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I noticed that just about every one of user Jash Jacob's questions have been lifted from Quora. Can something be done about this?

(I can vaguely recall a ban being handed out. But I'm unsure if it was for this user or someone else.)


Here's a list (of ten to start things off) of plagiarised questions:

  1. MTV, Quora
  2. MTV, Quora
  3. MTV, Quora
  4. MTV, Quora
  5. MTV, Quora
  6. MTV, Quora
  7. MTV, Quora
  8. MTV, Quora
  9. MTV, Quora
  10. MTV, Quora
  11. MTV, Quora
  12. MTV, Quora
  13. MTV, Quora
  14. MTV, Quora
  15. MTV, Quora
  16. MTV, Quora
  17. MTV, Quora
  18. MTV, Quora
  19. MTV, Quora
  20. MTV, Quora
  21. MTV, Quora
  22. MTV, Quora

Update: The user in question appears to have voluntarily given away most of the rep gained in the above-listed questions, by creating bounties to the tune of 1000 points.

Update 2: The user has now deleted his account.

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    In fact this has been noticed before (from the exact same user), along with a meta discussion about plagiarism and a suspension for him, I think.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    Sep 17, 2013 at 23:15
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    @ChristianRau i just spotted 5 of his questions before and pinged the mod in chat. There is no meta discussion done before. Even the user got suspended for a week.
    – Ankit Sharma Mod
    Sep 20, 2013 at 6:15
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    @coleopterist its nice to see someone is keeping eyes open O_o. I have previously notify of his 5 question to mods on chat which are copy from Quora and are posted on the same date. And he is been suspended for even a week. If he has done this on other SE's too then Mod's should investigate it further.
    – Ankit Sharma Mod
    Sep 20, 2013 at 6:40
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    This is a serious issue we have at our hand. This kills the entire purpose of having sites like this and Quora. Knowledge sharing has alas now been reduced to rep mongering.
    – Sayan
    Sep 20, 2013 at 6:43
  • @AnkitSharma Yet your discussion in chat had spawned a meta thread about plagiarism in general if I remember correctly.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    Sep 20, 2013 at 12:33

1 Answer 1

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We can't really discuss suspensions here but I would just say that if you can point me at posts plagiarized from any site like Quora - please let us know as we will delete them.

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    I don't know if questions should be deleted if answers have also been provided. It might be more prudent to educate/chastise the user and wikify the question instead, depriving him of the rep that he's after. Sep 17, 2013 at 19:46
  • @coleopterist - fair point. A number of posts have been removed already, but clearly a few remain.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Sep 17, 2013 at 19:48
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    I've added a list of the first 10. FYI, I don't know if wikifying deletes rep. I also don't know if a link back to the original Quora question is necessary; it certainly sounds like the right thing to do. Sep 17, 2013 at 20:09
  • @coleopterist - I've wikified those, and a few more. It doesn't seem to remove rep already accrued, but will prevent future rep.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Sep 17, 2013 at 20:13
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    Damn, and I hoped so much I didn't write an answer on one of those, now I finally got a stupid CW in my answers. ;-)
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    Sep 17, 2013 at 23:19
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    @iandotkelly hmm, can something be done about his rep? Such blatant theft shouldn't be rewarded and he shouldn't receive credit for the question either. Can his account be dissociated from the question? Sep 18, 2013 at 5:38
  • @coleopterist - I will see. The behavior was only noticed fairly recently, and there has been no repeat since. It would require some specific intervention from SE to do this and I don't know whether they would devote the time to do this.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Sep 18, 2013 at 13:11
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    @coleopterist He has been notified of his erroneous behaviour and I don't think it has repeated since. We should really wait what happens before burning him at the stake. ;-)
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    Sep 18, 2013 at 18:15
  • @ChristianRau Sure. But I don't think he should benefit from this intentional plagiarism. We are not talking about one or two questions here either. "Rep" and "privileges" are so termed for a reason and IMO, his current rep and privileges are not indicative of his actual worth to this community. Sep 18, 2013 at 18:21
  • @ChristianRau I see that he's doing the same thing on SFF as well. The mods there appear to be aware of it. While they've probably conversed with the user via now-deleted comments, they appear to be content to just stick a "from Quora" link below his question and leave it at that. I've got a feeling that this chap does this on every stack. Sep 18, 2013 at 18:26
  • @coleopterist Hmm, interesting.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    Sep 18, 2013 at 18:27
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    @coleopterist - we will take a very dim view on any further plagiarism from him.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Sep 18, 2013 at 19:28
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    It seems the user has renamed himself and spent most of his reputation in incredibly high bounties on arbitrary questions?
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    Sep 21, 2013 at 18:11
  • @iandotkelly I've added the remaining Quora questions that have not yet be CW'd. He appears to have asked one question which is not from Quora. Please do the needful. Sep 24, 2013 at 18:53
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    @coleopterist - noted. Will have a look this weekend.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Sep 27, 2013 at 19:26

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