As there are more and more people participating in the daily photography contests it takes more and more time for me to make a selection, which I do not mind. However, what I do mind is the amount of time I loose on sniffing out cheaters. Since I am not perfect this can also have a negative effect for people trying to compete fairly. As it is possible I can wrongly flag a person, which I have done before.
For this reason I will share my blacklist once a week, every person who believes his/her name should not be on the list please contact me on discord (@juliank). I was slacking a bit on maintaining this list, but have amped up my efforts in the last week. Due to the sheer amount of people I will not contact you before putting your name on the list.
Culture
It appears that most of the people plagiarising photos are not from the west. So this might be a cultural thing. In the west we look down on somebody who uses the work from somebody else and tries to share it as his own work. If you wish to participate in my contests only share your own photography.
Monday: foodphotography and animalphotography
Tuesday: landscapephotography and cityscapephotography
Wednesday: architecturalphotography and vehiclephotography
Thursday: macrophotography and colourfulphotography
Friday: streetphotography and portraitphotography
Saturday: sportsphotography and smartphonephotography
Sunday: goldenhourphotography and longexposurephotography
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Hi @juliank , I have participated in your photography contest once but did not win. There were photos which were better than mine and there were photos which were not good as mine on the winners list. Yet I was happy since it's a human selecting the best photographs not a bot. You always took great care to select the winners.
Views on cheating
I'm a non-westerner and as a native Asian, I completely agree with you that we are more into plagiarism and cheating and yes, it is more of a cultural thing.
Suggestions
Can you use your influence and design a bot to check copied photos from google? Or maybe you can use one of your Steemit friends or I would be happy to help you check the photos authenticity manually.
One other way could be having a professional photographer on the panel to help you catch these cheaters.
Final words
I'm a minnow but I would be glad to help you or support you in anyway I can to stop plagiarism
In the end it is still subjective since I am judging yes ;p
It should be somewhat possible to detect plagiarism with a bot, but also in that case there can be false positives. A lot more professional photographers are joining the eco system and they tend to share on multiple platforms and have their own websites as well.
Yes, that would be a huge problem for some of us, because I have images with stock agencies and art sites. My images are also being used all over the web (sometimes legally, and sometimes not) but a bot could find one of my images on say WEb MD (legally paid for) and assume that I was stealing the image from there!
I want to follow this race, but I do not understand how, I have a lot of interesting photos, because I am a photographer from asia, thanks his enlighteners
This is a good way to make people more aware. Perhaps some did not understand the rules clearly enough due to language, but now I am sure it will be a lot clearer to everybody! thanks @juliank for clearing it up for everyone.
It is stated on like very reminder post I make, but indeed repetition is key. For this reason I will do a weekly update ;p
some are just lazy to read. But making it public is the best way, because then we can all see who not to support!
Thank you for pointing this out. I don't take very nice photos but I definitely use my own as long as I know it is within the theme for the day.
I appreciate that, this is the correct way and how you will be able to grow your photography skills ;)
@juliank its a shame that people steal others work and pass it off as their own, its a daily issue for professional photographers that I know, and if its not people passing images off as their own, its companies using them for self promotion without permission or recuperation. Unfortunately it seems that the digital age only really needs a photo to be 2000px on the long side and they can pretty much do as they please with it. Watermarking is the only solution that I have found to be effective, but it detracts from the image. What do you do to prevent online use of your images?? Thanks also for the photo contests, its brightened my day being amongst the winners in the last few contests :-)
Thank god you have a website! Made my life a lot easier ;p Ah yes companies... they are the worst only care about their profits. Luckily you are enjoying the contests and I will not let any cheaters take that away
@juliank all the best and hope that you have a great holiday period!!
You are on point, I actually got called out for cheating the first time I posted a contest picture on steemit. It was my picture but others had stolen from me the first time I posted it. lol.
I appreciate what you do. I just know I'm going to run out of pictures sooner or later to post.
Haha, that is quite interesting.... :P I hope you run out of pictures, that is my goal, so you have to go out and make new photos ;)
I might be going to Malaysia so hopefully I have some new awesome pictures to share.
