User:Czar/plagiarism

Some likely examples of sources using Wikipedia as their source material without intellectual attribution. Note to passersby: Wikipedia is already a rehash of previously published material—as a tertiary source, it paraphrases (and attributes) secondary sources. However, there is original (thankless?) work in compiling sometimes inscrutable sources into accessible language. Sometimes this work—e.g., bibliography, article structure, or collection in lists—is used as a readymade article for external writers to rephrase and republish. (On balance, in contemporary journalism, sometimes entire published articles are repackaged and republished, but the point is that they are at least credited.) Wikipedia is an encyclopedia—it's meant to be used for its sources and not meant to be cited directly (same goes for all encyclopedias). So I imagine there is some embarrassment in admitting a reliance on it, but that doesn't mean it is right to lift without giving due weight. I've seen a number of such cases over the past several years, and am now collecting them here.


 * The Lost Levels, rewritten in early 2015
 * Follows similar paragraph structure, uses similar turns of phrase
 * Follows similar paragraph structure, uses similar turns of phrase


 * Template:Early history of video games
 * Choice of specific games matches work of PresN in template. Per his talk page, the games were not grouped together in any singular source before they were compiled in this template, and then in this article.
 * Choice of specific games matches work of PresN in template. Per his talk page, the games were not grouped together in any singular source before they were compiled in this template, and then in this article.


 * Blast Corps, rewritten 2015-08-01 (game re-released in compilation on the 4th)
 * Associates a nowgamer.com piece with one in print mag Retro Gamer, though the association would be hard/impossible to know without comparing with the original article, as was done before they were associated in the article
 * Associates a nowgamer.com piece with one in print mag Retro Gamer, though the association would be hard/impossible to know without comparing with the original article, as was done before they were associated in the article


 * Vaguely recall another incident related to something in the Neverwinter Nights series but don't remember where it was discussed