Copying of VF reviews on other sites (was Someone also copied my review @ Collage!)

[pumptmuscle]

Originally Posted by roz

...Collage does not just post positive reviews. There are plenty of negative ones there.

Roz is right, there are plenty of negative reviews on Collage.

The problem with reviews on any site is establishing how credible they really are. One thing I can say about Amazon is that I believe their reviews are legit (for the most part). I've been using their reviews lately to determine whether I'd like some dvds, fitness and otherwise, and I see a lot of negative reviews for some. If amazon was doctoring them, I don't believe the negative reviews would be seen as frequently as I've seen them.

There is one thing I'm wondering though. Is there anything fundamentally wrong (aside from ethically) with posting someone else's review? I've never done it before...but I have had it happen to me a few times years ago. I wasn't happy about it but it wasn't very important to me that it happened. Even if a disclaimer is posted on a website warning against copied reviews, what can (and should?) be done about it? You can write a review on Collage anonymously (e.g. without having to be a member) so how enforceable are any proposed punishments for copied reviews?

At least on VF, if a review is copied, that member could be banned (but could still join later under another name). I hope it goes without saying that I'm not justifying this at all and I think, for the most part, it's unethical but I think it's something that at best, only could be regulated. Looked at this another way, imitation does tend to be the sincerest form of flattery so maybe they just copied the review because they agreed with it. Maybe it was written well grammatically so it was copied because of how it was stated. Maybe the copier wasn't intellectually capable of writing such a well written review so that was why they copied it.

Again, I don't condone copying reviews and I've never done it (I've never even written a formal review here) but I always like to look at things from both sides of an issue. Sometimes playing devil's advocate can show an alternate way of perceiving something. While copying another person's review, at least without acknowledging you got it from them in it, could be deemed ethically wrong, it could be seen in a positive way and may have even been done as a compliment. As long as you agree with what they stated, which you'd obviously do if it was copied verbatim, is it that big of a deal?

The only way I'd see posting reviews to be a major issue is if someone posted a negative or fallacious review and attached your name to it, potentially damaging your credibility. Other than that, the only things stolen are time, thoughts and possibly diction. Unless you're getting money for the review; in which case, it would be potential plagiarism; it's probably best to just let it go. Bottom line is that it's never going to stop so try not to let it get to you if/when it happens.