Plagiarism is a indeed a curse.
People need to understand that what's not their's can never be their's, so instead of plagiarism start creating what is their's..
So if I create my own work atleast I can own it, with all its flaws and shortcomings. ..
Well put, flaws and shortcomings are just opportunities in disguise ;)
Yes indeed, they are the mirror. .
PERFEct!!!!! That is what i talked about to others!!!! Thanks!!! It’s so important to use the own material of pics and only when the personal article is ok for the challenge subject!
Thanks @juliank otherwise I would looose fun at this contests :-) thanks so much for keeping everything clear! Shanti aum
Yes I agree, it is about short term gain versus long term gains. The only way a person is able to grow is by doing something themselves. You learn from your mistakes, every failure is a lesson. Practise and consistency are the key to growth :)
Word!!! @juliank by the way you was my inspiration for something...I will send you a link via steemit.chat I have a contests for you:-D
Good to see that my name is not on your list.
Hehe ;p
hmm,. I see suspicious thing from your words LoL
Goodness, that is a long list! I am very strange, I don't even like to use Pixabay photos in my post to earn money..There is something wrong about it :-)
No you are not strange! You were brought up with the right values and morals :)
Pixabay's whole purpose is to provide people with photos for use in blog posts and media production. That's why all their content is released CC0. I use them in my own blog posts and website all the time, because they WANT you to.
But to use a Pixabay photo and enter it into a photo contest is complete bullshit. On that, we can agree.
Pixabay is good if you then research the image further to make sure it has not been stolen and placed there. Pixabay makes no guarantees that the images are the original work of the person uploading them - it's up to the photographers to state that they own the copyright when they upload stuff, but we can all see how dishonest people can be when they want to make a fast buck. I've had my own images listed for sale all over the place - even EBay. LOL! I have had to send DMCA (digital millennium take down) notices to sites that offer my images free as wallpaper etc. The only really safe way of knowing that you are not using copyright work is to use your own!
It must be quite difficult to make the selection and detect all these plagiarism ... I think I wouldn't like to be in your place :P
What if you asked for the photos technical specifications (e.g. EXIF) and some text about the photo (even if only a couple of sentences)?
I do not want to force people to do x and y. The way I see it, whenever I see a really good photo I google search it or use tineye. If there is a hit I will look at the profile if I cannot find anything, like an introduction post or consistency in the posts this person makes I add them to the blacklist.
So the only requirement I would have is to have some kind of verification so I do not falsely flag said person
lol - you will never have to look up my photos! No one would claim them except me. I love taking them and I'm so glad to have a place to post even though I hang my head in shame often when I see your winners.
It is amazing how much you have to go through to keep these contests clean and I appreciate your efforts very much. You are right that a bot would probably give you more work as the photos are on other sites. Some of mine are on FAA/Pixels or Behance, so a bot would probably say I stole them from myself.
It's also a valid way :)
Cheers
I do the same thing and have had to disqualify a couple of people already in my contest, and I have not long started it!
Urgh, sorry to hear this. It is very frustrating!
It’s the same with music, you have to audio tag everything if you don’t want your tracks stolen!
It really sucks you have to deal with this & it causing you more work!
Yeah pain in the ass, especially since there is so much good that can come from all of this. But ye people will be people and thus emotional, in this case greed
I feel ya, totally destructive & disruptive! Not only do they harm themselves but the art as is, it's like a honor codex amongst artist NOT to steal, you can be inspired, but NEVER EVER STEAL!!
This is a subject dear to my heart, so I am a member of the Copyright Alliance. They fight for the rights of artists in every walk of life - musicians, photographers, painters etc. I lose thousands of dollars every year from people stealing my work and using it to promote themselves. I have even come across two on Steemit so far! A lot of money was made from one of the posts, but I got nothing of course, because the work was a stolen piece of eyecandy!
Thanks for this info @dmcamera
The copyright alliance is here on #steemit?
I am really sorry to hear about the theft of your work, very unnerving!
