The Great Driving Challenge : Great

The thin line
Posted by TGDC on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 on 08/12 at 04:46 PM	(18) Comments • Read more

A passionate fan following TGDC brought an incidence of plagiarism to my notice today. If you are not familiar with plagiarism, please visit this link here

It is often difficult to draw a line between original content and ‘inspired’ content. Thanks to sophisticated software tools and the power of persistence of human memory, it is relatively easy (now) to sniff out “blog posts” which do not contain original text. Yes - we know it is lot of pressure on contestants to drive and blog and tweet etc - but in case you cant do it, just chill. Be yourself and do not worry about the stupid rules. You know TGDC Jury loves to follow their heart, and the last thing they would like to hear is that a post is “cut & pasted’.

TGDC Fans - this is not such a big deal. Trust me, we all hunt for cool stuff on the net. However it makes sense to acknowledge the source, or link the original source of information to a post.

Hmm Ya even I’m also agree with the TGDC guys… It’s also take a great effort to find a great post and then mold it in your words. I’m atleast we should appreciate their efforts that they’re thinking about the followers. Trying to get us engaged.. I don’t find any harm in plagiarism until it’s a great post..it also takes time and affort to find, read and the mold a good post.

But you I also don’t encourage a total copy paste thing.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/12 at 05:56 PM

Was it really?

I could never imagine someone could do it at this phase!! Nothing to achieve and everything to lose.

I am truly sad for anyone who might have done this.
TGDC, are you gonna publish a disclaimer along with such posts? “Read the full story at ...” :o)

Just kidding!

Posted by ram on 08/12 at 06:07 PM

Ideas or theme can be adopted to suit ones requirements….but not the exact reproduction !! ....unless you are quoting some one !.......

If you are taking lightly ! and if it is not a serious offense - then please send this theme to 007 for the new movie !!...
we can remake - Andaaj apnaa apnaa or Blogger No 1 and many more ....

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/12 at 06:14 PM

I am glad to note, that the post (brought to my attention) has now been corrected and source acknowledged.

Posted by Sandip on 08/13 at 01:14 AM

Plagiarism certainly has to be curtailed.

There was an interesting comment that was posted by a friend on facebook:

“When a dog barks at you, if you run the dog will chase you BUT if a dog barks at you, and you bend down to pick up a stone, irrespective whether stone is available or not, you will find the dog running.”

Of-course, he was talking of Government officials… but this will work for almost everyone in every situation.

So plagiarists beware!

Posted by Arvind Passey on 08/13 at 02:57 AM

Plagiarism, in a sense cant be avoided now a days in era of information and technology because of shear number of articles.

But if its unintentional and slightly modified, it will not cause harm.

As Sandip rightly said, its been accepted as a mistake and acknowledged, so no harm done :D.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/13 at 05:43 AM

> Plagiarism, in a sense cant be avoided now a days ... because of shear number of articles.

I’d like to differ.

When a writer takes stuff that others have written and passes it off as her own, that’s plagiarism. The number of articles there are out there is immaterial.

Think of it like this. Suppose someone said: “Burglary in a sense cant be avoided now a days in era of growing economy because of shear number of rich people.”

What would we say?

cheers,
dilip.

Posted by Dilip D'Souza on 08/13 at 06:23 AM

Goes to show that TGDC is watching the participants. And how!

Play smart. But don’t over do it.

Posted by Aadil Bandukwala on 08/13 at 06:24 AM

I am still wondering which post was that but I am happy to know who ever did this, has corrected the post and acknowledged the original writeup.

Posted by ram on 08/13 at 08:13 AM

As opposed to most opinions here I say honesty still remains the best policy, We can do with less posts but give us the original stuff, I’m sure the top three are not competing to prove who can find better sites on the net to copy from but to experience things and share their experiences with us.

I’d say keep up the beauty of originality anything copied makes everything original coming along also look like morphed work.

If you really want to share something with us post links a million of them we are patient & honest followers. We promise we’d read them all.

Posted by Jasleen on 08/13 at 08:16 AM

Hi TGDC team!

This comment has nothing to do with this blog entry on plagiarism.

Just wanted to compliment you for the simply fab authentication codes. See these examples:
interest69
using63
result89
simple69

...and for this entry, the code is:
plan62

These codes are the ones I read even before I begin writing my comments… and they take me on a different plane of imagination.

Thanks to the guy/s who have thought up these codes.

Posted by Sangita Passey on 08/13 at 08:30 AM

A question to for Team TGDC unrelated to this post. The winner on this challenge will be announced on 17th or 18th. Right now the ticker on the main page says 4 days 22 hours which makes it 4 o’clock on 18th August. Is that correct?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/13 at 11:22 AM

It’s real ironic when non-writers talk of plagiarism as being ok, as long as they modify it a bit and blahh..blah! So typical and that’s exactly what BOLLYWOOD does too. It’s not that we have a dearth of creativity or talent, it’s just easier to WHACK someone else’s stuff and then “modify” it to our convenience..

what about teams being planted and speaking about weird, I am totally bamboozled (...) they must know a lot about plagiarism, and cedia.. i think it’s time to re-think and call it fair.! the Guys inside and around 200+ followers all know what I’m talking about.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/13 at 04:38 PM

hey Sangita that’s so true,
I often read them as omens, when I’m commenting on a post or a participants blog…....
I read these codes as the fortune cookies…
surprisingly they even work.

Posted by Jasleen on 08/13 at 05:04 PM

Far as I can see it was research not plagiarism! You find out facts do research qoute numbers and statistics and build authenticity into the article that you’re writing.

Acknowledging the source of your research is a nicety which may or may not happen when you’re googling the fact sheets….. anyways I agree with Sandip it was not really a big deal…. and thanks to vigilantism there is an acknowledgment in the article now….

Posted by Imtiaz on 08/14 at 05:56 AM

Sandip, whens the next blog post from TGDC coming?

Been waiting waiting waitng…

Posted by Aadil Bandukwala on 08/14 at 06:12 AM

> it was research not plagiarism!

I suspect this is a losing battle.

Let me try one more time, with a final analogy.

Let’s say someone visits you in your house and takes a gold necklace. (Without your knowledge, of course). Six months later, you visit their house and find the necklace there. You confront the person, asking why they stole your necklace. The person says: “It was borrowing not stealing!”

Would you be satisfied with this explanation?

If not, please try thinking of plagiarism the same way.

all good wishes,
dilip.

Posted by Dilip D'Souza on 08/15 at 05:36 AM

The Thin line just got wider!!

With certain posts, I really wonder why a particular team, can’t seem to think of anything original. I agree, take ideas. At least be decent enough NOT to pick up ideas straight from the other competitors. Do they think people will appreciate it? Highly unlikely, as far as I am concerned!!

So far, the competition has been fun, really. There have been numerous instances where the posts have had a greater impact on our psyche than expected. The bar of the posts, the stories, the images, etc. has been raised to greater levels than what was expected at the outset of the journey. But surely, things like these have really put a damper on the party!

Today, viewing pictures put up on a blog by one of the Teams proved to me that they have clearly run out of ideas!! They have gone to the extent of taking a photograph identical to the one posted by another team ages ago! Why would you do that? Be fair, at least to yourself and play fair!

I am really saddened by the turn of events and am sure that a lot of the fans would agree that my sadness and anger are justified.

Be original guys, thats all i want to say!

Gaurav

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/16 at 07:05 AM

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