"What really is originality?"
Well, really, let's start with the actual definition. Originality is defined as either the the ability to think independently or creatively, or the quality of being novel or unusual. Meaning that it's something like no other, well, kind of. To me it means that you thought of something yourself, and made it reality, or in my case, virtual reality. A lot of people look at skins/builds/blogs/anything really, and go "Oh wow I wish I'd have thought of that." mainly because it's amazing, beautiful, interesting, etc. There are three different things to do after wishing that you'd have though of that first:

OPTION ONE:
You can take that skin, for example, and leave a comment or a diamond to tell the person you thought it was really good. (Sometimes I just go and download a skin to let someone know I like it, although I never use it.) In my opinion, this option is [GOOD] 

OPTION TWO:
You can take that skin, and instead of commenting and telling them that it's good, you download it and upload it on your account without giving proper credit. That's not original. Why would you even do that? This option is [BAD]

OPTION THREE:
You can take that skin, and be inspired by it. Open up your skinning program, whether it be Photoshop or McSkin3D, and create something like it. Not the exact same thing, but not too different. This option is [GOOD]

"So? What's your point?"

My point is that it's usually always better to be original with your work, it's really important to PMC, because without originality, all it would be is teen skins and chicken interview blog posts. That would be no good. It may be easier to steal skins and claim credit for them, but in the long run, it really just makes you seem like a jerk. I don't know if anyone else does this, but if I see someone has stolen a skin, and renamed it, I try my hardest to steer clear of them, mostly because it's just a jerk-like thing to do. Some common replies from skin stealers when confronted about it:

"It gives you 5 xp when you post it."
But think about it, if someone figures out it's stolen, they'll flag it and it'll get taken down, and you'll lose that 5 xp, not to mention the possibility of you losing you posting privilages, so why take the risk?

"It's easier, it'll definitely get loads of downloads!"
That's lazy. Don't be lazy. Lazy is bad. And that's also probably not true. I think that an original skin with fantastic shading (See Tores for a good example of original skins with fantastic shading) will get more views/downloads/diamonds than an unoriginal teen skin that has horrible shading.

"But mine is different, he has a suit on! The other doesn't!"
No. Stop.

"Who's it hurting?"
The PMC community. It makes PMC look bad, and I'm sure it angers the person who made the original skin. Of course, I can't speak for everyone, but I would certainly be upset if I found that someone had taken a skin of mine and took credit for it.

"This is really just a rant about skin stealing!"
Echm, kind of, but no. Although I do use it as an example, the idea of originality applies to everything on PMC. Projects (If I had a nickel for every pixel art build...), Skins (TEEN SKINS OH MY GOD), Blog posts ("Interview with [insert Minecraft mob here]), Texture Packs ("SimpleCraftPack" You know, the ones that are just solid colours, no shading whatsoever), and even Usernames (xXSniper[Adjective]Xx). So, no, it's not really just a rant about skin stealing.

Those are just me thoughts on the matter, and why it's absolutely horrible to steal, anything. Stay original my sweets, and don't forget to Diamond if you like it, Favourite if you really really like it, and to Subscribe if you want more! ♥