Quinara ([info]quinara) wrote in [info]stop_plagiarism,
2006-01-16 22:41:00

Update.

Us mods are probably going to all be mucking in on this one, simply because of size and time issues. So hello from me.

  • I've flagged the girl up to BloopDiary's support staff with the following, rather grovelly statement (which could've stood to be improved, if I'd spent some time on it - not sure what I was getting at with "some unfortunately...very angry"):

    Hello. This is possibly not the correct department, but this is concerning *Spikes Fics*, ie. User 43796 - and to some extent User 20651, who is the same person (made clear by this entry: http://www.bloopdiary.com/viewentry.php?id=20651&num=134).

    This user has repeatedly used their diary to post their 'fanfiction'. It can be found, however, in very nearly all cases, that the work is not their own and has in fact been taken from other sites such as LiveJournal and other fanfiction archives.

    The original writers have left comments to this user, asking them to remove the stories (some unfortunately, but understandably very angry), since no credit was given to them, but they have received no response. It seemed reasonable, therefore, that you should be contacted.

    Although fanfiction could be seen to hold the same rights and copyrights as 'normal' fiction, it could also be argued that it deals with a subject in much the same way as an essay does - by not 'creating' anything, as such, but instead presenting an opinion.

    Therefore, I believe I am justified in saying that this user is in violation of Term 3.g of the User Agreement. I hope that something can be done about it, because many people are upset about the current situation.

    Many thanks,
    Francesca (Quinara)

    An example for further clarification:

    http://www.bloopdiary.com/viewentry.php?id=43796&num=50&nostyle=1

    In this entry, the user specifically refers to themselves in the first person, and then procedes to present 'their' fanfiction. This was on 4th June, 2005.

    However, the exact same fanfiction was created by 'Speakr2customrs' on LiveJournal on 11th May 2005.

    http://www.livejournal.com/users/speakr2customrs/66352.html


    I used Sunnydale Passions as an example because it was the first entry I found with direct reference to herself as the author, and not for any other reason.

  • I don't want to email Spike's Baby herself at this point, in case it looks like I'm 'hassling' her, or anything else. That will be done the moment they get back to me.

  • I currently have over 150 images on my hardrive, and I'll attempt to upload these tomorrow so that we can put together the definitive list of whose been affected - art and all. Thank you to everybody who's already started in this regard.


It's so great to see the whole community coming together. You're all fantastic.

One final request: although you're all completely free to make your disgust known to this person, I would ask (with the little authority I have) that swearing and/or personal attacks are kept to the absolute minimum, if possible. This is simply because I think that otherwise we run the risk of making her look like the victim to any wandering outsiders.

Good night, everybody,
Quinara.
Tags: 2006, admin

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  • 24 comments

[info]velvetwhip

January 16 2006, 22:55:36 UTC 6 years ago

I think your letter was worded quite appropriately. And, while I was fortunate enough NOT to be among the plagiarized (as, unfortunately, several authors I know were), I would like to thank you for all your hard work on this case! Protecting one of us protects us all!



Gabrielle

[info]bogwitch

January 16 2006, 23:33:06 UTC 6 years ago

Swearing isn't very dignifed either.

[info]sockmonkeyhere

January 17 2006, 00:32:00 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks for the update, Quinara, and I think it's an excellently worded letter.

[info]angelic_amy

January 17 2006, 00:42:11 UTC 6 years ago

Nicely worded letter there! I hope they get back to you soon.

[info]mommanerd

January 17 2006, 00:44:28 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you for contacting them in such an official manner. I shudder to think of everything you mods will have to wade through with this one.

[info]amybnnyc

January 17 2006, 01:33:53 UTC 6 years ago

Excellent letter! Also, as I went through last night, I saved .mht Archive files of all of the fic pages from the first journal, should you need those.

[info]missmurchison

January 17 2006, 02:25:50 UTC 6 years ago

That's an excellent letter, and thank you and the other mods again for working on these issues.

[info]dedra

January 17 2006, 02:32:28 UTC 6 years ago

Quinara, your letter was very nicely and professionally worded, much nicer than the situation warranted. I am so sorry for the writers who were plagarized--they feel violated, and rightly so...sad that people cannot use their own imagination and have to rely on the fanfic of others to get the attention they seek. Hopefully, bloopdiary will resolve this quickly and expediently and this kerfluffle will be over.

[info]elysian13

January 17 2006, 05:12:30 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you. It was all I could say not to threaten to find out where they lived and strangle them severely. Not really that (seems like it'd be alot of misspent effort), but I am angry.

So again, thanks. I speak for myself, and I certainly hope I speak for many of the other author's whose work was stolen, when I express my heartfelt gratitude that you were able to put into words what I kept saying as "You lousy, thieving motherf...!"

I know what she took from me was a silly little Buffy/Harry Potter crossover I wrote to amuse myself, but it was mine.

[info]alwaysjbj

January 17 2006, 05:22:01 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!! Your time and effort is very much appreciated! Let's hope they do the right thing and delete the journals.

