Important Note on Copyright and Plagiarism

- Lastfmsupport said...
- Staff
- 29 Oct 2011, 11:37
Important Note on Copyright and Plagiarism

It seems this wasn't apparent, so we're going to have to spell it out:

PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLES FROM OTHER SOURCES

We can ask the web-team to repost this in blinking text if there is still doubt about this.

For those that need clarification:

It is NOT OK to take articles from the web and repost them in their entirety (including linking their images, which is bandwidth theft). A short excerpt (a couple of lines) followed by a link to the full article is fine. Pasting more than 20% of the article isn't.

The purpose of this forum was to promote discussion in the community, not serve as a backup copy of BBC News. What matters isn't the article itself, but your personal take on it -- so if you're going to start a new thread AT THE VERY LEAST make the effort to comment on the thing you're posting about.

So far, all we can see is 2-3 guys reposting whole articles from a variety of online sources, none of which seem relevant or interesting to the community at large, as evidenced by the stark lack of comments. So far the one thread we've found that had a discussion, actually turned out to be a flame war. >_>

Please understand that our community guidelines (http://www.last.fm/help/guidelines) apply to this forum as well. Threads that infringe other people's copyrights risk deletion, and if this behaviour continues, we will be forced to shut down this forum (in fact, it looks like we're going to have to anyway, as the comment to thread ratio is too low to make moderation worth our while).

Thanks for understanding.

www.last.fm/help/support

[quote][b][user]Lastfmsupport[/user][/b] said: It seems this wasn't apparent, so we're going to have to spell it out: [color=red][b]PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE ENTIRE NEWS ARTICLES FROM OTHER SOURCES[/b][/color] We can ask the web-team to repost this in blinking text if there is still doubt about this. For those that need clarification: It is NOT OK to take articles from the web and repost them in their entirety (including linking their images, which is bandwidth theft). A short excerpt (a couple of lines) followed by a link to the full article is fine. Pasting more than 20% of the article isn't. The purpose of this forum was to promote discussion in the community, not serve as a backup copy of BBC News. What matters isn't the article itself, but your personal take on it -- so if you're going to start a new thread AT THE VERY LEAST make the effort to comment on the thing you're posting about. So far, all we can see is 2-3 guys reposting whole articles from a variety of online sources, none of which seem relevant or interesting to the community at large, as evidenced by the stark lack of comments. So far the one thread we've found that had a discussion, actually turned out to be a flame war. >_> Please understand that our community guidelines (http://www.last.fm/help/guidelines) apply to this forum as well. Threads that infringe other people's copyrights risk deletion, and if this behaviour continues, we will be forced to shut down this forum (in fact, it looks like we're going to have to anyway, as the comment to thread ratio is too low to make moderation worth our while). Thanks for understanding. [/quote]
Edited by Maddieman on 29 Oct 2011, 23:39

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- Lastfmsupport said...
- Staff
- 4 Nov 2011, 13:38
A few additional points:

Images - Do not upload or post anything which you do not own or are fully licensed to upload. The overall guidelines on image uploading apply to the forums as well as artist pages. Furthermore, it's not ok to just download an image and then rehost it on an external site.

Articles - Should not be longer than a couple of short paragraphs, or 20% of the article (which ever is shorter). Please use quotes [quote ] [/quote ] to wrap excepts from articles, so it's crystal clear which text has been quoted from another source. Always link to the source article quoted.

Use common sense - If you have to stop and think "Should I actually post this?" The answer is almost certainly 'No you should not'. Nevertheless, if you're in any doubt about what is and isn't allowed on the site, feel free to ask a forum moderator for clarification before you post it.

Thanks.

www.last.fm/help/support

[quote][b][user]Lastfmsupport[/user][/b] said: A few additional points: [b]Images[/b] - Do not upload or post anything which you do not own or are fully licensed to upload. The overall guidelines on image uploading apply to the forums as well as artist pages. Furthermore, it's not ok to just download an image and then rehost it on an external site. [b]Articles[/b] - Should not be longer than a couple of short paragraphs, or 20% of the article (which ever is shorter). Please use quotes [quote ] [/quote ] to wrap excepts from articles, so it's crystal clear which text has been quoted from another source. Always link to the source article quoted. [b]Use common sense[/b] - If you have to stop and think "Should I actually post this?" The answer is almost certainly 'No you should not'. Nevertheless, if you're in any doubt about what is and isn't allowed on the site, feel free to ask a forum moderator for clarification [b]before you post it.[/b] Thanks.[/quote]

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