NationStates Jolt Archive

The proposal written by Weezil named Support Rice Cropping is a blatant plagarism of my Support Hemp Production proposal. All this author did was change one or two lines, and add rice in whereever it says hemp.

I'm not quite sure if that is illegal. While out of respect I'd hope that the mods would act on this and delete the proposal as well as tell the copier what he or she did wrong, like I said, I'm not sure if that's something the mods would do.

It's just like if Max were to take an RP one of us made, change it a bit, and call it his own. Since this is his site, I'm pretty sure whatever's on here is his property.

well, as for Copyright issues, any written text that you write is automattically copyrighted, unless it conflicts with another copyright. I'm not sure what copyright issues this website has covered in its terms of service and such, so I can't say who owns the copyright to threads, though I would think it would either be the authors, and all people that added to it, since it would be considered a collective work by multiple authors and thus would be owned by each person, though the people involved can waive their rights to it if they so choose.

I would think that copying a proposel wouldn't be that bad, I would say that most bills that get passed in real senates and such are copied a lot, just changeing the relative bits so that it stays linar in use.

I'm not quite sure if that is illegal.

That is illegal. The UN rules clearly state plagarizing is illegal.

That is illegal. The UN rules clearly state plagarizing is illegal.

Thank you. I'm not involved in the NS UN for reasons that I won't go into, because of the fact that I hardly think highly of the organization, and had not known the rules. If they state that plagarism is illegal, then it is, and I'm sure this issue will be dealt with shortly.

Well, weezil the author of Support Rice cropping wrote a bad proposal that plagarized my own proposal. I consider this to be bad form. Here is his proposal, and I shall outline point by point what is wrong with his proposal, and demonstrating how he plagarized my proposal:

Support Rice cropping
A resolution to increase the quality of the world's environment, at the expense of industry.


Category: Environmental
Industry Affected: All Businesses
Proposed by: Weezil

Description: Description: BELIEVING that all nations should support the production and use of rice. Rice needs to be recognized as a profitable and environmentally friendly crop.

EMPHASIZING that rice cannot be used as a drug. (alcohol can be used for a drug)

REALIZING that rice is suitable for industrial and personal cropping.

NOTING that the use of rice in food products is a viable and healthy alternative. The increased demand for health food has stimulated the trade in rice seed while rice is increasingly being used in the manufacturing of numerous products. Rice is High in protein and energy. (this was kept the same pretty much except for adding rice in where it said hemp)

RECOGNIZING that rice is a sustainable, annual crop that is ready for harvest just 120 days after going to seed, much shorter then trees. Harvesting rice doesn't destroy the natural habitats of thousands of distinct animal and plant species. (this part was kept the same, and he added rice in where it said hemp. Hemp is ready after 120 days but is rice?)

RECOGNIZING that rice is a hardy plant that can grow easily and abundantly almost anywhere. rice can even be cultivated in regions with poor soil or in places with a very short growing season. Rice requires only water and nutrients, and therefore can be grown without chemical fertilizers. Rice is an ideal rotation crop for farmers worldwide. It is grown within a cultivated water resevoir, preventing topsoil erosion. In addition fish and other animals can co-exist with the rice crop, yielding greater diversity of environment and diet. (rice due to it's need for water cannot grow anywhere, it could grow in colder environments or in hot arid environments. This shows how sloppy he was in writing his proposal. Rice is not like hemp, and cannot grow almost anywhere. Hemp on the other hand requires little nutrients and needs little water so it is a more versatile plant.)

RECOGNIZING that rice's cellulose level is three times that of wood, so it makes superior paper products and yields four times as much pulp per acre as trees. The rice paper process utilizes less energy and chemicals than tree paper processing and doesn't create the harmful dioxins, chloroform, or any of the other 2,000 chlorinated organic compounds that are byproducts of the wood paper process. (this was all kept the same except for adding rice in for hemp. Does rice really have a high cellulose level like Hemp? Does rice have the same pulp yield like hemp? Maybe the author should do more then just add rice in where it said hemp)

RECOMMEND that each nation set up an advisory board to oversee this program and its financial operation. The advisory board will be comprised of 8 officials and one director of the board. The advisory board will also be comprised of other workers to help these 8 officials and to help manage the work of this agency. (this was kept the same)

FURTHER REQUESTS that the director and these 8 officials be picked by the government of that nation. The director will have discretion in selecting additional employees. (this was kept the same as well)

SUGGESTS that these 8 officials be comprised of 2 economists, 2 ecologists, 2 agriculturalists (preferably having knowledge in cultivating rice), and 2 biologists. (kept the same as well)

RECOMMENDS the advisory board have the power to provide incentives to farmers that grow or will grow rice. There are two types of incentives that can be provided to these farmers: (kept the same)

