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Rebecca ([info]rebeccasama) wrote in [info]fandom_wank,
@ 2003-11-29 14:44:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
*whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine*
Don't you love it when they throw a fit because they got caught?

As most people know, the easiest way to get blacklisted from a fandom is to commit the ultimate sin. Plagiarism.

As it happened on a LOTR list, Gilraen stole bits (quite a few bits) of someone else's story verbatim and tried to call it "inspiration." The author who "inspired" her found out about this and was naturally unhappy. Said author proceed to post her displeasure, behaving a lot better than I would have...


I am not usually a bitch - but I couldn't believe it this week when I
was reading the updates. First of all I thought, aha - similar to
mine...... But then I found whole phrases that belonged to my story.

(Note: Original post edited because the posted link has been removed.)

Not only have you stolen my ideas, my words etc. Gilraen my dear,
but you have also added in inaccuracies - There are no chalets on Mt.
Taranaki, only huts. You cannot drive in, you have to walk.

Gilraen, I'm glad you enjoyed my story and that it has inspired you,
but please fingers away from my actual phrases. That's called
plagiarism.

I'd like to see you remove this story and remove the parts that
belong to my story. Thank you



Now the author's case was pretty solid because her fic had reviews from over a year ago and the plagiarist's did not. So the mods ban her and remove all her fic from the list archive, reasoning that if she did it to one she probably did it to others.

Plagiarist cries foul! Starts emailing people and whining all over the place saying that they shouldn't take down her original stuff, etc, etc. It boils down to YOU'RE MEAN!!!!!!!!!!!111onetwo

Naturally the ever-persecuted plagiarist has posted a giant whine in her LJ about how she will REMAIN STRONG despite what the efil fandom is trying to do to her. Link is here http://www.livejournal.com/users/minas__ithil/7363.html but since it will probably be friendslocked, I've taken the liberty of copying it for you

Yesterday I've been thinking that I wanted to delete everything.
Site, livejournal, yahoo group.

Why?
Because of the flamers that were having fun in sending me offensive mails without giving me the possibility to answer.
It's easy to shoot on someone when he cannot answer, isn't it?
But I want to tell you something.
I'll be there. I'll continue and you want to know why?
I'm strong and you cannot kill me. I'm stronger than you, and I've better things to do instead of answering your mails of frustrated people trying to give vent to your rage... You should see a good doctor it would help you, believe me.

I've spent the whole night in crying in my pillow, because you know what?
I'm a very sensitive person and I easily get offended, even because I usually almost never speak ill of other persons, and it hurts me when others do it to me.
But well, guess what?
I'll not stop writing.
I'll never stop doing it.
I'll go ahead and I'll follow my path, no matter what you say, I don't mind.

Thank you Megiliel, Kelly, Orondo, and in a certain measure I want to thank even Rohandove, who sent me a simple answer yesterday but that meant a lot to me. Thank you all.
It's because of you that I'll continue writing.



Le sigh. Anyway she's deleted anything anyone posts there so far but I have also taken the liberty of tracking down one example of her plagiarism (inspiration).

Original:
"Just a kiss."

"I already gave you one!"

"Give that one to your mother. Give me one to pass my standards and I'll give you your hand back."

Oh boy, I could feel my nipples tightening and I knew I was in trouble.


Thief:
"A kiss".

"I already gave you one!"

"Oh, c'mon, it was a childish kiss" he grinned sensually, and I could distictly feel his breath ghosting on my skin. "Give me one that will pass my standards and I'll give you the bed".

When I felt my nipples hardening I understood I was in troubles. Great troubles.


Anyway, that's just one example. Leeetle too close for comfort for most authors. The rest of it follows much the same pattern, change the name or part of a sentance and call it original. *sigh* I really didn't feel like slogging through the rest to find more copied material.


(Post a new comment)


[info]necronomist
2003-11-29 10:06 pm UTC (link)
I'm a very sensitive person and I easily get offended, even because I usually almost never speak ill of other persons, and it hurts me when others do it to me.

Cuz it's all about you, honey. Not the ripping off the story, but your delicate sensibilities.

(Reply to this)


[info]amasaglajax
2003-11-29 10:29 pm UTC (link)
Because of the flamers that were having fun in sending me offensive mails without giving me the possibility to answer.

