App Locking and Plagiarism [IMPORTANT]

[Misso Pan]

Recently - and this is not the first time it has happened - a stolen and/or plagiarized application was used on another site, but was caught. However, it does illustrate that having our applications out in the open presents us with a risk. Accepted applications are the first impression one makes on a forum. They put on paper what we interpret as our muses, and stolen applications can't adequately mask that one doesn't have any idea what they're doing. The truth will come out in one's roleplaying.

Anyway, this poll is to ask you, the members, what you feel about this. Would you be okay with the staff password locking our applications for safety (passwords will be given out to members, so they aren't lost to you) or would you prefer to keep them open?

Plagiarism on TND isn't something we've had a very apparent problem with. We've had no reports of our apps being stolen, or people posting stolen apps here, but this precaution would be taken for future security of our members, whom we really don't want to have people steal from.

Feel free to use this topic as discussion or a place to put your suggestions.

[Deleted]

The only issue I'd foresee with this is people wanting to join as a sibling to an existing character. When I was looking to join as Lux I looked at both Ned and Bel's apps to see what they had for history and what I could work with. It also gave me an idea of what you guys were looking for in an app. If we password lock apps people will have to hope that the members actually reply to their pms and I waited weeks to hear from Bel's rper and never did in the end.

If we lock the apps I think we should have a sample application that people can look at so they have an idea what we're looking for.

[Deleted]

I'm personally not too fond of the idea of locking apps. It might just be my thing, but I usually look at existing apps on a site as part of my decision whether or not to join, and, well, asking new members to PM for the password seems like a hassle if they're just scoping everything out. For one, they'd have to at least make an account to do that, right? (Idk--can you send PMs from a guest account??) Plus, as Gen said, apps do set a standard and example, and having them right there gives people little excuse to not know what we're looking for.

I dunno--are there any alternatives to putting all the apps under lock? I wouldn't want anyone to have their apps in the open if they're not comfortable with it, but uh, I don't mind leaving mine out. I also understand if you want to lock all of them so that you don't have to deal with plagiarism at all, but it doesn't seem like it's an epidemic problem (at least right now?) I just feel like having some apps out is more encouraging for new people and gives them a better idea of the types of characters we've got and the standards we have.

[Deleted]

I'm kind of torn. I do like looking at other apps when I apply to get an idea of what the staff is looking for in my own app. However...I've been on a couple of sites before where I've seen stolen apps used, so I can certainly see where one might be tempted to do such a thing. It seems rather rampant on Hetalia websites, unfortunately. :/

[Joselle]

Eh well. Here's an option that might be the best of both worlds, but it'd require some work. We can app lock the actual apps, but we can have a separate 'persona files' with everyone giving a brief description of their character. We can also have a sample application up if people want to get a feel of the standards.

[Deleted]

The other thing is, that if you have to pm the password to new members to give them access to the apps -- who's not to say that person joined just to get the password? That sounds paranoid, I know, but... Unless, you're all talking about not letting them see apps at all until they join.

If they want examples, maybe we can have some people who are okay with their apps being out to so they can see what it should be like?

[Katyusha Chernenko]

I agree with locking the apps to prevent plagiarism, but on the other hand I love to see existing apps in the sites I'm going to join in. So maybe we can lock them and put a sample app with detailed description about what we're looking/expecting from a character. If anyone needed to look at an accepted app (applying as his/her family, for example), maybe we can just PM its history part to the new member - if they haven't made a forum account, hopefully they have a skype/chatango account.

[Westley Walters-Kirkland]

Personally...I like to look at other people's apps before I join a site, and it is the largest turn off to have them locked. How else am I supposed to plan out how I should do my own if I don't have an actual example, without them it's headaches galore as you worry about doing it well and uniformly to the rest of the members's. I mean, even if people don't plagiarize from here specifically they will still from elsewhere. Us locking our apps really won't do very much, if you plagiarize you end up being driven off anyways. You can't really keep up very well if you are so incompetent that you have to resort to taking someone else's writing as your own, you really won't last much more than a month.

I think we could always stick apps as account only access, it's not perfect but it would deter most people who are just looking around for an app to use. Also, we could just make a few cracky sample apps of NPCs or something to rectify new people looking for something to guide them when they write it. If we want anything solid to keep apps protected they all would take extra work on the mods's part, and would be needlessly complex.

[Deleted]

I always like to look at accepted, rejected, and previous apps before turning mine in, especially if I have to consider siblings for a character. It might be a hassel, but locking the regular apps and just having the sample app and character histories idea may be the best choice.

[Deleted]

ey don't lock the apps :< everyone takes a look on them before joining a board to see what's expected, and putting passwords on them might make the board seem... distrustful of new members. [also because there's nothing keeping the members themselves from stealing >>] not to mention the extra work to ask for the password, since a lot of new members are often shy around the old ones... idk, i wouldn't join a board with apps locked.

i'd like to add that it should be on the player's conscience if they decide to cheat in an app like that. even if an app is kinda boring work to do, it's the moment you have to reflect on the character you want to play in the rp. if you just steal it, it will show soon enough in the rp itself (that your character's not consistent, that your writing style isn't up to par with your app, and so on), and will definitely be noticed by mods and members.

[Deleted]

I'm also gonna pitch in and say locking apps is a bad idea. If it happens and gets caught like on DR, then it's dealt with as an individual case. Since the Hetalia forums are so closely affiliated I don't think most people are going to be careless enough to think they can get away with it, either.

I also don't like the idea of locking apps and then having just the history in a separate place out in the open? It kinda seems like too much effort when the exact same information and more can be contained in an unlocked app.

[Misso Pan]

From here on I would like to ask that members refrain from mentioning other forums in their posts, and maybe possibly edit out sites mentioned before? Thank you.

[Deleted]

I don't think the apps should be locked, because as someone who (consistently) apps as a character that has canon family, it's a pain in the butt trying to figure out how to write a history without being able to see someone else's history. And (echoing a lot of what's already been said) I use apps to gauge the quality of a forum. What kind of writing is expected, if the characters are well-thought out, etc. I've gotten really excited about a forum before and then once I checked out the applications, realized that maybe this wasn't something I wanted to join, owing to a variety of reasons.

If I may, I have a kind of a weird suggestion. Why not put a question on the app that's like, a certification that someone wrote the app entirely themselves? Like have a question near the bottom that asks "Did you write the entire content of this application by yourself, with no copying, borrowing, or plagiarizing from another person's application from another site?"

I roughly borrow at times from some of my old applications and I can happily admit that, but I've never stolen anything outright from an old app - I always rewrite things. But maybe having a disclaimer like that would make people aware that we are on the lookout for plagiarism and will not accept apps that have been stolen.

And when it comes to apps being stolen from here to be used elsewhere, I like what someone else mentioned - that only members should have access to the apps page. Yes, this requires joining a forum and registering and this can be kind of a pain in the butt, but if you decide not to join after all, it's no loss, and most thieves won't bother going through the trouble of registering for a forum just to see if any of the apps are worth stealing.

[Misso Pan]

I think I like the "apps only viewed by members" type thing. No password, but we can make it so that guests cannot view the applications until they join and hopefully reserve. Since people utilize other apps when making their own applications, it would seem like an adequate compromise given the thought that thieves wouldn't be bothered to register just to steal.

[Deleted]

I agree with what Misso says; even if they did join to steal, we would have at least suspicions of a person if they joined and never did anything. However, many others were saying they like to look at apps before joining a forum... Which I do, and I typically don't make an account until I'm certain.