i got into an argument today

is self-plagiarism a really thing?

i say no

What the hell is self-plagiarism?
Oh no, I repeated myself! Expel me.

Self-plagiarism is a problem for different but related reasons. IANAL but if you don't properly cite what you find in other published sources, I believe it is assumed to be original work. If that source was from a different author, that means you're claiming their work as your own. In self-plagiarism, this is a problem because you'd be attempting to publish the same findings as "original" work in two different papers.

@tokumei It is original work though, isn't it? You made it. You have the rights for it.

@filthyranter yeah, but again, there's something morally wrong about publishing the same content twice. I'm still not quite sure why, but it doesnt feel right.

@tokumei But considering how citations is used as a measure of a work's worth, isn't citing oneself a moral dilemma, as there can be a conflict of interest with you increasing your own citations count

Guess that goes down to what proportion of your own previous paper you use.

@halfflat Well-put 👍

@tokumei isn't that just plagiarism?

@segfault0xff isn't that what I'm trying to argue? :)

@tokumei yeah I think lol

So if you discover/create a thing and wish to write 2 papers o. It, maybe one in depth and one just explaining it the minimum, or you wish to explain it separately due to it targetting multiple, no overlapping audiences, you have to cite one paper on the other one?

Seems dumb if you authored both.