[WikiEN-l] Re: Plagiarism Policy, was A Missing Policy

Wed Jul 20 21:12:14 UTC 2005

I don't think you have this right. Both CITE and plagiarism refers to  
facts or assertions. If the language is identical or nearly so there  
may also be a copyright violation. To use facts from any source  
without citing the source is plagiarism. Since Wikipedia requires  
that all information used be drawn from a reputable source any  
information included in Wikipedia for which no source is cited either  
technically violates the requirement that it be from a reputable  
source or that its source be cited. Of course, citing the source for  
common information makes no sense and is an exception.

Fred

On Jul 20, 2005, at 1:38 PM, Geoff Burling wrote:

> Well, I beg to differ. As I pointed out in another email, adding
> plagiarised content to Wikipedia can be understood as taking written
> material someone owns & releases it under the GFDL or Creative Commons
> without first consulting the author or owner.
>
> Now plagiarism is a very specific situation that is related to CITE,
> but I do not feel is identical to it. CITE refers to the facts or
> assertions in an article; plagiarism refers to the language. And if
> one editor reuses text in a Wikipedia article that is similar enough
> to its unattributed source that a Google search can reasonably  
> identify
> it, then the question of a copyright infringement ensues.
>
> And although the usual defence against a copyright infringement is to
> invoke "fair use", because no one recognizes plagiarism as fair use
> it therefore should be treated as a copyright violation -- unless the
> editor responsible properly adds cites/references either at the time
> of the edit -- or in a reasonably short period afterwards.
>
> In short, plagiarism should be treated as a copyright violation, &
> should be explicitly covered in our policies under copyright. Does
> this seem reasonable to everyone?
>
> ***NOTE***: I will interpret silence as consent, & if no one objects,
> submit this as a proposed Wikipedia Policy.
>
> Geoff