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Perhaps a strange question, but here goes...

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by boxfiddler

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I have often noted when copying and pasting information from a web-page into Word that the font color of the pasted material is just slightly less black. Just enough so to be noticeably gray to a discerning eye. Does this always happen, or is this a sometimes only kind of thing? Also, is there any other circumstance in which copying and pasting information into a Word document will result in the barely noticeable gray color to the pasted information?

Thanks.

26 replies

by the scummy one

to display the proper color?
Off with your head! :^0 :^0

I havent noticed really. But I know somtimes pasting into Office03 changes the font like 30 sizes.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

and I am hoping to find that I am not the only one who has noticed this particular 'peculiarity' in Word. Or hoping perhaps that someone who knows can enlighten me as to whether or not this is a protective technology used in web pages in order to give note that something has been copied and pasted.

Trust MS? Surely you jest. But of course you do!

by seanferd

Have you tried copying a section of suspect text and searching for the exact phrase on the 'net? Or is this already a printed document?

by sleepin'dawg

only happens when my ears start ringing which depends on how long it's been since I got laid or how much I've had to drink on an empty stomach. It's not so bad if I've had something to eat. This is brought on by that nefarious condition or malady called lacanookie.

I wonder if Beth will give me a crack of her whip for this one??? :^0

by boxfiddler Hot topic

I will be sorely tempted to get out the sledgehammer and wedge. Or maybe the electric pencil sharpener with the adjustable input zone. Ha!

by computercookie

the font is also small, I'm sure you're aware that saving to favourites only works some times.

by seanferd

Font colors do not always transfer properly into Word. Perhaps the "slightly less black" text was not black at all when copied. Can you check for font formatting differences between sections of text?

Example: If I copy a Google search result and paste it into Word, the appearance of the font changes a bit, black and bold are similar, blue looks similar, but green changes to a charcoal grey.

I suppose that this may happen between any two rendering systems. Other factors include how formatting is set up in Word, and whether or not text formatting was copied and pasted over the entire document or otherwise made to be homogeneous.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

Outside of the color change, this one is slick enough to 'select all' and ensure that the font type is the same throughout. Where something may have originally been in table format, the table has been converted to text.
For next semester I'm going to add a section to my syllabus that states that points will be deducted for every instance that a student blatantly advertises to me that s/he thinks I am stupid. Bah.

edit: add a missing word

by boxfiddler Hot topic

The time factor is putting me off however. I teach 8 week classes and this particular class is writing intensive. If I were to luck out and get the exact thing I need in the top couple of search results - and on the first page or two of a particular website, that would be one thing. But I can't spend hours searching out definitive proof.

Frankly, that gray is a dead give away that this has been copied and pasted from something else.

So I was curious as to whether or not anyone else has noticed it as if so, it is a common thing that I can bring up when speaking with him/her.

by jaqui

I have noticed that many word processor apps copy formatting from websites into the documents.

My method of nailing people:
ding them points for plagiarism.

When they get that they think you really know your stuff and stop doing it. ]:)

after all, if I clearly mark content as a quote, and credit the author, then I get points for researching the subject don't I. ;)

by boxfiddler Hot topic

when I can prove it.

What irks me here, is that when asked how I know it was plagiarized I will have to tell him/her that the font color was the give away and the next time this person does the same thing s/he will likely remember to fix the font color.

That or I have to spend hours that I don't really have hunting up the place from whence it hails. But I think I'm going hunting after my test this weekend, at least until the next batch of homework is submitted, and my own is due.

Goofy little s*** copied the first submission directly from the book. And all this from a chapter about plagiarism, copyright, and fair use. Gads but they are ...... sometimes!

Ggggrrrrrrrrrr. Rotten freaking so and so...

Thanks Jaqui

edit: remove that st word - remarkably unprofessional

by seanferd

Probably not even the third. Plagiarizing an article on plagiarism. Must come standard or something.

You know, if they do their work in school, you can have Word track modifications to the document at some levels, but maybe not good enough. Can formatting be locked out?

by seanferd

would be the smart thing to do.

As long as it's not the whole of the document.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

requires putting one's brain into that gear that allows it to take what it learns and transform that into action.

Which would be the smart thing to do.

There seems to be a huge 'disconnect' between what goes into a student's brain and what they do with that. How on earth do you read a chapter on plagiarism, fair use, copyright and then go right ahead and turn in completely plagiarized homework? I don't understand at all how a person can rationalize this!

Crap. Now I sound like my mom. ;)

by jaqui

and back when I was using wordperfect [ dos days people ]
not only did I quote the source with credit, I would have a complete bibliography section for everything quoted.

fancy little superscripted numbers that links directly to the bibliography if viewing in wordperfect and all on the quoted text.

I did, in one course, turn in one assignment completely made up of quoted material, with the exception of the final part, the summary / conclusion. I got a perfect mark, just for that one paragraph, since it proved that I had read the material and understood it. :)

by boxfiddler Hot topic

not really. These are electronic classes and virtually all of them work from home. About the only time I see them in the lab is when they are having a problem and need to talk with me face to face.
Which is ok in certain circumstances! ;)

by computercookie

I noticed that all the people who got there work in on time (and always got distinctions) cut and pasted from online material. I was always late and used mainly my own words or referenced according to the institutions guidelines and only got credits and distinctions.

by computercookie

I've been looking for it but I can't find the email.

I'm sure there was something in TR before recommending how to reduce the size of word doc's by removing document changes and exposing your format changes?

by seanferd

can strip out all the change tracking and personally identifiable information. I'll see if I can find it.

Edit: I think Word 2003 will do this itself, but there was a tool for earlier versions. Try this search, as I don't know which particular version of Office everyone is using:

remove metadata from Word document

Enjoy.

by seanferd

Quote the info source for supporting your conclusions.

Knowing what to do with what you know.

by seanferd

I remember getting confused by the citing convention differences between the way scientific papers and everyone else (MLA, etc.) did this.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

which is to get students thinking in terms of simply citing sources, I let them know that MLA style is our English departments preferred style and that they should submit with MLA style. I provide them links via Blackboard to sites that in turn provide examples of 2 primary citation styles.

Blackboard allows me to track views of virtually everything I post, and the students who actually view the External Links page are few and far between. And then, just because they view them doesn't mean they visit them. This is unfortunate, as they can acquire knowledge of things before they may need them and I have a fairly cool (ok so maybe not if you're not remotely geeky) collection of links.

Pooheads, they're just pooheads! ;)

edit because I needed to...

by boxfiddler Hot topic

Thank you seanferd. I have a bit of time tomorrow, so I will do some searching!

by jdclyde

and select TEXT instead of the HTML that it is going to paste it as.

Should take care of that.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

I was asking in order to establish that this is something known to someone besides myself. I have (an ESL) student who is plagiarizing all homework and that color change is just one of the things that is a giveaway that copy and paste from the web has been foisted upon me.

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