# Moral Quandary - Trivia Pub Quiz is plagiarizing questions from book **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991 "2010-12-21T19:35:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/21 "2010-12-22T21:58:28Z")
Is the author local to you? If so, invite him out for an evening of bar trivia… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/22 "2010-12-22T22:05:46Z")
I don’t understand the dilemma. Why on earth would you NOT contact the author about this? What do you see as a downside? ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/23 "2010-12-22T22:35:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I don’t understand the dilemma. Why on earth would you NOT contact the author about this? What do you see as a downside? “The trivia goes away” is the downside. I don’t think it’s a real big operation, and any legal challenge could cause them to go under. Of course, I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/24 "2010-12-22T22:52:37Z")
If they are conducting business by fraudulently obtaining their materials, they should go under. That is not a downside, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/25 "2010-12-24T10:53:07Z")
Do I understand correctly that this is a book in the format of lists of questions, with answers? If so, is it not the very point of such books that they be used for setting quizzes? Why else would you write, or expect to find a market for, a book in this format? I think the book is probably being used for the purpose that its author and publisher intended. No foul. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/26 "2010-12-24T16:49:28Z")
**It’s Not Rocket Surgery!** - Who made you the trivia book sheriff? Do you get a tin star with that job? ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/27 "2010-12-24T19:05:24Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > **It’s Not Rocket Surgery!** - Who made you the trivia book sheriff? Do you get a tin star with that job? I’ve been plagiarized myself. I am only going to tell the author. If it’s no big deal, or if the book was intended to be used this way, then he’ll tell me and I’ll go on my merry way. It’s more of a “tattletale” thing than a “sheriff” one. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/28 "2010-12-25T01:49:23Z")
Perhaps we should also prosecute parents who read bedtime stories to their children. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991/29 "2010-12-25T01:54:59Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Perhaps we should also prosecute parents who read bedtime stories to their children. The company is making money off of trivia nights, claiming to write all the questions themselves and is actually using the written material of another author and that is equivalent to reading bedtime stories? I don’t think this is worst case of plagiarism known to man, but really, it’s not that innocent either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moral-quandary-trivia-pub-quiz-is-plagiarizing-questions-from-book/564991.md?page=1)