Monday, November 14, 2011

Hidden Scams We May Overlook



Discussions about plagiarism and scam detection has been a lot more prevalent lately, and while I have already discovered the wonders of a tool like Grammarly, it is interesting how people have tried to bend and circumvent the rules in exchange for copying off someone else's work. In the era of social networking (you can refer to my post about the Twitter scam here), it is relatively easy to use someone else's thoughts and ideas and use them as your own. While we are becoming a lot smarter about our choices and action plans in detecting scam, there is a hidden plagiarism trick that a lot of us may not quite recognize. This is what you call plagiarism with the use of various mediums and content!

On the surface, it may seem like no big deal. When you watch your favorite TV show and decide to use a couple of quotes on your research paper, would it count as plagiarism? If you are in the field of science and technology and you come across an experiment that could help strengthen your analysis, will this be heralded as a scam? While the lines of plagiarism here are still not too clear, it is always best to stay on the conservative side rather than risk being accused of scam much later. Although these types of scams are much more difficult to detect, you can always call out anyone who may have stolen content that is not theirs to begin with.

We already know that the Facebook and Twitter era has allowed a huge majority of us to just post, share and upload anything that we want. If you know of someone or have been a victim of plagiarism, do not waste time in reporting it! Sadly, there are just too many writers and creative geniuses who rested on their laurels instead of taking this seriously. A lot of us spend a huge amount of time and effort in making sure that we communicate to a larger audience, and when this is abused, the only way that we can truly help others is when we make a stand and decide to put a stop to it once and for all.