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Top of the 12:37 AM to you all. I have a small subject to discuss with errbody here today. The issue of the word "unoriginal" has been passed around a lot of PMC, and I think that it's finally come to a head where people are legitimately getting upset at seeing this word and the many meanings that it may have. I guarantee you, though, that the word isn't being used in the way most people imagine it is.
Now, before we go into the specifics, I will admit one thing: unoriginal was a badchoice of wording for PMC. Being a wordophile myself, I feel that the way that this word is thrown around by both moderators and members is a bit disheartening, not because it's being used but because many people don't seem to really 'get' why we use it - and yet, on a daily basis, people report content for being unoriginal and/or content is deleted by moderators for being unoriginal. In most cases it's used in the proper context, but, I wish to explain this is a more public environment.
We'll start with some wordplay. When most people think of the word "unoriginal", they liken it to synonyms like hackneyed, cliché,unimaginative, imitative, predictable. I'm sure most of you know where this is going, but, I'll skip the dictionary time and go straight to the point: this isn't what we mean.
It's a very easy mistake to make, because that IS what unoriginal means. This isn't, however, how (I think) the creation of the word "unoriginal" came to be on PMC. The "real" definition of "unoriginal" here has a completely different context. First, let's pick out the antonym of this word: original. This is an easy word to grasp, and when put side-by-side with unoriginal you can see the obvious similarities, but the problem is that the rules tack another word onto this: original content.This is where the butcher made a mistake and accidentally lopped off an extra finger.
These two, very common phrases have very different meanings, and this is where members get confused. There is no easy way to describe "unoriginal content", because it doesn't make sense. Original content, however, is its own term that has some very complex guidelines associated with it. Obviously, we have our own set of rules which dictate what is declared as original content on PMC, and said ruleset can be found hereon the forums.
Wikipedia defines "original content" as "user generated content", and in reality this is what it all boils down to. Most of the people who get confused with the term unoriginal are those who use programs to generate content for them & post them. When the content gets removed for "unoriginality", the content creators become confused as the aspect of their content being called a copy, a duplicate, inspired by another work, unimaginative: I mean, they've never seen anything like it, it's original, right? Yes, you are right, it is original in that context - but it is not user-generated content. It was made by a computer. A program beep-booped the codes together and spit them out for you.
The same applies to pretty much any section. Having a program write you an essay, having a program generate terrain for you, filtering texture packs & skins (although that falls more under remixed content - remixing pieces of user-generated content that wasn't generated by you- if you user isn't you, it is remixed user-generated content, which is not allowed), it's all non-user generated content. It is program generated. It is "unoriginal".
I hope that this clarifies any issues that members have had with myself, or moderators in general, over the concern of the word "unoriginal". I'm learning just as much as you guys are - while writing this blog out, I realize exactly how much of a problem this actually is, and that the best option for us is to rename the "Unoriginal" field to either "Program-generated content" or "Non-user generated content". In theory, it should help the issue of moderators using the "Unoriginal" response when they should be using the "Remixed Content" response (in terms of wording, both technically mean the same thing, but again many moderators and members are looking at the word Unoriginal literally), and it should help ease those who get content removed in the future, as they should have a better understanding of exactly what part of the rule it breaks, rather than feeling that they are being accused of copying somebody else, or simply having their content removed for being "unimaginative".
I should also clarify that we do not remove content for being unimaginative. If you are re-making a concept that somebody else has done, you have full right to do so. We will NOTremove content for simply being a "copy" of a "concept"/"idea". This is not grounds for removal. Please do not report things for being "unoriginal" if they are simply ideas which are similar.
Now, before we go into the specifics, I will admit one thing: unoriginal was a badchoice of wording for PMC. Being a wordophile myself, I feel that the way that this word is thrown around by both moderators and members is a bit disheartening, not because it's being used but because many people don't seem to really 'get' why we use it - and yet, on a daily basis, people report content for being unoriginal and/or content is deleted by moderators for being unoriginal. In most cases it's used in the proper context, but, I wish to explain this is a more public environment.
We'll start with some wordplay. When most people think of the word "unoriginal", they liken it to synonyms like hackneyed, cliché,unimaginative, imitative, predictable. I'm sure most of you know where this is going, but, I'll skip the dictionary time and go straight to the point: this isn't what we mean.
It's a very easy mistake to make, because that IS what unoriginal means. This isn't, however, how (I think) the creation of the word "unoriginal" came to be on PMC. The "real" definition of "unoriginal" here has a completely different context. First, let's pick out the antonym of this word: original. This is an easy word to grasp, and when put side-by-side with unoriginal you can see the obvious similarities, but the problem is that the rules tack another word onto this: original content.This is where the butcher made a mistake and accidentally lopped off an extra finger.
These two, very common phrases have very different meanings, and this is where members get confused. There is no easy way to describe "unoriginal content", because it doesn't make sense. Original content, however, is its own term that has some very complex guidelines associated with it. Obviously, we have our own set of rules which dictate what is declared as original content on PMC, and said ruleset can be found hereon the forums.
Wikipedia defines "original content" as "user generated content", and in reality this is what it all boils down to. Most of the people who get confused with the term unoriginal are those who use programs to generate content for them & post them. When the content gets removed for "unoriginality", the content creators become confused as the aspect of their content being called a copy, a duplicate, inspired by another work, unimaginative: I mean, they've never seen anything like it, it's original, right? Yes, you are right, it is original in that context - but it is not user-generated content. It was made by a computer. A program beep-booped the codes together and spit them out for you.
The same applies to pretty much any section. Having a program write you an essay, having a program generate terrain for you, filtering texture packs & skins (although that falls more under remixed content - remixing pieces of user-generated content that wasn't generated by you- if you user isn't you, it is remixed user-generated content, which is not allowed), it's all non-user generated content. It is program generated. It is "unoriginal".
I hope that this clarifies any issues that members have had with myself, or moderators in general, over the concern of the word "unoriginal". I'm learning just as much as you guys are - while writing this blog out, I realize exactly how much of a problem this actually is, and that the best option for us is to rename the "Unoriginal" field to either "Program-generated content" or "Non-user generated content". In theory, it should help the issue of moderators using the "Unoriginal" response when they should be using the "Remixed Content" response (in terms of wording, both technically mean the same thing, but again many moderators and members are looking at the word Unoriginal literally), and it should help ease those who get content removed in the future, as they should have a better understanding of exactly what part of the rule it breaks, rather than feeling that they are being accused of copying somebody else, or simply having their content removed for being "unimaginative".
I should also clarify that we do not remove content for being unimaginative. If you are re-making a concept that somebody else has done, you have full right to do so. We will NOTremove content for simply being a "copy" of a "concept"/"idea". This is not grounds for removal. Please do not report things for being "unoriginal" if they are simply ideas which are similar.
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( 3 cheers for 4th grade Spanish class!)
Hehe.
As for "program-generated" content, I support you fully within the confines of PMC, however, in the long run, I do plan to generate much (non-minecraft) content - with my own programs and art, of course. It fascinates me. All about scope, I suppose.