Mini review thievery?

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TheDenizen
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by TheDenizen »

dunbar wrote:(By the by is there a way to see a date of when a mini review was posted outside of a persons activity feed on their profile?)

On the page for any film you can filter the ratings to only show those with written reviews, and then sort them by date posted. It should in theory be a snap to see if two accounts are posting identical reviews very close together, especially on older films that don't see a ton of review activity.

dunbar
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by dunbar »

Woah, thread took off.

BillyShears wrote:Names. Dissssh

mattorama12 wrote:If you want to share the names, I'll try to do some further digging and see what I can come up with.

Can I hold off for a bit? I'm morally conflicted whether it's the right thing to do. Persuade me? :twisted:

ribcage wrote:Have you messaged these people?

I have not. Felt rude, awkward, or something. I don't know how to phrase such a thing. "Excuse me good sir, are you a big fat phony?" I dunno, I'm lame.

paulofilmo wrote:i've seen it happen a few times, where someone will copy my review, and then change each word so it looks and reads completely different

Best theory so far.


So I have noticed that other people have noticed a similar thing, so I'm giving you notice to notice more and note what you've noticed for the rest of us. The truth! Go out there and find it my fellow Moulderers and Scullywags.

backwardsuit
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by backwardsuit »

I'd like to make a couple of obvious points since this is really picking up steam.

1. If you notice two alarmingly similar reviews I think it's super important to message both parties ASAP to get their side of the story and bring clarity to what happened. After all one of them could be a victim of review theft and I'm sure they'd like to know about it. They should them be able to provide proof of the date the review was posted (although it's obviously possible to completely change your review after it was initially posted, which muddles things).

2. Depending on the specifics of the case, this could happen accidentally or unintentionally. I think it's important not to start any finger-wagging until there's proof of consistent and repeated plagiarism. One isolated case of using similar words shouldn't qualify (especially if the whole perpective of the review is significantly altered). These things should be judged case by case with heed to both parties' perpectives.

dunbar
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by dunbar »

backwardsuit wrote:After all one of them could be a victim of review theft and I'm sure they'd like to know about it.


Do we have a review theft court?

But seriously, thanks for the reply. I would like to clarify that the title was a little bit of shameful clickbait on my part as my post should make it clear that I haven't jumped to any conclusions on this.

I mean as much as the case is kinda interesting, I guess it's also interesting on how to action it. What would anyone else do in such a situation? Ignore it? Contact accounts? Contact admins? Post on the forum? Post up wanted posters around town?

In my case I sat on it for some months, primarily because what I noticed isn't clear and it's a blip on the radar of my exciting and jet-setting life as astronaut cum open-heart surgeon cum spelunker. It's not definitively theft because there are other possibilities that can't be discounted at this point. I just turned it into a tale of mystery and wonder for the rest of us. I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do, but I don't really feel any serious misdeeds have been done on my or their accounts, so I'm not taking it too serious. To put it in perspective if, for example, someone were to copy/paste my mini reviews (which I'm not saying has happened in this case) I wouldn't care enough to take any action. I wouldn't message their account, I wouldn't post about it, I'd just shrug my shoulders and laugh. To be honest it'd be kinda flattering in a lame way that someone less original would pick my dumb thoughts as their review voice.

backwardsuit wrote:Depending on the specifics of the case, this could happen accidentally or unintentionally. I think it's important not to start any finger-wagging until there's proof of consistent and repeated plagiarism. One isolated case of using similar words shouldn't qualify (especially if the whole perpective of the review is significantly altered). These things should be judged case by case with heed to both parties' perpectives.

Agree.

Just to clarify, I've noticed this multiple times. I didn't collect exact data, but I can break it down roughly for you as follows:

  1. I have looked at approx 20 mini-reviews of Account 1
  2. Of those 20, approx 12 are word for word duplicates of Account 2
  3. Approx 3 of those are word for word duplicates of Account X,Y, Z (Accounts different from Account 2)
  4. Approx 1 of those contain a sentence, phrase or series of words that occurs in another Accounts mini review of the same film, but is not a word for word duplicate of any other mini review
  5. Approx 4 appear to be unique reviews of Account 1

Wunderbar.

backwardsuit
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by backwardsuit »

Honestly this whole issue is kinda funny to me as well and I agree that personally I wouldn't mind if this happened to me (up to a point) but I think I'd still like to know if it did. I can understand how this could be important to many people in the community though and how it could lead to some awkwardness or hostility down the line. My position therefore is that the concerned parties should be informed so they can make their own minds about how to pursue the issue (or ignore it as the case may be). As always though the most important thing is to just be open and friendly.

dunbar wrote:
  1. I have looked at approx 20 mini-reviews of Account 1
  2. Of those 20, approx 12 are word for word duplicates of Account 2
  3. Approx 3 of those are word for word duplicates of Account X,Y, Z (Accounts different from Account 2)
  4. Approx 1 of those contain a sentence, phrase or series of words that occurs in another Accounts mini review of the same film, but is not a word for word duplicate of any other mini review
  5. Approx 4 appear to be unique reviews of Account 1


That does definitely sound a bit weird to me and personally I would ask accounts 1 and 2 about it in some unaccusive manner but of course people will make their own decisions about these things.
Last edited by backwardsuit on Wed May 01, 2019 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

paulofilmo
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by paulofilmo »

What would anyone else do in such a situation?

i have penned a gentle lament, to guide us when reflecting upon these solemn and troubling times

backwardsuit
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by backwardsuit »

paulofilmo wrote:i have penned a gentle lament, to guide us when reflecting upon these solemn and troubling times

That does help against the most acute and immediate woe yes.

djross
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by djross »

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Last edited by djross on Thu Jul 20, 2023 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

ribcage
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by ribcage »

Oh gosh I'm slow. I'd never catch any of these shenanigans apparently.

dunbar
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Re: Mini review thievery?

Post by dunbar »

Consider yourself uninvited from the posse.

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