Because, you know, the "reply" button is too hurtful to approach.

I'm strong and you cannot kill me. I'm stronger than you

Really?

Heh, heh, heh...

I'M A SURVIVOR! I'M NOT GON' GIIIIIVE UP! I'M NOT GON' STOP! GON' TRY MUCH HAAAAAHDER!

You should see a good doctor it would help you, believe me.

I've spent the whole night in crying in my pillow


Who's the one who needs the doctor, again?

And dear Lord, if that's an example of her writing, it's almost understandable that she's a plagiarist. I mean, damn.

I don't know whether to use my "Go Away" icon or my "Loser" icon. They're just both so appropriate. But plagiarism makes me feel all homicidal-like, so why don't I let Draven help me out.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]rebeccasama
2003-11-30 07:02 am UTC (link)
*coughs* English is not her first language, and her stories are rather....bad. Which probably ticked off the original author even *more* (not only did you steal it, you made it suck, too!).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]dontgiveahoot
2003-11-30 02:24 pm UTC (link)
I had this happen to me, over a Harry Potter fic I wrote (called Giving Notice, if anyone actually cared.) *grin*. It involved the death of a main character, and was told in first-person POV chapters, with each chapter being for a different person's POV. I was receiving constant glowing praise over this fic from this girl (who will remain unnamed for her privacy) and so I thought I'd wander over and have a look at her stories. Imagine my shock when I saw a fic named "Denial, Complete and Utter Denial", where even the title was lifted from a phrase George Weasley used in my own fic.

Maybe I was a coward, but since the story was (and still is) a pet project of mine, I felt I might be too close to the matter. So rather than call this girl on it directly via email, or review her complaining about it, I directed my friends who had read "Giving Notice" to this other fic and asked them their opinion on whether or not it had been plagiarised. Everyone I asked conceeded that it HAD been plagiarised, and proceeded to review accordingly. I managed to save some of the reviews here before the fic was taken down.

I recieve emails from this girl, saying that people were accusing her of plagiarising my fic, and I tried to be tactful, saying "well, it isn't so much that the general concept has been used, but that so many details have been copied." I think she took it down herself rather than have it taken down, but I'm also pretty sure that she has put it up somewhere else. *shrug*

Jen / Quoth the Raven

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]sidewinder
2003-11-30 04:07 pm UTC (link)
:: nodding in understanding ::

Some time back their was a girl who was constantly sending me glowing feedback for my fic in one fandom, which then turned into eager requests to finish one of my series which I wasn't completing fast enough for her taste. I politely turned her down. Soon after that she started writing & posting her own fic--which disturbingly seemed to borrow elements, settings, plotlines, and small snippets of dialogue not only from my own stories but from some other, bigger name writers in the fandom.

What was annoying was that when she WAS doing her own writing, she was pretty good. But I was always uncomfortable reading her stuff because it was never blatant enough to be outright plagiarism, but it was always obvious enough to me where she was getting her :: cough :: inspiration.

Eventually she outed herself as only being fourteen, got kicked off the fandom list & archive for lying about her age and had us shitscared for a while because she was all "oh, I've done such a bad thing lying to you about who I am, I'm going to report myself to my parents and the police."

AAAAAAAAAAUGH.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]kannaophelia
2003-12-01 01:06 pm UTC (link)
But I was always uncomfortable reading her stuff because it was never blatant enough to be outright plagiarism, but it was always obvious enough to me where she was getting her :: cough :: inspiration.

I hate that. Because you start to think you're either paranoid or so self-obsessed you think everything is about you and your friends/admired writers... until other people begin to comment... and then you still don't know if they're doing it intentionally or if it just, ah, sank in. Or if it's a beginner thing where they learn by imitation. Either way, you don't feel you can really say anything at all, let alone "You stole my fic! Pleyjiarizt!"

Uncomfortable just about describes it.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]maryavatar
2003-11-30 06:21 pm UTC (link)
Oh yeah, same thing happened to me in the Andromeda fandom. Some guy plagiarised me and a bunch of my friends by rewriting parts of our stories as Star Wars fic. He'd even forgotten to change the names in places. He got yanked from ff.net then reregistered under a different name, and did the same thing again plagiarising the same writers.

