i've noticed there are quite a few members with sig quotes that have no author attribution... this is not proper/ethical/legal, as anyone wanting to be a writer should know... after all, would you want people to use something you wrote without your permission, or making it seem as if they were the author? even if the quote is your own, you still need to cite yourself as the author, since without any attribution at all, we can't tell who wrote it, can we? so, please, new members and old, be sure to cite the authors of all quotes you include in your posts, including and especially your sigs... love and hugs, maia [mods: this should be a sticky over all sections, imo]
Violation of copyright or other intellectual property laws can result in a permanent ban. We do keep track of formal warnings, and if someone persists after having been warned, or commits wilful plagiarism, they can and will be banned. We take intellectual property rights very seriously.
I wouldn't consider the snippet in my signature a "quote." It's more like a little joke at the end of my posts. Besides, even though I did come up with it myself, I can't just go slapping my name on it like a fine howdy-do. Someone else may very well have come up with something identical, or near enough, and if it was used in a published work somewhere, I might be called out on it. Plus, labeling your own quotes with your own name seems a tad arrogant. It's like you're saying that you are someone worth quoting, that your words contain wisdom/hilarity/whatever if only the reader has the wits to see it. Maybe it's just me, though.
Yes you can. even if someone else come up it does not matter,in fact it makes it interesting to see how many others have come up with the same. no they would not because they could not prove it,plus this style of sentence is a very common thing to say. In fact I have said many times when O you wrote it hence it is yours to do with it as you please. It is more informative to acually tell people the source of something then not. I think you should proud of showing your talent off. It is the same idea as being published. Consider your siganture with your name on it as your littel self publication.
I personally don't see a big problem with this. I mean, if the person is passing it off as their own, fair enough, ban them. But if it's just a case of someone wanting to quote someone else, it's not like it's that bad. Hell, what about all the people who created famous proverbs? We don't quote the guy who wrote, "Don't look a gift lion in the mouth," do we?
This sounds familiar but do not know who said or what it means. There is something similar said about a horse and gift of horsehoe or something like that.!!? I can't remember it.
Wow! Thank you for that link. I have now found a new site to bookmark. Related to the discussion, however, you are right about not quoting for common idioms of unknown origin like "gift 'horse' in the mouth". I would not do the same for a direct quote of "gift lions". There must also be a difference for quoting things within the context of a conversation, as opposed to displaying a quote, by itself, out of context. Not sure of the exact differences, but I am sure the latter requires attribution.
You're welcome. =D It's easily one of the coolest webcomics out there. The original quote is "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". Since horses with no teeth aren't very valuable, it's saying don't judge a gift by how valuable it is, since it's a gift. If you'd paid attention to my post, you'd see that "lion" was a link to a comic about changing a word in a proverb with "lion".
I was mostly being facetious in that first paragraph. With regards to the second... If they are mine to do what I will with them, then I will happily keep my own quotes unattributed. If I'm the only one who sees doing otherwise as arrogant or overly prideful, then no matter. It's not really worth discussing further--I can think of nothing else to say about it.
it's not arrogant, just a professional standard... as well as a legal issue, since it lets the admin know you're not plagiarizing anyone else's work... unattributed quotes force the admin/mods/those who care about plagiarism to have to do a search for it, to find out who it's by, since they can't read your mind and be sure it's your own, now can they? then neither will the mods have anything else to say about it when one of them bans you for arrogantly flaunting site rules...
I think you're being a tad too fussy Maia, obviously it IS against forum rules, but I just don't see why you're taking such a personal issue against it...
To be honest. As soon as I read this thread I fully attributed my quote to it's author, not just the play it came from. It is a professional standard after all.
I agree with you maia, if it's someone else's words definitely must attribute, but for my own, I prefer not to. At least not if I put it into my forum signature. Although it is highly unlikely that I'd be quoting myself, so either way, it is not a problem
There wouldn't be copyright or legal issues, for quoting Shakespeare et al. It's a standard, granted. Plagiarism is a term easily bandied around here at times. Sometimes people mess up/forget; doesn't mean they are wanting to deceive anyone. I only wish I had come up with the quote I was once accused of 'claiming as my own'!
I'm well aware that Shakespeare has slipped into common usage. So much so that most people quote him every day without even knowing it. However, it is a professional standard when making it clear you are actually quoting something, and adding the words 'By William Shakespeare' didn't take up a great amount of my time, so why not.
Question: what about mine, which came from a question asked on Yahoo! Answers ? Am I supposed to, like, quote the username of the person who asked the question? Or what?
I would imagine that people simply chose the quote and then forgot to add the author. For the record, if I were ever someone who were deemed noteworthy of being repeated, not sure i'd care for being accredited really. Would just be pleased that out of all the quotes in the world, someone had chosen a line of mine. Though of course, if you know the author, it's always best to add it to the quote if you can.
