It's advisable to read the forum rules, but plagiarism is an act which is frowned upon in any educational discussion group as it steals others work and attempts to get credit for it, so one does not really need to read the forum rules to know that. The excuse of, 'I didn't know it broke the rule' doesn't really fly.
Newbies should read this
thread and the included links.
This is very correct. I am yet to read the forum rules to the end, yet I am fully aware of plagiarism. Stealing someone's intellectual property is worse than stealing someone's money or physical property.
It is as bad as paraphrasing without the consent or citation of the original owner.
What is written down represents you, if stolen, part of you is stolen. Intellectual properties should be protected here by enacting a severe penalty(ies) for offenders.