No, they are not, but there's an idea!!!! They are on the web and free to join. http://copyrightalliance.org/
For real now!!! Thanks for the link, I will check it out right away! You have a wonderful day @dmcamera!
You are welcome! They are a useful source for copyright issues and they fight for us in Washington!
Thanks for checking for plagiarism. It takes a lot of work.
Yes it does =(
what did they do ?
Used photos they did not make themselves
i see.. kill the bastards !
Well that is a bit extreme... :P
i found many times my photos stolen from G+, Facebook and Flickr - i'm automatically don't like these ppl
I try not to Upvote anyone who is using a stock shot stolen from the web with the image source listed as Google, Wikipedia or some website. I found my own stock shot listed with the image source of some website that was legally using the image because they had licensed it. I don't know why people can't get it that a search engine or a website is not the source - the photographer or agency representing the photographer is the source! And what's more, those images are not available to use anyway without paying a licensing fee!
but how do you recognise when someone use his/her original taken image or the one from stock site ??
This will surely clean up the entries and people will not upvote to their posts.
I do not think people will reference this list to decide on who to upvote, its mostly to be clear and transparent
The problem is @juliank, as the steem dollar has shot up in value and may well go a lot further, this is, I feel, going to be a worsening issue. Not only then do you have people who are cheats needing to bolster their self esteem, though gawd knows how they manage that when stealing others work to gain some kudos, but I think systematic abuse is going to be worthwhile to every toerag with a computer. This may well come from poorer countries predominantly, but if I was a 14yr old kid from a hard nosed ghetto , or some sniveling rich kid at Harvard, both with no more desire to make money than many investors, I'd have as many computers all hooked up at once putting anyone's content up in order to get all that possible bounty. Thank goodness most people aren't like that, but we have to face the reality that, whether down do being desperately in poverty or just selfishly deviant with the morals of a snake, we know they're always going to be coming at us. It's a conundrum that's been running through my head for a few days now. I'm a photographer, I'm fairly well respected on the street photography scene, I curate for a couple of highly regarded st phot groups on facebook, Black and White Street .com and Streets in Colour. com. I've had to deal with plagiarism, and that's without the temptation of $$$'s. I'd also been thinking along the lines of a bot, but hadn't considered that many people's photography will legitimately be on the web, and perhaps without any credit, some of my own work included, although I can count those on one hand, and not using 3 of my fingers ;) . I think the only way is that if people want to post artistic content, that there is a procedure for higher verification (passport/ID included in the photo verification etc,), but perhaps only if they start to make any money or win any competitions. Like an automated procedure. They wouldn't have to be public, and could be starred as fully verified afterwards. Not perhaps the way we like to think, but I really can't see any chance of not stepping up the difficulty level for people to post stolen content. I've been up a couple of nights thinking this through with a view to the future, and I know that'd be a lot of people hours to run such scrutiny, but perhaps that would be run by volunteers, steemit being what it is, the whole ethos etc. I'm a good photo detective myself so if it comes to needing more hands on deck, feel free to hit me up for some help. There must be a solution to this though, somewhere........... best regards
Thanks for your post, I feel and share your pain. I want to keep the entry to participate as low as possible but I am thinking of shifting the reward system a little bit. Most people do play fair, and I understand that for someone a couple of SBD cents is actually worth a lot. I think the best I can do is prove them that it is better to play fair and be rewarded in the long term
Yes @juliank, you'll certainly have to evolve to suit, with it being such a new platform. You're doing a great job of putting photocontests out here seemians to enter. Thanks for you efforts and making things a bit more interesting.
Holy Moly, Julian! I am so sorry that you have to sort through that! What a waste of your time!
You all should read this also!!! Same subject!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@vincentleroy/hey-dad-can-i-download-your-pic-for-free-dis-tonton-jeux-telecharger-gratuitement-tes-photos
This was a good post to read. Thanks for that! Sometimes, I tell those same people who ask me for free work that unfortunately I still have to pay my plumber, electrician and dentist etc. and that Image Credit dies not pay my bills. I have not yet found an electrician, plumber or dentist willing to give me free work in exchange for exposure!!
Hello!
