Calling out a plagiarized program isn't allowed?

How can we help?

مئی 09, 2024 16:11

Yesterday I found a plagiarized program on the hotlist, so I left a comment that it was plagiarized and left a link to the original. I've done this multiple times over several years and never had any consequence.

Then today, I woke up to find this message:

"Thanks for the help identifying and flagging plagiarized programs. When encountering plagiarized CS Projects or other concerning behavior, please click the 'Flag' button and choose the appropriate category instead of responding. This will help bring it to moderator attention, and moderators can then take action on it.

Making posts like these usually don't help the situation, and sometimes make it worse. Flagging them quietly can help, however. Please note that Tips and Thanks or Comments on plagiarized programs are also considered off-topic.

Thanks for your help, and we look forward to great contributions from you!"

I don't understand this. How does informing people about a plagiarized program make things worse?

Posting comments like these immediately tells people about a plagiarized program rather than having to wait until a guardian sees a flag. And, judging from the 6 votes on my comment before the program was hidden, it seems to have helped.
It gives credit to the original author. If someone sees a program they like, then linking to the original will help them support the original creator. Comments like these that other people posted have helped me find good programs which I wouldn't be able to find otherwise.
It informs people that they shouldn't vote up a project. Helping to stop a plagiarized program from being voted up improves the quality of the hot list.

In addition, the off-topic part doesn't make sense either. The guidelines say the following about off-topic discussion:

Keep the conversations relevant to the subject that you’re posting in. Questions and comments not related to khanacademy.org subject content should be posted in the appropriate subforum in the Support Community. This includes Computer Programming projects - comments and discussions should stay focused on the code itself.
Since Khan Academy is focused on learning above all else, we ask that discussion about religion and current political events generally be kept off the site. There are many places on the internet where these discussions are very welcome, but we’ve found these topics to be largely distracting on Khan Academy.

Note: exceptions can be made for certain pieces of humanities content (such as history), but please take a minute before posting to make sure that any comments you make are truly in the best interest of the community.

Don’t solicit personal information from others (this includes real names, email addresses, ages, locations, and anything else that someone might want to keep private), or post personal information that isn’t appropriate to share publicly.

The comment I made is directly commenting on the program itself and where to find the original. I don't see how it's off-topic.

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8 comments

grayce reed ❤ (online)

مئی 10, 2024 15:07
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It does make more sense to tell them, but it is considered off-topic. If you don't want to get banned, just flag it, and trust that the guardians will take care of it.
TDJ

مئی 12, 2024 23:29
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Electric Dolphin ⚡️🐬 The same thing happened to me. I've made similar comments on many plagiarized projects before, but I never realised that it wasn't allowed (there was nothing in the guidelines saying that it was off-topic). I thought that making those comments just would let other users know that it wasn't the original and remind the author that they should spin-off projects.

I understand that by silently flagging you avoid conflict, but I just find it frustrating when the plagiarized program is getting so much attention and praise that it doesn't deserve.

Once one of my projects was plagiarized. Both the plagiarizer's copy and my project were on the hotlist, and at one point it even had more votes than mine. Several people flagged the copy, but it took a while for it to be removed (understandable, since the moderation team has a lot to sift through). But then my program got one single flag and was almost immediately hidden. Fortunately, when I made a request it was unhidden. The whole experience was very frustrating.

Because of that, I often try to make sure that programs are original before I vote up, as there's no way to unvote, and I know from experience how frustrating it can be when someone gets undeserved credit for a plagiarized program.

There does seem to be a lot of plagiarized projects on the hotlist at the moment. I feel that some kind of plagiarism detector/filter for programs would be helpful, but it would probably be too complicated because of similarities between programs, especially of those for programming course challenges, or if the program is a spin-off.
William

مئی 14, 2024 18:26
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Hi friends! Thanks for sharing some of your feedback with us.

We have noticed a recent uptick of users who have tried to "mini-mod" others. As a learning platform, we want to ensure that students receive messages about their behavior privately. Mini-modding generally isn't productive, and we have found it often leads to more off-topic discussions. We want to discourage this trend from continuing, which is why you may have received a message from us.

We appreciate that y'all understand the Guidelines well and ask for you to continue to help by flagging programs as needed. While flagging a program, you can include any links that lead to the original project -- this can help us expedite the process. While we aren't active on the KACP every hour (because we monitor the entire site), we will do our best to continue handling flagged programs within a reasonable turnaround.

Cheers!
HM Wogglebug TE

مئی 22, 2024 20:16
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I hope this means a change in how Guardians are handling flags; In years past, it was (to the Wogglebug's knowledge) good form to let the plagiarizer know that what they did isn't allowed, and encourage them to make a spin-off instead.
ASBackup

جون 13, 2024 00:23
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Hello, William Wang.

Is it at all possible that warnings like in the guidelines and/or a notification when a change like this is made is given. My apologies, but me and some of my friends have received / been banned as a result of talking about plagiarism. I fully understand why this is wrong, but a vast majority of us (myself included) had no clue about this rule. Perhaps an edit to the guidelines etc. has already been made and I am just not aware.

Many Thanks,

ASBackup
William

جون 13, 2024 01:55
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While I can't discuss any specific moderation incidents, I want you to know that we generally do not restrict user discussion privileges unless the Community Guidelines are violated frequently after receiving a Guardian message. We typically restrict privileges only if we notice severe off-topic trends. All off-topic posts are taken into account when deciding to suspend a user from the Community.

We value your feedback, and I've sent your thoughts about clarifying the Guidelines to our team for consideration. Thank you for your contributions, and let me know if you have other questions.
ASBackup

جون 13, 2024 15:24
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Thank you :)
JaniceHolz

اگست 04, 2025 00:32
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If you start with a program, it seems logical to either make a Spin-off from that program or credit it at the top of your modified program. If you kept anything at all, go ahead and give credit. (I've been known to credit & link to 4 or more programs in some of my JavaScript programs.)

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