[info]ladycat713

January 17 2006, 07:46:17 UTC 6 years ago

This was an entry made from the BA_Gutter yahoogroup which archives at the Sandlot


hey, gang, sorry to hear so many of (myself included) were
plagiarised. There has been quite the dialogue and papertrail
started over at the LJ community stop_plagiarism.

Many thanks to all the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes to figure out who has been stealing from us all.

Today it was learned that the offending individual was a member over here at the Gutter. So thus, she was stealing directly from here as noted by the sheer number of Gutter fic that she has stolen.

As of a few minutes ago, she was banned from this site. I don't know if it will keep her out, but hopefully it will send the message that this behavior and betrayal of the community will not be tolerated.

I recommend that you all who have been submitting fic visit the
stop_plagiarism site if you have been plagiarised.

I know we have very few rules around here, but I am quite certain we can agree on a zero tolerance of plagiarism.

In the mean time, I hope that you all are still comfortable posting your fiction here and have it archived at the Sandlot.

KellyHK
co-mod


~~~
So the displeasure of the writers and readers are definitely being made known all over the place.

[info]spicklething

January 17 2006, 14:55:24 UTC 6 years ago

Hey, I was one of the plagiarised, so it didn't take much motivation to hit the smite button on the computer last night.

Besides, it is really becoming obvious that she lifted several stories (including mine) directly from the Gutter. We want the Gutter to still be a safe place to congregate and post fiction. That said, even though we have few rules over there, I think our fandom as a whole should take a zero tolerance to this attitude.

[info]nnaylime

January 17 2006, 14:19:13 UTC 6 years ago

You may want to look into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) - livejournal's explanation of it can be found here: http://www.livejournal.com/legal/dmca.bml - and google's template is here (http://www.google.com/dmca.html#notification). The template is pretty much the same for all with regard to the information that must be included.

The individual authors can file DMCA complaints against the plagiarist with bloopdiary's support department. Service providers are legally bound to deny service to repeat offenders or risk losing their common carrier license.

[info]ffutures

January 17 2006, 19:49:10 UTC 6 years ago

I really doubt that fanfic writers want to start messing around with the DMCA. We're not exactly squeaky clean in that respect.

[info]fer1213

January 17 2006, 15:26:11 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks, Ms. Quin, for looking out for us. :)

[info]missmurchison

January 17 2006, 18:31:14 UTC 6 years ago

The main diary and at least one of the others seems to have been taken down.

[info]missmurchison

January 17 2006, 19:22:53 UTC 6 years ago

I can't save it because I'm at work, but I wish someone would. All the writers who've had stories stolen deserve to read this apology:

Yep thats right Im closeing it.. Im sorry for what I did.. Im not proud about it at all. The reason I did do it tho was because at first I started writing my own stuff and then I had to much going on and well.. I got lazy so I started posting other peoples stuff. I shouldnt have I know. Im so sorry about it. But I have taken it all off and then in a few days I am going to be shuting this diary down. I just want to say agian to all the writers. I am sorry *hangs her head in shame*

http://www.bloopdiary.com/viewentry.php?id=20651&num=208

[info]amybnnyc

January 17 2006, 20:13:42 UTC 6 years ago

Got it! The screenshot is here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/AmyBnNYC/PlagiarismApology.jpg. I redacted my place of business from the header bar and a couple of personal details from the taskbar, but everything else is the page as it appeared about 5 minutes ago.

[info]missmurchison

January 17 2006, 20:15:42 UTC 6 years ago

That's great. It's so rare that you see an apology in these situations, and all the authors who had fics stolen more than deserve to see one.

[info]curiouswombat

January 17 2006, 23:18:49 UTC 6 years ago

Just a little note to say how efficiently and professionally I think everyone has worked together at this - I think everyone involved deserves chocolate at the least! Some of you really should get medals!

[info]sistercuervo

January 18 2006, 01:05:44 UTC 6 years ago

Well done, Quinara. I know lots of people who were affected by this person's plagarism. As someone else said, what hurts one, hurts all. I totally agree with that and with velvetwhip. We have to look out for one another. I'm glad she apologized, but the damage is done and people have been hurt.
Again, well done, Q

[info]quinara

January 18 2006, 16:39:07 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you - although compared to everybody else I've done rather little.

[info]spikesfool

January 18 2006, 03:44:14 UTC 6 years ago

I want to thank you Quinara> for the exemplary job you've done in handling this. Creative people on the internet always run the risk of having their hard work stolen. I think it makes all of us feel a great deal better knowing you and Stop Plagiarism have got our backs.

I'm glad the person who did this has owned up and apologized. I've heard she is young, so maybe she'll learn something about honesty and responsiblity from this fiasco.

I kiss you on both cheeks and present you with the traditional umbrella as internet Class Protector. Once again, thank you.

[info]quinara

January 18 2006, 16:41:48 UTC 6 years ago

Why thank you, though I must say that I didn't do very much compared to all the lovely people in this community and my wonderful co-mod [info]spiralleds.
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