I would like Feedback on my article: Mystery of Jacque St. Germain

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   Kaydee Jonesposted 6 years ago

   I just published my first hub. I could really use some feedback on how to improve what I have.
   Thanks.
   
   https://hubpages.com/religion-philosoph … St-Germain

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      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Hi there,
      
      Looks like you copied most of it from here: http://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplai … ain-009019
      
      Plagiarism is not permitted. Changing a few words doesn't count, it's still stealing someone else's work and passing it off as your own.
      
      Giving you the benefit of the doubt, if you wrote the article referenced, then you can't republish it here as HubPages requires new and original content.
      
      Speaking as one who has had a lot of my work stolen, I'm sure you can understand how many of us view this practice.

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         Ivan Hernandezposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         What if she writes several concise subtitles and writes original content, not to mention high-quality articles?

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            theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            She still can't use someone else's writing, apart from one or two sentences as a properly attributed quote.
            
            The writer whose work has been copied has published a book and runs a small store in New Orleans. I doubt very much she would be happy about it.

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      Ivan Hernandezposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Don't worry. I have plagiarized a site in my Isabela Moner hub. I removed the copied text once Hubpages saw what was happening. As theraggededge said, you can't copy a book or another article. That's cheating.

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   Kaydee Jonesposted 6 years ago

   Its unpublished now. No need to be rude considering that I have never done this before.
   
   Thanks.

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      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Rude?
      
      To be fair, your bio says you 'have been a freelance writer for many years'.  As an experienced writer, one would think that you had more sense than to plagiarise. Using your 'newbie' status as an excuse doesn't wash, I'm afraid.
      
      No doubt the writer whose work you appropriated would consider it quite rude.
      
      @Bill -- the whole article was taken off another website, it's not a case of 'accidental similarities'. And one should never 'grab an image from another source' without checking it has a CC or PD license.

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         DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah, that argument works in court too.
         "Back off, dont be so rude to me. I have never robbed a bank before!"

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         Bills Placeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         @theraggededge - Not sure why you felt the need to reference me in your response? I only provided suggestions to avoid plagiarism.
         
         We're a community here that is suppose to help others. Even if they made a mistake (intentionally or not), we should be pointing this out (as you did), and provide advice on avoiding this in the future (as I did).
         
         Personally, I try to use Pixabay for my images. However, there are situations when using an image from another site is the only proper fit. Of course, checking for a Creative Commons (CC) or Public Domain (PD) license is always a good idea, I doubt everyone here double checks this.
         
         An easy way to avoid getting a DMCA takedown notice for using an image from a website, is simply contacting the website owner, admin or support channels and ask permission for using the image in your article.
         
         @DrMark1961 - It's 2018, you probably could win a court argument these days by saying 'don't be so rude'. Claim the 'rudeness gave me PTSD' or something, and have a counter-lawsuit too.

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            theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            The reason I added the reply to you was because it appeared, from your suggestions, that you thought that the OP had accidentally reproduced a similar story to someone else.
            
            It's not like the OP (who has either left or been banned) doesn't understand English or anything like that. On her bio she said that writing is what fuels her passion and that she's been a freelancer for years. That makes it worse.
            
            Your suggestions are fine, although I have to say that I've never felt the need to check my own writing for accidental plagiarism.

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               Bills Placeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               I run a content writing company, so scanning is just out of habit as we deliver scan results with all of our deliveries.

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   Bills Placeposted 6 years ago

   Suggestions:
   
   Good tip, always run articles through Copyscape or related scan program prior to publishing, just to be on the safe side. - This helps reduce the chance of search engines and HubPages penalizing for plagiarism.
   
   When writing an article (hub) based on research, collect information from multiple sources, not a single source. - This lowers the chance of accidental plagiarism.
   
   Images - When grabbing images from another source, remember to provide the source (option available under where you upload the image).

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   FatFreddysCatposted 6 years ago

   aaaaaaand the O.P. is gone!!

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      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Good. I bloody detest plagiarists You might have noticed.

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         FatFreddysCatposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I never would've guessed.

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      Bills Placeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Not sure if the person just left or got banned, but either way I am slightly disappointed in the reactions they received when asking how they could have improved.
      
      My reasoning: Bio aside, the OP had removed their hub right away, so given time they may have tried harder in the future.

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         DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I cannot even pretend to be disappointed. My account page is covered with those little red circles (copied articles) from lazy people like the OP. If she wanted to write something in her own words on the subject she could have done so without copying.
         
         You might take a look at the helpful suggestion she received when she posted this thread:
         Giving you the benefit of the doubt, if you wrote the article referenced, then you can't republish it here as HubPages requires new and original content.

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            Bills Placeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I believe it was after receiving that comment, the OP had removed the hub. It's just my opinion if it was purposely done, they wouldn't have cared about taking it down right away.

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               theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               No, she didn't take it down. It was live for hours.
               
               Edit: She took it down because she knew she had to.

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                  Bills Placeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  It may be due to being 'caught', or because of being 'informed', who knows.
                  
                  If my math is correct, and she's located in the United States, 20 hours ago would have been around 8-9pm depending on the time zone? Isn't it possible "it was live for hours", because she wasn't on HubPages?
                  
                  Unless her vampire based article was a self-representation, she might have been sleeping. lol
                  
                  Anyways, they're clearly gone so I'm done in this thread. Happy hubbing!

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         theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         You're disappointed because she got called out for copyright theft? Because she had the nerve to ask how to improve someone else's writing?
         
         I'm disappointed that you are disappointed.
         
         

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            Bills Placeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            In today's society, it just seems calling someone out has become more common than helping someone take the correct approach.

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