SAP F1 Help - permitted or not?

[former_member182378]

Moderators,

I have (recently) seen  that pasting a screenshot of (entire / part) SAP F1 Help is not permitted.

Although the poster is indicating that the screenshot (or content) is from SAP F1 help.

A thread with an example:

http://scn.sap.com/thread/3283848

wrote:

...But, reproducing content from SAP F1 Help is as good as impersonation. And I believe you are aware that impersonation or plagiarism is strongly discouraged and strictly prohibited in SCN.  Kindly avoid these conduct for your future post.
Further, please review SCN Rule of Engagement again and adhere them.

I have gone through the link mentioned above (SCN Rules of Engagement), but it is still not clear that SAP F1 help is against the rules of the Forum. Please inform.

Side comment: If we can not use SAP F1 help, then screenshots from SAP too should not be allowed. Please comment.

In my opinion pasting SAP literature or transaction related is different from pasting any other thing.

SAP is the reference / the "anchor" which is central to all discussions in these forums...so there should not be this kind of rule.

What to draw the attention of the below members to this thread

Thank you, in advance!

[jpfriends079 · Accepted solution]

TW

Can you show/refer us in original post, where the respondent had indicated that the content is taken from SAP F1 help?

Regards

Jyoti Prakash

[former_member182378 · Accepted solution]

Jyoti,

Thank you for your reply!

I do not know if this member put the SAP content in

Quotes, using button Quote Previous Message

But the bigger question is if reference is given (e.g. SAP F1 Help) along with the screenshot, is it permitted? There is certain scope for clarity - what is permitted and what is not?

E.g. screenshots of VTFA and other configuration screenshots, why are these not considered as "plagiarism"?

(reference: From thread mentioned in Original post.)

Furthermore, (two of) my posts had been rejected / edited, when I had given screenshot of SAP F1 Help, along with referencing (indicating) that the below text is from SAP F1 Help.

[Lakshmipathi · Accepted solution]

But the bigger question is if reference is given (e.g. SAP F1 Help) along with the screenshot, is it permitted? There is certain scope for clarity - what is permitted and what is not?

If you go through once again my response, you will find answer to this query.  Reproducing F1 help is not permitted here though you may not find that in Rules of Engagement clearly but there is clear mention there that copy pasting from other source is strictly prohibited.  The same applies to F1 text also.  Can you please let me know what is wrong in insisting members to check by pressing F1 help, instead of reproducing the content; thereby spoon feeding which definitely is not allowed here.

G. Lakshmipathi

[Lakshmipathi]

Various initiatives are going on in SCN team to update the Rules of Engagement periodically.  Also, you would appreciate that it is highly impossible to put each and every conditions in a document and after having discussions in a separate forum only, we (Moderators) are taking such action which is applicable across some 50 forums. 

On your comment,

If we can not use SAP F1 help, then screenshots from SAP too should not be allowed.

yes I too agree that reproducing F1 help should not be encouraged, but providing SAP screen shot is necessary ONLY in some cases.  But most regular members keep on providing screen shots even for queries where text explanation is suffice. Screen shot is necessary only when lot of discussions and suggestions are going on for a particular thread and the OP is not able to understand where exactly the issue.  In such cases, I can recommend but such cases are only at minimal.

My simple question to you is when we are able to provide some old links / threads, why not the OP can do this ?  The message to all is before posting any query, OP should put some efforts to find out whether their query has already been answered.  By doing so, it is a fact that the number of threads posted in SCN would drastically be reduced.

G. Lakshmipathi