Possibly the biggest sin on Wattpad is to steal someone's work.
People go bat-shit crazy when someone steals their copyrighted stories.
Seriously.
I've seen people threaten others with dismemberment if they didn't remove their blatantly copied work.
Yet, most writers on Wattpad do not give that same courtesy to writers who are not on Wattpad.
Don't understand what I mean?
Well, how many times have you read a story on Wattpad that talked about "Romeo and Juliet" without quotation marks around the title or the title was not italicized? I don't know about you, but I've seen plenty. And that is the same thing as copying someone's work.
That's right, not citing a reference or title properly is the exact same as copywriting it. Either way you are not acknowledging the author's work and it's considered dishonesty. You can and will get kicked out of colleges/universities for it. Trust me. I've seen people fail due to academic dishonesty just because they didn't refer to a title properly.
Let's forget the ethical and academic implications for a moment and consider the reader. Now, unless your characters happen to be called "Romeo" and "Juliet", you should give the reader some indication that you're talking about a bloody play. It's not always obvious. For instance;
Jared poked Alisa's shoulder. "Psst. Where are Romeo and Juliet?"
Alisa turned to face him, "The cigarettes, Shakespearean play, bevy of cheesy romance novels, the characters in said play and/or novels, or our classmates?"
"The play, obviously. I think I lost it last night -- I was busy reading epic stories on Wattpad after meeting up with my dealer. Speaking of which, since when is a giraffe in our math class?"
"We're in chemistry. And that would be our teacher, Mrs. Doe."
"God, her voice is like a dolphin's -- maybe she's a dolphin-giraffe. Holy crap. We should kill her, stuff her, and preserve her body for science."
"As long as we can leave class early."
Really? Was it truly that obvious (the reference to the play I mean. You could tell Jared was taking some pretty strong shit)?
So be a good person, a clear writer and goodness' sake, acknowledge other writer's work.
When referring to something that someone else wrote, at the very least italicize the title.