I agree with you and completely understand your frustration. I'm a newbie Steemit user. It's been almost a week and so far, it seems to me that the plagiarism and spamming is a general problem in Steemit, which unfortunately keeps it from being a powerful alternative platform where most of the people creates high-quality content.
I wrote a suggestion about this issue and would like to hear from you guys. Let me know what you think. You can read it from here
Have a good one!
Nice post :D
You going right to be make selection @juliank. I hope in the future all contestants are more creative, especially me.
Thanks to share This is an important information And wonderful world photography.
Stay away from plagiarsm and get the hard work. I agree with you @juliank.
Yes!
Wha hahaeajhaha haah...
Good news,,
I like,, thanks...
nice
good job!
Same problem in all creativity subjects, people stealing from others, and at the same time they don't make any effort for covering that..It's good you made that list, names should be known to community, maybe that will reduce the number of plagiarism..
It’s great that you caught this plagiarism @juliank ... I didn’t realize many Steemians here did that,and use other ppl pictures for photography contest. Its so disgraceful.im glad you make this article so that we’re more aware
Did not participate in any of your contest unless accidentally enrolled. I don't really follow which day is what contest. Most of the time I will just tag what I like and call you up for a free upvote. Was hoping if you can comment on my horrible mobilephonephotography
So many cheeters!
Dear steemians, I was a better think about you:-(
yes so difficult to catch a cheater. but on the other hand plagiarism should not be allowed. nice Job @juliaank but mostly it's people responsibility to show some honest work. only share works that belong to them. nice post. Resteemed & upvoted your worthy effort
i wished there was a bot on steem that could also locate plagiarised photos like the one i see when you post articles that they detect @cheetah
specially when you're investing in your travel expenses and you see that the photos you take are being used by someone else,..even when posting on social media like facebook,..that's why i don't photos on facebook and keep all my photos here in steem or in my computer
It would be difficult. I am a professional stock photographer and I have thousands of images that have been floating all over the web on various stock sites and art sites for over 20 years! A bot would be continually flagging me! Thousands of companies have also licensed my work and are using it all over the web! And of course, by work has been copied and stolen all over the web too - including here on Steemit! No, it's up to us humans to find the cheaters!
It will be an endless battle though unfortunately, more especially with the opportunity to earn financial rewards. I think this will be one of the major issiues for steemit, so I really hope it can be controlled for all concerned, other than the friggin' thieves that is!
I think it already is a major issue that will get worse before it gets better, unfortunately.
Thank you for doing this! I imagine this takes up a lot of time so your devoting to keeping it fair is very impressive. So thank you for doing all this amazing work. :)
Wow!!!! This is a very extensive list!!!! I always hear there is a lot of cheating going around, but had no idea it was so extensive. That must really make your judging job a whole lot more intense!!! Thanks for making this post. It's great to be aware of what is happening here on Steemit. I truly appreciate your efforts in keeping the contests above board.
Thanks for keeping it real!!!
I think everyone should resteem this,so the list reaches maximum people.I just did.
Hi @juliank ,
I am one of the cheaters and I apologize. While it is true, that I did not make this photos myself, I just want to clarify though, that I didn't steal the pictures. They were provided by the photographers to use for free ( even crediting isnt't required.) I ask for your forgiveness. I take full responsibility of my actions and you can also flag me if you wish.
If you want to give me my right of explaining the situation, this is my defense ( flag if you think I am guilty)
https://steemit.com/deutsch/@bozo/apology-of-a-sinner-entschuldigung-eines-suenders-scroll-down-for-deutsch-german
I thank you for the realization of my wrongdoings.
your @bozo
You may be free to use the Unspalsh photographs any way you wish, but it is totally unethical to enter them into a contest claiming that they are your own work! That is not the intended free use of the images!
I agree. That is why I stood up for it and took responsibility for it
I appreciate the fact you've come here and owned up. That gains some respect back in my book, thanks.
That's true. And anyone who asks for forgiveness, deserves to be forgiven. No one else has bothered to do that! Perhaps this is the way that we as a community are going to keep Steemit above board. You have learned a valuable lesson and I believe you can use that to help others understand the importance of the correct usage of photography on Steemit. There is far too much abuse of it, and it has to change! You have taken the first step. Learn from your mistakes and move on.
