Justicar Report
Chamber of Justice Communique #017
On this day, May 31, 2007 of the Liberated Brotherhood, I the
Justicar of the Brotherhood now announce the punishment that this
Chamber lays upon Ashura Isradia.
Upon the conclusion of fair and just proceedings, this Chamber
finds you:
On the Charge of Plagiarism -
You did willingly and knowingly copy the majority of your article on
"Aerunians" directly from another authors work and tried to pass it
off as your own. You did not give proper credit to the original
author, and you were rewarded for completing this task.
You have been found GUILTY.
Sentencing for the party is as follows:
Removal of Medals given for plagiarized work
Letter of Reprimand
Three Months Probation
The terms of probation are thus:
-The guilty party may not receive promotion, appointment to
position, or any citation or honor of merit without the explicit
permission of the Justicar
Signed and Sealed in Justice,
Dark Side Adept Kir Taldrya Katarn
Justicar and High Protector of the Dark Brotherhood
_Chamber of Justice Communique #017b
Justicar's Opinion_
The Chamber received a complaint from an outside party, a man who authors a website dedicated to Gnomes. His complaint was that he had stumbled upon the DB Wiki and found quite a bit of a specific article plagiarized from his own material. The wiki article in question was about the "Aerunian's", who were the native race on one of Clan Plagueis' planets. The author had posted his original information years before, and was upset that his information was being used inappropriately and without credit.
The Chamber initiated an investigation, and determined that Ashura Isradia had been the author of the article. In the wiki article Ashura had merely taken portions of the Gnomes information, and replaced "Gnomes" with "Aerunian's". Upon closer examination it was revealed that approximately 60% of the article was copied word-for-word from the Gnomes website. Ashura was also given a medal for his work writing the information.
After the investigation was complete, the Chamber charged Ashura with plagiarism, for copying the majority of the "Aerunians" article directly from another authors work and passing it off as his own. Ashura plead not guilty to the charges, and the Chamber proceeded to a Trial by Justicar. The Justicar determined that the defendant was guilty of plagiarism, however he was delayed in making the sentencing announcement. During the delay, Ashura independently made contact with the original author and apologized for his mistake. In addition he was extremely cooperative with the Chamber and accepted responsibility for his actions. Due to these circumstances, the Chamber removed the intended demotion from his sentence, thus leaving the final sentence as removal of medals given for the article and six months probation.
You need to be logged in to post comments
Actually in the US once a trial has been concluded (Pre-trial, trial, sentencing, ect). All documents are to be open for public record, this is how newspapers and TV news get the information. The only things missing are people vital information, such as Social Security numbers and the like. As for being a democracy, yes the DJB is in effect a democracy. If I recall correctly an underlying reason we had the Exodus was due to the EH's "Military Dicatorship" doctrine. Also the Covenant has provisions to keep any one person from gaining too much power.
I have in the past bitched about not showing all the documents that was used in the trial. However it will not change until Kir decides otherwise. I trust his decision, and while my nosey side wants to know the details I remember a quote from my RL military training. "Need to know basis, and you dont need to know." That and my current job has tought me that the less you know at times the better.
Also I'd like to mention that the CoJ does not release details on case information, so please don't ask for further details. The full files are all posted to the DBs database for those who have access.
While it may seem that way at times, the DB is not a democracy.
Those with access in certain positions get more privileged information pertaining to things such as CoJ cases. The general membership has no say in the way such things are done, nor do they get to view all the information that was present.
Life's a bitch, Suck it up. :P
The complaint was brought by the original author of the material. Normally I write a JST opinion on cases, but this was a simple case and I wanted to get the decision out quickly, I'll add the opinion when I write it all up.
How does that make us not a democracy? This is how beaurocracy works... you dont get access to privalleged court files in the real world (unless you have a damned good reason =P) Average go blogs from democracy land can't just waltz into parliament and demand to have access to this and that...
Okay, we see who the defendant is...may we please have some insight as to who the plainfiff/accuser is? Otherwise, this is only one side of the story.
How does that make us not a democracy? This is how beaurocracy works... you dont get access to privalleged court files in the real world (unless you have a damned good reason =P) Average go blogs from democracy land can't just waltz into parliament and demand to have access to this and that...
While our tangent's surely interesting, it may be best to take all comments so far and post them on the MB...I see a mass post-deletion coming up. :P
Zeron: Democracy works, in real life, because it prevents the wholesale oppression of the majority. This makes it marginally less bad than all other forms of government.