After the second time he got yanked from ff.net, he switched to writing Andromeda fic, plagiarising our stories once again, then submitting them to the archive I run. Not only that, he used the title of the archive as the title of one of his stories, and sent me a writer's profile almost identical to the one that was on ff.net.

He wanted to be my friend and suggested challenges for the archive and shit...

O.o

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]mariagoner
2003-11-30 09:24 am UTC (link)
>>I'm strong and you cannot kill me. I'm stronger than you.

Heh. I want to test that one out too.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]shoiryu
2003-11-29 10:51 pm UTC (link)
I'm hoping English is not a first language for this one. Yeesh.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]nekoneko
2003-11-30 03:28 am UTC (link)
Please excuse me while I fangirl you icon.

Farfieeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]shoiryu
2003-11-30 08:29 pm UTC (link)
Heh heh heh, share the sexy psychopathic loooove.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]smo
2003-12-01 06:15 pm UTC (link)
Is it me, or are Schwartz approximately 10,000 times cooler (and smarter) than Weiss?

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]resmiranda
2003-11-29 11:13 pm UTC (link)
I'm strong and you cannot kill me. I'm stronger than you, and I've better things to do instead of answering your mails of frustrated people trying to give vent to your rage... You should see a good doctor it would help you, believe me....I've spent the whole night in crying in my pillow, because you know what? I'm a very sensitive person and I easily get offended, even because I usually almost never speak ill of other persons, and it hurts me when others do it to me.

It is all about teh AGO-KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!1! of her sensitive soul! Can't you people SEE THAT?

(Reply to this)


[info]azarias
2003-11-29 11:29 pm UTC (link)
*resisting urge to toss her the link to this thread where she can't delete the comments*

*is good*

(Reply to this)(Thread)


winterfox
2003-11-30 11:06 am UTC (link)
Good's overrated! XP

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]iris
2003-11-29 11:49 pm UTC (link)
Spent the whole night crying into her pillow. Riiiiiight.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]cesare
2003-11-30 12:05 am UTC (link)
Well, she had all night to cry, since she doesn't waste any time writing...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]kannaophelia
2003-12-01 01:07 pm UTC (link)
Don't be so insensitive. Rephrasing is hard work.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

It was my story
(Anonymous)
2003-11-30 12:10 am UTC (link)
This is miriel. It was my story that was stolen. And the worst thing was that she pasted two of my sex scenes (from chapter 1 and chapter 10) together. But not all of it, just a sentence here and there. Sigh.

What really scared me was that she talked about a sequel. Well I did produce 12 chapters and a rather smutty epilogue, so I was WORRIED.

Winch - did you have to print this example? it wasn't one of my better lines.

Still - please don't flame her anymore. I think she's got the picture...

(Reply to this)(Thread)

Re: It was my story
(Anonymous)
2003-11-30 12:21 am UTC (link)
Miriel,
She *doesn't* have it. The story is STILL up at her site. AND she's calling it an "error" in her LJ and getting supportive posts from her friends, calling everyone else bitches...

Larian, not logged in

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: It was my story
graphite_bois
2003-11-30 12:46 am UTC (link)
I was in the middle of posting a supportive comment to Alexcat in her LJ when she either pulled the rant or locked it. *shrugs*

Either way I understand, and just wanted to say that I am glad that Alex & Larian yanked the story, as the job of list mums and aunties is to look out for their community. This kind of thing can not be tolerated in any creative community....it is one thing to admire a work and play with it in your own sandbox ~ but entirely different to pass it off entirely as your own without credit to the original author for inspiration.

Those of us in fandoms are doubly aware of this fact...hence there is no falling back upon the excuse of a slight 'error'.

I am sorry to see that it has escalated to this level, and hope that things blow over sooner than later as it will cause no end of grief till it does.

Pira

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: It was my story
[info]alexcat
2003-11-30 03:48 pm UTC (link)
*I am sorry to see that it has escalated to this level, and hope that things blow over sooner than later as it will cause no end of grief till it does.*

Me too, Pira. It's already caused me quite a bit of grief and aggravation, Larian too.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: It was my story
[info]rebeccasama
2003-11-30 07:03 am UTC (link)
Don't worry Miriel, at FW we don't promote flaming of other people's journals. We're not *that* mean, we just wish we were.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: It was my story
[info]rebeccasama
2003-11-30 09:27 am UTC (link)
Oh and sorry for the line I picked... It was the first one that I managed to find and well.... I didnt' want to read anymore of hers. It sucks. Yours doesn't.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: It was my story
(Anonymous)
2003-11-30 01:21 pm UTC (link)
This is Miriel. Thanks for the support. I know its still on her site. But there is not much I can do. I have also visited her LJ, and she has written me a brutal reply to my email. *shrugs*.

