Sin to re use someones forum post

  • Thread starter Thread starter catholicjames29
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

catholicjames29

Guest
I find very eloquent and intelligent responses on CAF to various topics. Would it be a sin to use someones post that addresses a claim from a non-believer or someone who has a different faith than me? Ive found my self copy and pasting a couple responses from CAF to other forums because they are way more eloquent than I could ever be… I just want to make sure im not committing a sin by this and since Ive done this a couple times would this need to be confessed if it is a sin? Thanks a lot!
 
If you are using their words to prove your point, then I would say no, as long as you give them credit for it. Believe me, I am awful at putting things in my own words, so I use a lot of quotes when debating (Jason Evert speaks for me many a time).
 
Notwithstanding the terms of use of CAF in respect of the permissibility, simply quoting someone else because you agree with them rather than ‘reinventing the wheel’ is hardly a sin. Just make sure you give credit where credit is due - i.e. don’t pass off the comments as your own. I’d also suggest that wholesale copying and pasting is, perhaps, a little bit lazy but quoting segments of others’ arguments in order to back up your own points is fine in moral terms. If all you want to do is requote a whole post from somewhere else without adding anything, I’d probably leave it up to the original author…
 
Just give credit where credit is due. Imitation is the highest form of flattery!
 
No one would object to say doing this:

*To Quote X from forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=482240 *
40.png
JohnDamian:
No one would object to say doing this
Click to expand...
👍
 
catholicjames29 said:
I find very eloquent and intelligent responses on CAF to various topics. Would it be a sin to use someones post that addresses a claim from a non-believer or someone who has a different faith than me? Ive found my self copy and pasting a couple responses from CAF to other forums because they are way more eloquent than I could ever be… I just want to make sure im not committing a sin by this and since Ive done this a couple times would this need to be confessed if it is a sin? Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Well, if you claim that you wrote it instead of someone else, thats in violation of the 8th commandment

And its writer’s ethics to always give credit to their sources, whether its a quote or a footnote
 
Why not just post a link to the post instead and say “I found Joe Blow’s post in this thread very inspiring”?
 
It is a public forum…our posts are not copyrighed, so you’re free to use any of our comments elsewhere.

As has been said, best not to take credit where credit is due elsewhere though.
 
Yeah whenever i did copy and paste i never did quote or give credit to the original poster though i never said these were my writings. I was just being lazy and wanted a quick but intelligent complete answer to the persons questions. From now on I will credit the original poster. Should I confess this or should I not worry about it?
 
As one whose every post is eloquent, witty and to the point I do not mind at all if people use my posts. In fact CAF would be a lot better place if people just read my posts, nodded their heads, posted a thumbs up(👍) and went on their way.
 
estesbob said:
As one whose every post is eloquent, witty and to the point I do not mind at all if people use my posts. In fact CAF would be a lot better place if people just read my posts, nodded their heads, posted a thumbs up(👍) and went on their way.
Click to expand...
👍
 
catholicjames29 said:
Yeah whenever i did copy and paste i never did quote or give credit to the original poster though i never said these were my writings. I was just being lazy and wanted a quick but intelligent complete answer to the persons questions. From now on I will credit the original poster. Should I confess this or should I not worry about it?
Click to expand...
It doesn’t sound especially serious, if at all. About the only sin you’d have to confess would be a slight tendency to laziness, rather than going into great detail about what website, what posts, etc. I think you’d have to be quite scrupulous to mention it at all, to be honest (does that make ME lazy?!)
 
If you do not credit the source, then you would be engaging in plagiarism (essentially passing off the words or ideas of someone else as your own and thereby stealing). It’s a violation of the 8th Commandment and should be confessed. Although it’s obviously a violation of school policy for students, I never really thought of it as also being a sin until I saw plagiarism listed as an example beneath the 8th Commandment in the guides available in my church, which are meant to guide you through an examination of conscience prior to confession.

Recently, I was reading a post in a Facebook discussion forum and someone posted a lengthy post which I knew was cut and pasted from a Catholic.com library link that I am quite familiar with. The person did not credit the source. I thought that it was misleading for this person to provide this information in a manner that implied that he or she had written all of that rather than crediting the source. And why not credit the source? The Catholic.com library is a good resource that his or her readers could then utilize themselves.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top