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Old 2017-07-11, 6:17am
pswrd pswrd is offline
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Join Date: Jun 16, 2016
Posts: 18
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Theft of tangible things is black and white almost all of the time. Plagiarism and theft of IP is the opposite but it inflicts the same degrees of harm. Most of the time, it is so grey and difficult even to persuade the one doing it that it has happened let alone prove it. It is painful and have ruined entire businesses and livelihoods (and will probably continue to do so). IP problems are just muddy.

I am at least as susceptible to being judgemental and blinkered as any other person, probably more so. I see the issues in this thread, and I do not need to be above them to point them out, and by pointing them out, there is no suggestion or claim that I am above it all. When it comes to anything to do with morality, I have to constantly remind myself that there is no absolute or worldwide standard. My adding to the thread here? I am not hinting at problems with any unnamed members. I have been pretty direct and have quite narrowly identified the issue with this thread. I hope there is no anger conveyed in my posts or worse hints of condemnation in their tone. The fact remains that mob justice in a forum is not healthy whether I post about it or not.

Good intentions too often turn out to hurt others. In this case, not "outing" has already ended up leading us to falsely suspect several members. How many of us had waded through the tutorial threads trying to figure it out and ended up wondering, is that the one, or may be this, or both. Worse still there is no way for anyone to defend their case. Anyone can just point fingers vaguely in a certain direction without ever risking anything, but for those who got dragged into the falsely accused hole without even knowing it.... For a newbie, whom is safe to buy from? Have I just done the wrong thing? Avoidance of "outing" is overall a much worse thing to do.

It would have been far more effective to post a genuinely friendly message in the thread of the offending tutorial. Openness is important in discussion boards, it is not outing someone. At least both sides can be heard. The faceless nature of forums makes it more prone to create mob justice and allow it to escalate without restrain.

Selfishly speaking, all this completely soured the atmosphere of this board for me. I spent too much time looking for a way to delete my registration because of this, and would have done so if I had found it. I had the prior benefit of having seen the friendly and generous nature (the real side) of this board. For a first time visitor, I can't imagine coming to the tutorial section and reading this as the first thread, and how I would feel about becoming part of it.

Plagiarism will always exist and it will always be grey most of the time. A newbie went to a beginners fusing class, had an idea she wanted to implement. She asked the instructor who helped her to make it but it was not too successful. A month later, the exact design was in a gallery for sale in town, and this is now taught as a special lesson, without acknowledgement. When asked the instructor insisted that since the beginner did not have the skills to make it, there was no plagiarism and the other students agreed. Besides, who would have believed a beginner anyway against a known name. The newbie felt violated but had to just accept that there was no way she could have made that piece right then. Is there an absolute right or wrong side here?

I have plenty of far worse and life destroying examples. Lawyers can paint every case in black and white perhaps because they have to, but IP is never that.

Last edited by pswrd; 2017-07-11 at 8:42am.