It's time for me to have a freak out, a hissy fit, a foot stamp and a moan. Sometimes, things bug me that much that I just have to HIVE about it. Thank goodness for the catharsis this platform provides, am I right? Where would us HIVERS be without a good rant?
For those of you that know me, you could probably attest to the fact I'm fairly forgiving, adaptable, and tolerant. I understand that language difficulties and the desire to earn here makes for some posts that are - well, not perfect, but still, interesting and valuable to our global social media that embraces all cultures and communities because we're pretty inclusive like that.
Not all of us have learnt the intricate details of markdown, and are still learning how to use capital letters at the start of sentences or finding out what the code is to center an image. That's okay, I can deal with that.
But stop passing yourself off as a medical expert by listing all the benefits of a medicinal plant, herb, or vegetable.
You aren't an expert. You've just googled it and copy and pasted it to your blog to pretend you know what you're talking about.
Don't tell me that you can't spell the name of the plant properly but you somehow can spell anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and alleviate.
Granted, if you change a few words around it might not look like plagiarism, but it is because you've just copied someone else's work, probably Medical News Today or WebMD.
That's theft - and worse, you're stealing from the reward pool on HIVE by getting rewards for work that isn't even yours.
Okay, I get it. Not all of you are thieves and ne'er'do'wells.
Some are adding perceived value to your gardening post or a great recipe handed down from your mother. Nice. I like it. Personal stories and anecdotes are great folk wisdom.
But for goodness sake, source this information.
Here's a couple of ways to do it.
'According to [WEBMD](link to URL where you took the information), arnica is good for 'quote information here to show it's not your words''
'According to 'Medical News Today',
- [Bullet point](link to article)
- Bullet point](link to article)
According to research, ashwagandwa is good for anxiety.1
According to research, ashwagandwa is good for anxiety.<sup>[1](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573577/)</sup>
According to this research, a
'high-concentration full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract improves an individual's resistance towards stress and thereby improves self-assessed quality of life. High-concentration full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract can be used safely as an adaptogen in adults who are under stress.'
According to [this research](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573577/), a
**'high-concentration full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract improves an individual's resistance towards stress and thereby improves self-assessed quality of life. High-concentration full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract can be used safely as an adaptogen in adults who are under stress.'**
According to research, a
According to research, a
[... high-concentration full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract improves an individual's resistance towards stress and thereby improves self-assessed quality of life. High-concentration full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract can be used safely as an adaptogen in adults who are under stress.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573577/)
With at least five ways to correctly source your claims about a medicinal plant, there's no excuse for passing it off as your own.
The thing is, it's dangerous to make wild claims about plants without backing it up. You morally and ethically should be pointing people toward information that would help people make informed decisions about their health.
I would suggest that if it doubt, you should leave it out.
By all means tell us the story about how it's impacted your health, but there is no need to back your perfectly legitimate story with evidence that isn't well sourced.
There's enough fake news in the world without you adding to it.
Rant over.
With Love,