As I hope I was pointing out, I found their rules to be a little nitpicky, but I do think they have a right to set standards. It's actually the easiest way out, where attribution is minimal and permission non-existent, so it's hard to find fault with the reasoning. Where my issue with them comes is denying @lynncole1 outright. The conversation should have been, "Hey, our rules are little bit more strict and so would you be willing to source like this?" And then she could have said, Okay," or she could have said, "No, too much trouble," and walked away of her own accord.
As you say, there's more to it but streamlining things within safe parameters as a private entity—I would hope there would be some room for that. :)
I agree, particularly with how the conversation went with @lynncole1. I was also rejected out of hand, for the offense of republishing parts of my own writing, from my own website which I own. I pay dearly for it too, I might add. I did not even know what a cheetah bot was at the time. My worry is that groups like this, though obviously well intentioned, will become too powerful and begin to censor just like Facebook and Youtube is now doing. It would appear (from what I have read of your own writings) that there is a little unethical activity on Steemit. I don't know the answer to that issue, but I know that you certainly don't want to penalize people that are trying to do the right thing. No offense to you. I enjoy your work by the way...Best!
Oh, I would say, based on my own addressing of certain subjects, that there's all kinds of things that could and really should be considered unethical. :) And I've seen the cheetah bot get carried away with what it's determining to be original content, too.
There are people here (because I've read their comments or posts) that would rather others not use even their own content if it's been posted somewhere else. I don't personally subscribe to that because I think you should be able to post anything that's yours. That's the actual definition of original content, not original to Steemit.
So far, everything I've put up has been unpublished elsewhere, but at some point I will be wanting to post some things I previously wrote on Facebook.
If cheetah or other plagiarism bots can't differentiate—especially when you go out of your way to state, "Hey, this is something I wrote on my blog five years go," in the body of the post, then it flat out needs to be reprogrammed to be able to pick up those finer points.
You shouldn't have to prove if it's original content. They should have to prove it's not. And then, the originality needs to stay with the user, not whether or not it was published somewhere else before Steemit.
"That's the actual definition of original content, not original to Steemit."
Thank You, and good points all.
For my part, I am about out of older material. So it's a brave new world now.
I have high hopes for Steemit, and I hope that it stays that way...
Best!