The sad thing is that most majorities do not like extending that courtesy to other groups. As such, most democracies are themselves fettered by documents such as the U.S. Constitution to keep them in check. Documents which, notably, are not drafted by a majority but rather a small group of 'elites'.
That would be a shame Timeros this is one of the few intelligent discussions I've seen on the news board in nearly two years.
Ok, we take the debate over the merits, or lack thereof, of democracy to the message boards. Suffice to say: true democracy is absolutely the worst form of government. If two wolves and a sheep get to vote on dinner, what do you think dinner is going to look like?
Anyway, no need to point out the fact that I just contributed to the problem I'm trying to stop :P Go the MBs.
Ok, we take the debate over the merits, or lack thereof, of democracy to the message boards. Suffice to say: true democracy is absolutely the worst form of government. If two wolves and a sheep get to vote on dinner, what do you think dinner is going to look like?
Anyway, no need to point out the fact that I just contributed to the problem I'm trying to stop :P Go the MBs.
Meh, I don't feel like opening up a topic. I'm le tired. :P
here you are:
http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4285
I would like to point out that I did ask Kir to remove the medal I got for that work. And I would also like to point out that I did use work that was not mine, even if it was unintentional on my part.
I for one am happy how things turned out and would like to applaud the CoJ for doing the job it was founded to do. And let this be a lesson for everyone... It certainly has been an eye opener for me.
I would like to point out that I did ask Kir to remove the medal I got for that work. And I would also like to point out that I did use work that was not mine, even if it was unintentional on my part.
I for one am happy how things turned out and would like to applaud the CoJ for doing the job it was founded to do. And let this be a lesson for everyone... It certainly has been an eye opener for me.
It's nice to see that someone accepts the way things are done.
Everyone else...bitch bitxh, whine whine. The DC aren't your mothers that have to sugarcoat everything for you, and make sure that you're always happy.
You just don't get to know everything. The end. If you did, each and every one of you would be the JST. Well, guess what? You're not. There's a reason why it's structured so that only a select few have access to such proceedings.
Hell, even in a real court, the judge doesn't reveal all the evidence to the public. :P
Go cry somewhere else.
wait...this is not the delete topic button. Where did I put the delete topic button?
Anyways, this case was cut and dry. Ashura made a mistake and that mistake was corrected via an apology and the JST's sentence.
now...where is that button.
You must have missed the last one...
BECAUSE IT WAS DELETED! Buhahahaha!
:P
I have hidden it. In Nitemare's pants. Threadjack!
As was the one before it...and the one before that...and the one before that...
Wow. Sorry for starting this mess. Oh, and after seeing my PCON agree with Tarax...I just may need a transfer after all :P
/me slaps Malidir around a bit with a large log.
Stay, you!
-Timeros
Much as it pains me to agree with Tarax (:P) he's actually right. We're not a democracy, nor are we intended to be one. We do not have elections, a classic mark of democracy. While we have checks and balances, as well as certain rights as members, so did 13th-Century England under the Magna Carta. Yet like England of that age we are not a democracy.
The closest approximation of a real-life system of governance would be feudalism, with the king (GM) appointing lower nobles (Consuls and other DC members) who in turn appoint still lower nobles (PCONs, QUAs, etc.), ruling over the general membership. The only position ever to be elected is the Grand Master, who chooses a successor. This successor is then either recognized or not by the DC in a manner reminiscent of the Roman Senate in the early imperial era.
All in all, it should be clear that, while we have freedom and a great deal of autonomy in much of our daily DB activities, we are not a democracy.
Food for thought.
I agree with that, I can only speak for here in the UK but the sad fact is democracy isn't a good way of ruling a country or organisation, partly because you don't need much in the way of skill to get elected, and because unfortunatley under modern democracy every idiot gets a vote.
Where people get high office based on charisma and dubious behind closed doors promises and agreement the person who ends up in charge isn't usually the best person for the job. At least in the DB in theory people get high positions based on some level of ability or experience.
Democracy not works in online communities because:
There are no riot police to beat you out from the street.
You dont affraid you have anything to lose, ergo you wont stop whatever happens
You not need to listen to reasons. You are behind a computer and you are safe. Well at lest you think you are.
Like it or not, Democracy is working in RL because it has power, money and influence behind it. In this place the RL democracy cannot be reproduced at least i wouldnt try it :P.
We have freedom, we have rights, but democracy barerly exist in RL why would it exist in here? =P