Groundspeak Portal

Just received a note from an active waymarker who notice that a waymark I had recently approved in a new category, was actually one he had posted previously to two other categories, but had been submitted to this new category by someone else.  The photo and coords were indeed identical.

I immediately archived the waymark and contacted the person who had submitted it.  I tried to keep it cordial, but it was hard.  I did let the word "plagiarize" slip out, to which this person took exception. The explanation was on the order of he was just having fun and didn't realize there was anything wrong with it; thought others were doing it; apologized. 

With remarkable restraint, I took this at face value.  I won't mention what I contemplated . . .   Anyway, I thought I'd post this here in order to ask a couple of questions.  I told him I would.

Has anyone else run across this?  If so, how did you deal with it?
Do you think this practice is acceptable?
Do we need a universal guideline for Waymarking.com that specifies that all waymarks must be original?

Interested to see what the collective conscience is on this issue!

silverquill:

Has anyone else run across this?  If so, how did you deal with it?
Do you think this practice is acceptable?
Do we need a universal guideline for Waymarking.com that specifies that all waymarks must be original?

Interested to see what the collective conscience is on this issue!

That's so lame!  I'm glad that someone caught it. 

I've never run across something like this, but I find it completely unacceptable.   I can't believe the person then had the balls to say they didn't realize anything was wrong with it.

I really don't think there needs to be a universal guideline for this.  Most categories are very explicit that a person must take their own photos and gather their own coordinates.  And it's common knowledge that you don't copy someone's work - not without permission and then giving credit.  People like this will copy whether there are guidelines listed or not.  Let them know that if you catch them doing it again you will ban them from the category. 

Man, the forums are just putting me in a foul mood tonight.

Some of the locations that I have waymarked I have intentionally left an additional category or two for others to waymark under.  My expectation is that another marker would come and copy my information to create that cross posting.  Original photos and information is key.  It will get harder and harder as the game and number of waymarks expands.  The occassional reminder in a category description might help. 

Not much else to add here but....

 

I've never run across this, but I have wondered if it has ever happened to others.  I guess that answers my question.  I have to think this is an isolated incident right now though.

I think it's completely unacceptable.  Like WildWoodKe said, I have left some Waymarks out of certain categories, and in some cases, I may have some that will fit into other categories that I'm not aware of.  If someone comes along, takes their OWN pictures, coordinates, writes up their own description, and tosses it into another category then that's great.  But copying and pasting someone else's work IS plagiarism, and wrong.

I'm not sure that there needs to be a guideline against it, since I think for most, it's a common thought that you have to do your own work to get credit.  Looking forward though, I wonder if it would cause problems if someone does that and uses the defense that "it's not in the guidelines...leave me alone, go away."

 Unbelievable! I have seen several that were lifted from some other web site word for word and photo for photo but never one that was from another waymark.

Recently I denied a listing because the photos and info was identical to that found on another web page.

When it was resubmitted the poster indicated that the photos on the other site were his as well and provided another original photo to corroborate the claim. I approved it without further question after that. It pays in the long run to be cordial just in case there are circumstances that we do not understand but his one takes the cake for sure.

hikenutty:

silverquill:

Has anyone else run across this?  If so, how did you deal with it?
Do you think this practice is acceptable?
Do we need a universal guideline for Waymarking.com that specifies that all waymarks must be original?

Interested to see what the collective conscience is on this issue!

That's so lame!  I'm glad that someone caught it. 

I've never run across something like this, but I find it completely unacceptable.   I can't believe the person then had the balls to say they didn't realize anything was wrong with it.

I really don't think there needs to be a universal guideline for this.  Most categories are very explicit that a person must take their own photos and gather their own coordinates.  And it's common knowledge that you don't copy someone's work - not without permission and then giving credit.  People like this will copy whether there are guidelines listed or not.  Let them know that if you catch them doing it again you will ban them from the category. 

Man, the forums are just putting me in a foul mood tonight.

I too was contacted on this same waymark.  As leader of the category in question I have updated it to require an original photo with any submissions.  The waymark in question had already been archived by the time I was notified.  Thank you Silverquill for dealing with the offender.

Can someone clarify why there's so much indignation over this but then there are threads like this where waymarking fraud is not considered a big deal?

If someone wants to commit "waymark fraud", what do they win by cheating?  ...and who loses?  This is just a game in the simplest sense; an amusement or pastime  Nobody is winning. Nobody is losing.

I personally disagree with this issue because of the plagiarism aspect of it.  Passing someone else’s text and pictures off as one's own is wrong, and in cases of copyrights could be illegal if the offender doesn't get permission from the owner of the pics/text, and the owner of these decided to pursue the issue.

 

The post that you quoted was in regards to people faking visits on Waymarks.  If someone wants to go though and post visits on my Waymarks just to up their visit count, that's their issue.  By doing that they're not stealing other's intellectual or artistic properties, or otherwise hurting (for lack of a better word) anyone else.

Edit:  If someone fakes a visit by using a pic from the internet, or another Waymarkers photo or whatever, then that runs into the same issue that this thread brings up....at least in my opinion.  I was talking only about someone who might log a visit and not include any picture, in the paragraph above.

thot:

Can someone clarify why there's so much indignation over this but then there are threads like this where waymarking fraud is not considered a big deal?

If someone wants to commit "waymark fraud", what do they win by cheating?  ...and who loses?  This is just a game in the simplest sense; an amusement or pastime  Nobody is winning. Nobody is losing.

My comment was made in another context (logging finds).  I think that thievery of someone else's work (or is it play?) is a completely different issue.

So the issue is plagiarism, not cheating?  If the person had submitted the same location with a different write up and without the pictures would it have been alright?

thot:

So the issue is plagiarism, not cheating?  If the person had submitted the same location with a different write up and without the pictures would it have been alright?

It would depend on the category requirements. If they could make a submission and meet all the requirements then yes.

Plagiarism and the lifting of another's photos was the issue here in the creation of these particular waymarks it seems.

Anyone can create a waymark for a particular category if it hasn't been submitted before to that category. I have one I  submitted recently that was a botanical garden. I visited it because it was listed as a state park in the State Park category. It wasn't yet listed as a botanical garden so it was up for grabs. What wasn't up for grabs was teh text and photos that the prvious waymarker took for their listing.

 If I have a waymark listed at XYZ Bridge under the truss bridge category and someone else comes along and lists it in the U.S. Historical Register category that is just fine...until he uses my description and my photos for the waymark listing. The same goes for listings that lift text from other web sites word for word.  At least give a credit line and a link if you are going to use them .

I once thought it would be okay to put up a picture from another site, as long as I cited my source. I was corrected. I don't intensionally break the rules, just sometimes I don't read carefully.

There are a couple of categories that require a picture thats not your own, the postcard one, and the old picture new picture one. That is a case where you are using someone elses and citing your source.

One waymark, I was already home before I found my picture wasn't acceptable. I emailed someone who had posted on GC.com, and asked permission to use their picture.