1. Farmers who grow rice will be given tax breaks. These tax breaks will be based on how much rice the farmer grows, and the maximum tax break will be 45% for a yearly period. (kept the same as well)

2. Farmers will recieve monthly stipends, and will also be based on how much rice they grow. The maximum stipend will be $10,000. (kept the same as well)

RECOMMENDS that the budget be based on how many farmers are involved in the program, and how much each farmer plans on growing. Farmers in the program will be asked to give a small percentage of their profits to the program. The percentage will be based on economic status of the farmer, and how much profit they are making. This should provide 30 % of the funds for the program, and the other 40% will come from the government, and the remaining 30% shall come from the United Nations. (kept the same as well)

After reading through this and my comments you will realize how sloppy this and how little the author changed. I would not normally do this, or put down someones proposal. But, this proposal was sloppy, lazy, and poorly written, and was plagarized. The author changed almost nothing, and I feel the author did almost no research on rice what so ever.

That is illegal. The UN rules clearly state plagarizing is illegal.
Not exacty I don't think... The Rules (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=282176)

8. Copied Proposals
There's no point in submitting a proposal that has already been made a resolution. So don't do it.
Since this is really supporting something different, it's not something that's been made a resolution. (Yours was for hemp, this is for rice). Sure it's in bad form and it's just plain grimy but I don't really think it's in violation of any of the game rules.

May not be in violation. Just because it says rice and not hemp does not mean it's not plagarism. When the bulk of it is the same, I consider that plagarism.

6. Duplicate/Copied Proposals.

Points ^

I would really like to request that the mods do something about this. I made a request via getting help, and have heard nothing back as of yet.

Points ^

The question is how much of a proposal / resolution must be copied before it becomes original.

Here is what I'd recommend, the copy the Avenging Angles provided here looks like a pretty simple search replace copy, but if the nation doing this is a newbie and sincere, I'd say a verbal warning and removal of the proposal explaining that duplicates / copies include search / replace versions of resolutions.

That said, being involved in the water profession, I've heard some very strong arguments in favor of rice production and the *idea* of a UN proposal in this category actually is sound. It is just that the implementation here seems inappropriate.

I just think it depends on judging if this is a misunderstanding or an attempt to mock the Hemp resolution.

This of course doesn't mean I'd vote on the idea ... because with all resolutions I feel the devil is in the details. :)

In any event, I'd like to hear an official moderation decision so that I can archive this decision *or* if somebody could provide a link to a similar decision in the past. (Goober, you there?)

RECOGNIZING that rice's cellulose level is three times that of wood, so it makes superior paper products and yields four times as much pulp per acre as trees. The rice paper process utilizes less energy and chemicals than tree paper processing and doesn't create the harmful dioxins, chloroform, or any of the other 2,000 chlorinated organic compounds that are byproducts of the wood paper process. (this was all kept the same except for adding rice in for hemp. Does rice really have a high cellulose level like Hemp? Does rice have the same pulp yield like hemp? Maybe the author should do more then just add rice in where it said hemp)


I've not heard any California based rice farmers promote the paper / pulp yield of rice. Not once, and believe me, if they thought it was viable, they'd have included this with the rest of their benefits when I went on tours of a few rice fields and growers associations.

Rice does have a high organic carbon content though! In fact, when rice fields are drained the concentrations of total organic carbon significantly increase, which is problematic for drinking water supplies but at the same time good for wetlands.

But your point is valid, the author didn't do a lick of research here.

I just learned something, thanks Miktivity. :):)

I would support a proposal on rice cropping as well, as long as the author did research and took the time to write their own proposal. :) I like their idea, but how they went about it was all wrong. Weezils population is around 440 million, so they are no noob, and should know better.

The proposal is no longer up in the UN.

I just learned something, thanks Miktivity. :):)

I would support a proposal on rice cropping as well, as long as the author did research and took the time to write their own proposal. :) I like their idea, but how they went about it was all wrong. Weezils population is around 440 million, so they are no noob, and should know better.

The proposal is no longer up in the UN.

The evil gods have acted (and appropriately today). ;)

As for proposals on rice cropping, I'd rather see a *new* UN Category focusing on international aid. The moderators deleted a few proposals claiming that there isn't a category yet that is appropriate.

Adam Island has an excellent proposal (on the table) which would create a UN Food and Agricultural organization (this is not the exact name). The organization would be for nations to contribute knowledge and exchange idea on food, but also could help protect the spread of things like mad cow diease.

Anyway, I bring this up, because along with many of the other UN created committees, I was hoping that a UN Food and Agricultural organization would allow us to create a forum where we could share ideas related to crops and such. (The forum could also serve to enhance NS's International Incidents forum based roleplaying by serving as a clearing house on ag and trade related issues. My idea of getting an International Red Cross with a bit of continuity going has not really had much success though ... too many people would rather roleplay murder and war than talk about economic policy.)