Someone asks a question online. You give an answer to the
best of your knowledge. A few hours later, someone else responds with the same
exact answer, maybe adding or subtracting a few words. They didn’t answer the
question, you did. What they did was plagiarize yours and took credit for it.
What’s even sadder is people will say shit like, “I agree with Plagiarist;
their answer is right.” They’re also jackasses, because if they had bothered to
read, they would have seen your answer first, saw that some jackass stole your
answer and is passing it off as their own, insulting anyone who can see.
You notice this a lot on websites that give points for the
number of responses you make. I get that it’s a popularity contest and you win
for devoting more of your time to the site, but you could at least expand on
what the person you’re ripping off stated. Maybe their answer was general and
you wanted to take it into specifics, or cite better sources, etc. You could
instead say, “Originator is correct, but I’d like to add blah blah blah.” Their
answer will then be better than your lazy, half-assed attempt at answering.
There is a disease that has been gripping various online
communities. It’s a mental illness that makes people think their opinions are
important; they’re not. It also makes them think their opinion is correct, in
that “I’m right and you’re wrong” way; they’re not. I believe the knowledge
plagiarist are in the same spectrum, along with those that like to respond with
the word “first” on every online post they find. Your opinion should only
matter to you. Being wrong is how you learn. Being first only counts in horseshoes
and hand grenades. Don’t be any of these jackasses.
First!
According to incorrect people in the comments section.