This. You did a very good job of describing the current pattern of behavior of these pariahs who make a career from plagiarism. A lot of times, this is the basi

This. You did a very good job of describing the current pattern of behavior of these pariahs who make a career from plagiarism. A lot of times, this is the basis of their entire "work". They plagiarize nonstop and unapologetically. A lot of people who engage in these behaviors on the internet are narcissists, at minimum. At worst, they could be malignant narcissists (narcissists with sociopathic tendencies) or narcissists who are straight up sociopaths, too. What I mean is that it is not just straight up plagiarism: there is an unbelievably strange level of self-promotion from them on the internet, which is at minimum, a huge red flag. Their presence and "influence" on the internet is unavoidable, really. It is really tragic when they start going in to "research", which is a profoundly dumb move by them. At some point, they will get caught, and it will not be brushed off at all by other researchers and academics. One should be alert to identifying these people on the internet. They are "smart" in the sense that they know how to play and manipulate people, all the time. To identify potential narcissists online, I use this guide (although not scientifically verified): http://www.issendai.com/psychology/narcissism/narcissists-online.html http://www.issendai.com/psychology/narcissism/narcissists-on...