Copy and pasting posts?

[jamescfm]

Earlier tonight, I noticed something unusual. When searching for a particular post on the forum, I observed that there appeared to be a series of extremely similar posts in several national news threads. Quickly it became clear that all of these posts were published by the same player: imperialpearl. Over a period of approximately two years, it seemed that imperialpearl had published the same post about fibre optic broadband in five different countries (Hutori, Keymon, Rutania, Saridan and Tropica). Here is the opening line from each of those five posts to illustrate the issue.

Keymon

With the government expressing its continued commitment to the national digital transformation drive, the launch of the National Fibre Optics Policy strengthens its commitment to forcing the transformation of society through digital infrastructure instead of waiting for the private sector to sponsor innovation.

Hutori

With the government expressing its continued commitment to national economic development, the launch of the National Fibre Optic Policy strengthens its commitment to forcing the transformation of society through digital infrastructure instead of waiting for the private sector to sponsor innovation.

Rutania

With the government expressing its continued commitment to national economic development, the launch of the National Fibre Optic Policy strengthens its commitment to forcing the transformation of society through digital infrastructure instead of waiting for the private sector to sponsor innovation.

Saridan

With the government expressing its continued commitment to national economic development, the launch of the National Fibre Optic Policy strengthens its commitment to forcing the transformation of society through digital infrastructure instead of waiting for the private sector to sponsor innovation.

Troprica

With the government expressing its continued commitment to national economic development, the launch of the National Fibre Optic Policy strengthens its commitment to forcing the transformation of society through digital infrastructure instead of waiting for the private sector to sponsor innovation.

Here are seven examples of posts that have been duplicated in various countries with only minor changes. In each of these cases, the posts are substantively identical. The formatting and images might be different but frequently the sentence structure is identical.

BROADBAND

viewtopic.php?p=179676#p179676
viewtopic.php?p=178921#p178921
viewtopic.php?p=176758#p176758
viewtopic.php?p=175862#p175862
viewtopic.php?p=168197#p168197

APPRENTICESHIP

viewtopic.php?p=174701#p174701
viewtopic.php?p=169036#p169036

EDUCATION

viewtopic.php?p=176909#p176909
viewtopic.php?p=179620#p179620

SCIENCE AND TECH

viewtopic.php?p=183937#p183937
viewtopic.php?p=182154#p182154

SEMICONDUCTER 1

viewtopic.php?p=184684#p184684
viewtopic.php?p=183438#p183438
viewtopic.php?p=182239#p182239

SEMICONDUCTER 2

viewtopic.php?p=181106#p181106
viewtopic.php?p=180095#p180095

SHIPPING

viewtopic.php?p=169057#p169057
viewtopic.php?p=174803#p174803

VERTICAL FARM

viewtopic.php?p=183437#p183437
viewtopic.php?p=182603#p182603
viewtopic.php?p=181122#p181122
viewtopic.php?p=179897#p179897

The examples cover a period of time from January 2021 to June 2023. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that this behaviour has been happening for almost as long as the imperialpearl account has been active on the forum. I am extremely confident that there are many more examples of the copying and pasting of posts across different countries to be found in imperialpearl's post history. After about twenty minutes of searching, I was satisfied this was a pattern of behaviour. Exampes were ludicrously easy to locate.

At this point, I would like to note that the current Particracy Game Rules do not allow the discussion of sanctions issued by Moderation. I am not suggesting that the behaviour evidenced in the posts above is plagiarism. I have no evidence that imperialpearl is not the original author of these posts. Nonetheless they are clearly a kind of self-plagiarism or duplicate publication. The posts have likely been used in these countries as justification for upgrading various countries in the dynamic rankings. For me, it is simply not cricket.

[imperialpearl]

The vast majority of my posts in these nations are original and I only replicated a handful either because quite simply I either didn't have the time or the energy to do anything that was largely "original". The posts referenced are mainly transitory and do not in any way influence the whole of the sum. The posts in themselves were either complimented by "original" posts or forgotten.

My rationale: In trying to add something to the nations I've joined (especially those with 5 states), I divided my posting into 2 categories.

A. National Posts
B. State/Provincial Posts

On the state/provincial post, each state was given a sector for which they command. Example 1, Example 2, Example 3. But I guess an argument can be made out of replication there as well.

As mentioned prior, I did it because it was expedient given what I wanted to do and the timeline I had set for myself. By no means will I hide from the fact that YES I did replicate my posts. But I'm not going to be seeking the sympathy or pity of anyone. I did it because it gave me an ease of what I'd consider a self-inflicted horror. I will not be accused of un-originality however. If the RP Committee and Moderation views it that it is such an egregious offence, then I'll willing make the rounds and delete the posts (should that be your judgement) or not participate in this game permanently (should that be your judgement as well).

[Pragma]

I will not be accused of un-originality however.

You're right. All your posts were all completely original... the first time you posted them. The next few times not so much.

Even if your countries weren't upgraded in the rankings because of this, it's ultimately deceptive to be duplicating content. Especially since this comes after the plagiarism issue and because you've been doing it for years.

