In the last few hours, I have raised five (5) flags in SO and five (5) flags in Data Science SE (DSSE), all of them concerning systematic plagiarism (and attempts of) by a specific user.
In brief:
- Said user sees an SO question, posts an exact copy to DSSE, gets an answer there, then comes back here and posts this answer word by word (including a clarification in the comments) without attribution; FWIW, they don't not even bother to accept (or even upvote) the DSSE answer they plagiarize, while they prompt the OP in SO to "tick my answer as correct" (and end up with 3 upvotes).
- User does the exact same thing as above with another SO question - only difference is that now they accepts the answer offered at DSSE (no upvote though); plagiarized answer at SO gets accepted and 3 upvotes.
- User sees a DSSE question, posts an exact copy here at SO, gets an answer, then goes back at DSSE and posts this answer again word by word without attribution. Again FWIW, and in contrast with the relatively short answers of the previous bullet, this answer is a long and comprehensive one, including quotes and code snippets.
- User sees a question in SO with a bounty of 50, posts an exact copy to DSSE without attribution, but unfortunately (!) they don't get any answers there, so the act stops here
- User does the exact same thing as in the last bullet above with three (3) more SO questions, this time without bounties; again, no answers at DSSE, hence no further acts here at SO
With one justifiable exception, all these flags here and at DSSE were found helpful and accepted.
The result?
- At DSSE, user gets only a temporal suspension for plagiarism for 7 days
- Here at SO, nothing; user maintains their ~ 650 rep, and they are let loose to leave comments around, accusing me of "taking advantage of your reputation"...
So, to break down the question in the title:
- Isn't it clear that here we have a case of systematic, intentional, recurring, and planned plagiarism practice, aiming at gaining undeserved reputation across SE, which, had it gone unnoticed, could have gone on for who knows how long for? Or is it just my idea?
- If yes, what more is needed in order to permanently suspend such a user?
And to conclude, will I find myself eventually in the defensive, trying to complain for retaliation to people unwilling to listen?
Just asking... Because if I find myself in such a situation in the future, it would be obvious that I have done something very wrong...
UPDATE
Buried in the comments in Rob's answer below (and while I still keep on finding similar plagiarism cases in the said user's posts, including from sources outside SE), it turns out that the said user got a written warning (by email). Seems that these mods at DSSE are extremists indeed...
All in all, the question boils down to a definition issue: what exactly counts as first offense? It is the first time one does something wrong, or just the first time one gets caught, despite the fact that one may have multiple violations? Common sense suggests the former, however mods here have handled the situation according to the latter..
