Is plagiarism forbidden or is it not that bad? When I look around me and also in history, it all seems to be very normal. Published books, paintings, all kinds of things are copied and it is even advised to the average artist to first copy something existing before his own input is allowed. Anyone who can copy paintings well can be a good restorer and such people are scarce. And what about hackers? Anyone who cracks the bank vault is killed unless he is needed to test the new vault. The thief is asked to check whether something is burglar-proof and old stories and fairy tales are given a new look. Even if it is not very original, it is considered very normal worldwide. Walt Disney is a good example of stealing other people's stories (it is no longer stealing if the story has expired, which in the case of paintings is called public domain).
What is plagiarism? Is it okay to mention the source of a piece of text that you use or is it still theft if it is explicitly stated in the book that this is not allowed unless you have written permission from the author?
There are a thousand and one rules just like for the photos that are free to use. Do I have to mention the source if it is explicitly stated on the site that this is NOT necessary? And what if I use a photo that is copyright-free and I earn a lot of money with it, am I then obliged to pay the photographer a percentage?
Now that I think about it, why is it called spam if I copy myself?
18.4.25
The title is the prompt and provided by @daily.prompt
I've an acedemic background so from that perspective plagerism is bad becuase it means you are both not giving credit where it is due, but also making it so people can look at you're sources. In academic works the point of citing a work is to go "And this is where these facts I'm claiming are from." This can both help other people doing similar research as well as make it so people can check to make sure you aren't making stuff up.
Small quotes are also covered by fair use laws. So taking a few lines, and properly giving credit, is legally allowed. It's also how satire musicans such as Weird Al, can do their thing.
Plagiarism is also when you pass off something as your own. In the case of written work, that's theft. Disney's snow white etc, is not claiming they invented the story of Snow White, they're simply making a version of it. However, since the tale is old, they no longer need to say "inspired by". This is quite different from say, Rings of Power which Amazon had to pay a lot of money to be able to make and also has a based on as part of it's intro.
As to the origin of the term spam, it's this sketch by Monty Python.
And that got long. Hope you enjoyed it!