[Doc]

When I was in college, my senior year, I overslept and missed most of my Constitutional Law final. So I ran into school and asked the teacher to let me take the 2 hour final exam in what time there was left in the testing period, which was 20 minutes. Long story short, I passed the final with flying colors, because I can pass a stupid undergraduate con law final in my sleep...

During the test, a fellow student was getting lectured by the same professor about how she turned in the same paper for two classes. The professor said "I was quite amazed by the quality of your writing, and I wanted to show it to my other colleague, and he was like 'Oh yes, she is an amazing writer!' and then we got to talking and discovered that you turned in the same paper for both classes. And [Student's name here] that is the definition of academic dishonesty. You are getting 2 different grades, for 6 credits total, and you can't get 6 credits by efficiently doing the same work and submitting it twice..."

The student was beside herself at the implication that she plagiarized herself. "It's not cheating, and its not the same. See? here I have different sources on this page. And this page here references a different example, and the conclusions are different to fit the assignment."

The teacher continued: "So... as I was saying before you made my point for me... You can either take an F in one of our classes for this assignment, or you can write a new paper, do what you were supposed to do in the first place, and submit it for with the "late paper" penalty in my syllabus. Your choice."

She took the late paper option, wrote a new paper, and as she was coming out of her office, tears streaming down her cheek, she looked at me, finishing up my Con Law final, and with a look of horror on her face did not say a word to me. Because here was I, the biggest pothead slacker on campus, about to miss one point on a 100 point comprehensive short essay final exam, while she, who thought she was destined to become the first female President of the US, was just accused of cheating, and I had heard the whole conversation.

She now does a webinar series where she talks about new age shit and how she got abducted by aliens. So... I'm thinking poli sci didn't work out for her.

[ChengherRares1]

Seeing that plagiarism is back as a hot topic, I made my position clear on the discord server. I thought people have learnt a long way since last plagiarism spree couple years prior.

Apparently not, and people still resort to all kind of get arounds to the situation. Why cheat in an obscure glorified newspaper simulator.. it is not even CS GO or something where there are important stakes in the game, like being number 1 or going to tournaments

But this game? Putting aside academic honesty and game rules, regardless if this is okay or not, how do you feel knowing you just got rewarded for something not yours?

You basically eliminate all fun from the game.. irrespective of rules or rankings

You cant excuse yourself that you love game mechanics, or that you are just trolling.. it's a situation where cheating is done for the sole reason of cheating, of pretending to be involved

Before we even ask if it is a breach of game rules, if it is ethical, ask yourself how well do you feel doing this, think of the context

What is the point RPing if you remove the RP part

Be better than this, regardless of rules or morals, first of all question why you would cheat in an obscure game, among everything, where its not a paid job or has no stakes involved, why?

[Kubrick]

When I was in college, my senior year, I overslept and missed most of my Constitutional Law final. So I ran into school and asked the teacher to let me take the 2 hour final exam in what time there was left in the testing period, which was 20 minutes. Long story short, I passed the final with flying colors, because I can pass a stupid undergraduate con law final in my sleep...

During the test, a fellow student was getting lectured by the same professor about how she turned in the same paper for two classes. The professor said "I was quite amazed by the quality of your writing, and I wanted to show it to my other colleague, and he was like 'Oh yes, she is an amazing writer!' and then we got to talking and discovered that you turned in the same paper for both classes. And [Student's name here] that is the definition of academic dishonesty. You are getting 2 different grades, for 6 credits total, and you can't get 6 credits by efficiently doing the same work and submitting it twice..."

The student was beside herself at the implication that she plagiarized herself. "It's not cheating, and its not the same. See? here I have different sources on this page. And this page here references a different example, and the conclusions are different to fit the assignment."

The teacher continued: "So... as I was saying before you made my point for me... You can either take an F in one of our classes for this assignment, or you can write a new paper, do what you were supposed to do in the first place, and submit it for with the "late paper" penalty in my syllabus. Your choice."

She took the late paper option, wrote a new paper, and as she was coming out of her office, tears streaming down her cheek, she looked at me, finishing up my Con Law final, and with a look of horror on her face did not say a word to me. Because here was I, the biggest pothead slacker on campus, about to miss one point on a 100 point comprehensive short essay final exam, while she, who thought she was destined to become the first female President of the US, was just accused of cheating, and I had heard the whole conversation.

She now does a webinar series where she talks about new age shit and how she got abducted by aliens. So... I'm thinking poli sci didn't work out for her.

Are you okay?

[Polites]

I don’t think self-plagiarism on its own ought to be banned, because this may imply a ban on copying parts of one’s own forum post into the wikia, for instance. This situation does not fall under the plagiarism ban, or at least I don’t think it does.

This is worse. This is cheating. And nobody likes a cheater.

There is absolutely no good excuse for what happened here. If you don’t have the time or inspiration to write a post, just don’t write it. And gaining advantages due to this cheating behaviour makes it worse. I hope nothing like this happens again.

[imperialpearl]

Having read the various comments and the opinions of others, particularly Polites and Gab; I'd like to apologise for the disappointment and disgust my actions have caused. Whilst I await the response of the RP Committee and Moderation, I'd willing to submit to any of its suggestions and/or punishments without complaint and would like for my time in Lodamun to be used as a means of regaining the trust of those who are either disgusted or disappointed.