Originally posted by: madmaxine
The first option is workable, but, as you said, expensive. the second is incredibly hard. It means you have to keep a keen eye out for people copying stuff. And they post it on other platforms too..that makes it almost impossible to keep track, unless you have someone dedicated to the task. But no harm in publicizing the rules etc. Only thing is..there is no 'real' punishment on an online forum such as this. Create a new ID and you are good to go. Unless they pretty much block that IP address...and even that can be worked around. Sigh.
I agree that the solutions penalize the writers more. Kya karein? Kalyug hai. It's pretty much dog-eat-dog out there.
But thanks for the input.
Yes, I agree that on an online forum there are always ways to work around such punishments. But if you make life difficult for them, then the cost of working around such barriers and then producing the written material becomes higher and the net gain from all these activities are lowered. You are hence effectively bringing down the incentives for resorting to such activities. It could have a fall in the tendencies towards plagiarism, even if it does not put a complete stop to it.
Also, as Tangam said, maybe asking the mods what kind of time, infrastructure and possible methods they have to deal with this problem in the discussion is probably a good idea.
Apologies, if I am butting in too much. But being from academia myself, I know how disheartening it can get when one's brain-work gets plagiarized.
P.S. - all said and done, the writer's will have to bear the main onus of protecting their work themselves. It is Kalyug. You have to watch your own back.
Edited by wesha - 13 years ago