Life goes on. I can live with her version so long as it stays on her site and doesn't move anywhere else.

And yes, cringe that was the most obvious piece of theft, sounds terrible out of context though. lol.

I missed most of the storm at OEAM - I was sleeping at the time.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: It was my story
(Anonymous)
2003-12-17 08:04 am UTC (link)
Hell I just want to know where to find your story. And major kudos for being nicer about it all than most would have been.

Kijikun

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]limyaael
2003-11-30 12:12 am UTC (link)
I love how the plagiarist is "so strong nothing can kill her" but so sensitive "that she spends all night crying into a pillow." What does she have, an inflatable backbone?

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]mariagoner
2003-11-30 09:34 am UTC (link)
...

Okay, that is just a priceless image.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]jumble
2003-11-30 12:12 am UTC (link)
Unbelievable. This bint... it's crazy what people will do and say when they're desperately trying to convince themselves that they've OMG TOTALY DONE NOTHIGN WRONG

(Reply to this)


[info]bohicamouse
2003-11-30 01:20 am UTC (link)
I usually almost never speak ill of other persons

I'm not sure why that amuses me to the extent it does.

Dude, if she writes that poorly even when she's plagiarising another story . . . ouch.

When I felt my nipples hardening I understood I was in troubles. Great troubles.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]fxh
2003-11-30 01:55 am UTC (link)
When I felt my nipples hardening I understood I was in troubles. Great troubles.

This sounds like something that was passed through the babelfish translator from English to another language and then back to English.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]zannechaos
2003-11-30 01:57 am UTC (link)
Maybe she feels that "troubles" is a stronger, more l33t term?

"HA!" so sayth the plagerist plegirist plagiarist. "Her character is in trouble, but mine? HA! See the difference? Mine is in troubles! Mine is in more trouble than hers, so it's not plegersm plagrism plegiarism plagiarism! Take that!"

Followed by the sound of cheesy, canned villain laughter.

Which is then cut off abruptly when her laser-loaded tuna (because she's not cool enough for sharks or even angry bass) get hungry and take a few bites from her just to shut her up.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]rebeccasama
2003-11-30 07:40 am UTC (link)
Well you see if she makes it suck completely then it's not stealing, is it? Right?

(Reply to this)(Parent)


(Anonymous)
2003-11-30 08:25 pm UTC (link)
Hey, Maram68 here!

I was there when Miriel noticed the "incident". I have to say, i was also very upset and posted a comment on this girls LJ as well. A signed one.

Miriels and mine comments where nowhere next to flames, just something in the sense of: "Dear Gilraen, this story is too familiar and similar to this other fic".

I have absolutely no idea if that qualifies as a flame or harassment or else.

I'd only wish we could create a better conscience among us, fanfic writers and readers, that would make us understand that this isn't a crime, but an action that hurts others and also, remember that the net isn't that big. Specially in specific fandoms.

I can only hope Gilraen learned from this. And tackles her next fic with better attitude.

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2003-12-01 04:06 pm UTC (link)
Ack, she's dragging the plagiarized-from-LotR name of Gilraen through the mud. Irritating.

- Gilraen

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]sajasma
2003-12-01 05:09 pm UTC (link)
Oh don't worry, honey, you did a good job of slogging through the mud yourself. *pats*

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


(Anonymous)
2003-12-03 01:21 pm UTC (link)
Huh? I just picked the same username as her! Hardly a capital crime. . .

The *OTHER* Gilraen

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]sajasma
2003-12-03 02:08 pm UTC (link)
*snicker* Ah gods, I'm sorry! And for having the same name... I'm REALLY sorry.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]eljuno
2003-12-01 09:09 pm UTC (link)
You know, suddenly my insane fear that someone out there's gonna call me on plot similarities between my fic and theirs doesn't seem so batshit insane.

(Reply to this)


 
   
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