It's up to @juliank to decide whether to forgive you or not, but whether you are forgiven or not, you still need to accept the consequences of your actions, which could be the black list. But use your experiences to help others!
Statt auf mich gleich zu hören!!! By the way das gilt grundsätzlich!
Even STEEMITerz who fake their article without a contest are cheaters! So be true! Be your real self and show this here!
Hopefully Juliank leaves you on the blacklist.
Well I can understand, if he does so.
Good work and I support this initiative. Thanks for taking time and doing this. I envision steemit as a great place for photographers to showcase their talent. We need more than steepshot ;)
sad to see this :-(
Hi Juliana, while your concerns with respect to the contest is genuine. I completely disagree with your opinion on plagerizism. How can action one or few individuals be called as a cultural activity? I believe that everywhere the people feels that the credit should go to original creator/ actor / writer. The least anybody who is posting somebody else work should already give credit to person responsible.
It was a hypothesis, I obviously do not know values of each culture. I do know for a fact that in China people do not care about plagiarism, just look at all the knockoff products they produce. So cultural differences surely are a thing
Hi Juliank, Trust me I do understand your concern. But I am not justifying plagiarism here. I do not have knowledge of all the cultures. But, I do know that the knockoff products from China which you are referring to are part of business strategy and not culture.
In my understanding culture is social bhevaior which some community is proud of. And I know no community is proud of plagiarism.
I am not siding with plagiarism. In fact, I oppose it. But my concern here is the definition of the culture.
:D
Wow. That's a lot of people. No wonder you're fed up with it. Thanks for taking the time to do this and sorry that you have to.
Sucks that you have to go through this much trouble to combat plagiarism.
Add user: dirtysteem to your black list. Her (?) most recent picture of the girl flipping her hair out of the water comes up with a ton of hits on tineye. In her post, she even bothered to fake a camera, lens, and exposure report to look more legit.
Good for you! We need to somehow shake up the community to see the problem we have on here with image plagiarism and copyright infringement. I hope you reported every one of them to Steemcleaners! I am behind you all the way. there are instances when people really don't know they are doing wrong, but for a contest??
I have not yet reported them to steemcleaners, I will look into how to do that
Very easy. File here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCZuBdZmqg4FcOWcpF_nfvZ0_6rQbZJfnbUJjtglepuwcAhQ/viewform
I just wrote a blog post on Image plagiarism if you are interested. I would love to see photographers unified on this issue! It's a HUGE problem on here, and not just for contests. People want eye candy for free in order to line their own pockets.
I fight this problem every day and sometimes it seems like it's a job all in it's self, thank goodness for the awesome team at steem cleaners!!! Having people post exif data is a great idea in theory but if the original poster didn't strip that information it is readily accessible for anyone to use!! Stop stealing photo's people!!!!!
Yup adding some extra data is not going to stop people
I'd like to know how do you spot a plagiarized photo? I mean, how can you tell by just looking at an entry that this one is someone else's work?
I look up the photo and when I find it on the internet with a different author I know it is plagiarised. This requires some detective work as professional photographers share their photos on multiple sites, so I always try to find the authors name
Seems a lot of hard work to me.
Resteemed. This is an issue I know every single professional and amateur alike despises, it makes your job all the more difficult and it's just about the worst thing you can do in this industry. If we can all work together to be vigilant hopefully we can help you keep your blacklist up to date!
Sounds exhausting. Thank you for all your effort.
You are welcome :)
That blacklist is significantly longer and scarier than I thought it would be, thanks for sharing @juliank and keep up the great work - it's unfortunate that the in world we live in plagiarism is a fact of life, the more human the curators and police are the better in this instance though. Best of luck and let me know if there is any way I can help out, I love what you are doing for the platform.
The list would have been a lot longer if I updated it as I should have been, that is the saddest part :( Thanks for your support!
There is always people who ruin it for everyone...
I will not let them!
interesting occurrence, glad you're pointing this out.