Hi @ura-soul, I've flagged this account on numerous occasions over the last few months because I do not personally believe that someone strictly copy and pasting from a single source (whether it is an aggregate site or not), using the websites name and logo should be profiting off the hard work of the original authors.
@steemcleaners has been consistently warning this account about the abuse more recently and they have reached out to the actual zerohedge.com website who do not consent to their content being lifted and monetized on the platform.
I think this makes it crystal clear that this is blatant plagiarism and reward pool abuse.
Thanks for that, it clarifies the situation greatly. We only need to see the copyright comment at the bottom of the site and their use of amazon adverts to realise that they are likely to have an issue with this. That said, it appears they haven't bothered to actually open an account and post here themselves.
(btw, I think you accidentally added the word 'not' into your comment? 'I do not personally believe that someone strictly copy and pasting from a single source (whether it is an aggregate site or not), using the websites name and logo should not be profiting off the hard work of the original authors').
Yes, thanks for the correction.
The arguments made by the account holder in our interactions were less than convincing.
Sourcing an article does not make it ok to copy the entire piece, while adding nothing of your own commentary or analysis. Using the name and logo muddies the waters even with a disclaimer as it may give the impression to some that the original site is aware or encourages this activity.
I agree, yes. One part of me dislikes copyright entirely as we need free flow of information - however, the copyright rules do go some way to actually allowing for free flow of information while prohibiting direct copying in totality. Ultimately though, if the original authors take no action then there's no actual issue with it 'legally' afaik.. The issue then just comes down to whether this community would reward so highly if they were fully conscious of the details of the situation, I think they wouldn't.. but obviously some have not problem with it all.
Yes, I'm also all for the free flow of information as well and people borrow, share and build on concepts and ideas from others all the time...that's progress.
I think the original authors would take issue with someone else profiting off their work, but i believe they're not even aware that this is occurring. I think that as more and more people begin to take steemit seriously we could see more situations like this coming to the surface.
Oh, I thought that the steemcleaner comment maybe meant that the authors are aware, but maybe the site operator never mentioned it to the authors.. I don't know. Considering the author has named himself after an anarchist who blew up skyscrapers in a kind of 'system busting' way, it might be a bit hypocritical to try to use the system's rules to control the words - but I'm just speculating really.
This is a new message from steemcleaners (maybe a week old?) so this suggests that the website has been informed and has responded, I have no idea about each of the original authors.
I guess I can see your point about the Tyler Durdan avatar but from my perspective it's more to do with a way to protect the identities of the authors and less to do with identifying with the ethos of a fictional character. But I'm also just speculating here.