Ever get the feeling that an idea you once expressed to someone become recycled and then that person got the credit for the idea you pitched? That has been bugging me for some time as I am a first year student and I have been warned by other PhD students as a rule of thumb to not give out too much information about your theoretical ideas or your methods given that others might 'subconsciously' scoop it up and incorporate it into their own research. But then you want to also talk to others about your ideas and see what the counter arguments might be. Are most of you selfish with expressing your thought-out 'ideas' or do you think that when it all comes down to it, the student who argues the idea the best deserves the credit.

I'm a part-time student in a department with quite a large number of students. Generally we're working on quite different topics, some related thematically, but otherwise different, so it's possible to discuss ideas and methodology without any risk of someone nicking your idea. If I was a student in an area where there was potential for closer overlap I'd probably keep things more to myself. But as it is, I find it beneficial to knock around ideas with a few close contacts.