shine. Rewards at the expense of someone else has never and will never be my thing.
This is worse - it is taking reward. The content creator plagiarized will likely never know their content was taken, because they are not on Hive. However, I have had some weird situations where people have reposted my posts as their own, complete with the tags I have used :D People are idiots.
Wow. They actually thought you would not know your work or what?
Most people don't know what they are doing. I assume that everyone is an idiot and that way, I can be pleasantly surprised when they are not :)
It's pathetic what people do for the mulla.
I reckon that integrity is an asset and even it doesn't take one fast, will certainly take one far.
I'm even learning this morning that a post I've published on another platform, though mine, isn't an original content on Hive anymore and I'm willing to write new contents for my readers.
Thank you for torchlighting this matter.
Yes it is :)
Yeah, it is not Hive exclusive if it appears somewhere else and it also doesn't help with the rankings, as the original site takes precedence.
Oh okay.
Really nice and interesting post, dear @tarazkp ! I would like to thank you for writing this content! Since I’ve made a registration in the Ecency app, it’s my every day work to find the best way to write my posts and not breaking the laws of this decentralized system… it’s really hard especially for a person who has account from around one month, especially the first 5-7 days. I’ve read so many posts and comments about how to write nice posts without making mistakes - such as copy/right as you’ve written up… and to be honest with you posts just like your helps me a lot! For this one month here in Ecency I’ve understand that making money is not the most important thing… actually it’s a great opportunity, but being honest with your readers and showing them a nice content is the most important thing. I’m trying my best to do this and I hope that in the near future I’ll reach your level! My admirations for you! :)
Just do the best you can and engage well like you have. Write about what you love and let your love for what you know shine through. :)
I am just surprised that people are not using my referral link. I imagined that after seeing some of my best battle posts payouts people would be more willing to try it. But so far no one is using it.
also I am still a bit sad that my art post were almost never(?) hitting these kind of payouts. Still it is nice to find my niche.😜
Who is seeing it? People who already play?
you are probably right.
One thing that irked me comes right up in your post. Trending feels permanent almost; certain posts and people stick there for days. And now I read there was a reward farmer, playing themselves up there? Nice. Now, I’m in no final gambit to get attention, but this dissatisfies me more than a small meal. How I would not mind for one of my finer photos to reach a place of some recognition over the recycled, up-cycled and otherwise repeated content visible on Trending. I’ll earn my spot in the sun though, believe me. It seems the moving picture captures hearts more than the still- my videography will start soon and evolve once I purchase a solid microphone. Man, I have such plans to be a celebrated account on this platform, you’d think I’m dreaming. But I’m not. This is one place I know my work may beget more of my work. I won’t hold back.
Trending is better these days than it was, as some curation accounts make sure it gets mixed up a bit. most of the people who are there commonly deserve to be there from a community perspective, but not all. I think looking at the comment counts is not a bad way to evaluate and if you see stuff there with not much often - it is probably a circlejerk.
Videography sounds awesome. I have always wanted to capture a "travel video" of my crappy city here to see if I could make it look attractive - but never got around to it.
Totally true, so sad to see this happening long ago...
You said it before but couldn't comment on that post. It's also so boring to see such kind of stuff wide spread. That's why I prefer not to post, if I got nothing to say that at least is a bit different from what's going on in the Hive ecosystem then I prefer to shut up my mouth (hand) and wait calmly.
I laugh when I take a look back in the beginnings of Steemit when we all were rushing to try and get those "amazing" rewards at the top trending list, posting recipes and pictures, travels, etc... I early looked mines and took the decision not to write that way anymore. I decided that I would be recognizable as I'm in real life while helping out as much as possible those deserving it.
I've been hit lately on such events like plagiarazing and spinning content from a friend of mines here in Hive and I'm still in shock and unable to understand why that person could harm the hard work done during the years to end up being burnt like that for being caught that way, unbelievable!, I'm really sad about that.
Oh gosh, I thought I was busy! You ruined my main excuse 😂
This, this is wise. I do this too. If I have nothing to say or comment, I would just wait. If I have nothing to write, I will leave that be and read others and engage more. I don't like leaving generic, nice post, thank you and all of that. I like to add some value into the comment I put.
I hate loosing my time with futile content althought some coffee may help overcoming this 😁
hahaha yes, coffee often helps!
Coffee helps with everything. Unless it is evening - then wine helps.
I normally use decaffeinated from evening till my bed time if I want to work... otherwise I'm not able to concentrate :P
Generic is boring to write, it is boring to read.
Indeed and often we can tell just by title or the first paragraph 😃
I wasn't a 2016er, but there was a lot of crap back then. I am sure not everything I have written is gold, but hopefully it is at least a metal :D
People get tired very fast these days - no stamina.
Everyone has excuse why they don't work - people should find some good ones for why they should.
The thing is I don't stop working but can not find the time to write easily... I have not an easy writting in the sense of it to be interesting to people in my opinion.
The thing with originality is that it cannot be hidden. Anyone who cheats deserves what's coming to them, life is difficult enough.
I think I get you now. A lot of trust goes into personality and there's a need to be weary of abuse with Hive prices relatively high and the place getting attention.
The higher the price climbs, the greater the reward for cutting the corners. Since we are decentralized, it is up to the community to police as they see fit. Many don't want to get their hands dirty.
I used to know the reputation is effective indicator for posts to be trending. I didn't understand that how your posts could be subject to plagiarism? They are from your fingers, your life, work, health, problems...
Mistakes that a newbie accont does can be tolerated. However, it can't for high reputated users. I have seen some plagiarism of such users. There is a phrase in my country; "Humankind has sucked raw milk at birht" which means they can do anything bad.
See how I copied that line of yours? If I copy your entire posts and claim them as mine - it is plagiarism.
my posts are not plagiarised - I write everything, all content (including all the pictures) are mine.
Supposing that someone copied your post which is the one about your daily life for example, it would be nonsense.
Yes, but weirdly has happened a few times.
People are more concern about the benefits they will get from a post rather than what the post being beneficial to the reader/community..... There's no shortcut to things like this, that's why I so much believe in consistency and hardwork
Plagiarism is a kind of thieft. Who plagiaries should be punished as we treat with a thief.
Punishment takes stake or activity - most people are far too passive.
In my not so humble opinion, the only hivers/viewers/readers who would/should feel cheated and ashamed are just the chumps, naive, asskissers and blind autovoters who upvoted for such authors of paid/plagiarized content to the point of having taken their fake posts to the trending page. Well, I don't know, I just say. };)
I don't think you are correct. Do you check every post you read for plagiarism? Probably not.
I have no need whatsoever to check every post I read for plagiarism. Since I only vote what I actually read including each and every one of the comments in those posts. And therefore I would have realized instantly if such an author is or has been publishing plagiarized content for a long time and well in advance. };)
You hold the entirety of the internet in your knowledge base?
Nope, only in my good eidetic memory. :)
why upvote your own comment?
While I agree that some stakeholders don't care how they use their stake, most I think actually do, which is why so much of the curation is organic now.