Plagiarism community

[estepheia]

Okay, so there's been another case of plagiarism in our fandom. Every time this happens in a community the poor mod has to decide whether to go public or not, and every time the mod does, someone barges in and defends the plagiarist, or states that the case should have been handled discreetly, behind closed doors.

It is painfully obvious to me that we need safeguards and guidelines (and moral support). In short, we need a community to which we can take these cases. I kalready mentioned my intention to create such a community and I know there are others who already volunteered to help setting one up. So unless someone steps up and tell me we already have such a community for our fandom or unless someone beats me to it, I will create this community within the next two days or so.

What should be the purpose of such a community? IMHO it should

1. provide terminology for discussing similarites in fanfic, so that we can differentiate between cut & paste jobs, hommages, unauthorized Universe-borrowing, unauthorized sequel-writing, and downright theft


2. help community and list moderators decide what to do and how to approach the offender


3. maintain lists of known offenders (how public these lists are and whether offenders get off the hook or screened after a certain amount of time has elapsed, that has yet to be decided)


4. maintain "case files"


5. keep a "stable" of fast-reading google-ists, who help moderators and archivists track down originals of stories that have come under suspicion.


6. provide a place where plagiarism can be discussed (and where we can vent)

Maybe the community could even help remorseful offenders redeem themselves. (After all, many storylines in our fandom revolve around redemtion, don't they?)

I'm looking for names, oh and under no circumstances do I intend to turn into a bloodhound who spends all her days hunting down plagiarists. I believe after a bit of initial work this community can be quite dormant. It would only wake up and spring into action when needed...

As for names, here are a few suggestions:
no_plagiarism - stop_plagiarism - fandom_watch

The name anti_plagiarism is already taken (I found them because I just added 'stopping plagiarism' to my interests). The group shot down a handful of plagiarists in the anime fandom, but the community mod doesn't have a lot of time to devote to it, and besides, the main activity of the community was to warn off offenders, and, if necessary, inform archivists of the plagiarism. I hope that whaever we come up with will be more active. I also hope that many people volunteer to be mods of the new communtiy.

Suggestions would be most welcome.

ETA: kallysten just told me that quinara set up a community called stop_plagiarism already. So I guess that's where we should go and offer our help. :-)

Comments

duh can't spell

[kallysten.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/community/stop_plagiarism/

Re: duh can't spell

[kallysten.livejournal.com]

sorry was in a hurry, i just wanted to link you before i had to go... usually i'm a bit more expressive than that :P

Re: duh can't spell

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

No no, don't apologize. That's fine.
*hug*

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

I don't read a lot of fanfic these days (since I'm mostly writing it instead), but I would gladly help out with this community, because I feel very strongly about the issue of plagiarism. I would be glad to volunteer to help track down previous postings of questionable fics (to either support the accusations or defend the wrongly accused). I'm also good with bureaucratic stuff and am willing to offer opinions about how to handle situations, if such opinions are wanted.

[ponders-life.livejournal.com]

Not only do I agree with you and support your idea, but I've already done some of the legwork on this! Several days ago, after this exchange in my LJ with missmurchison, I shared my concerns about false accusations of plagiarism with quinara, who modified the definition of plagiarism in the user info page for the stop_plagiarism community.

I've also contacted someone who has experience in detecting and prosecuting cases of plagiarism, to take a look at the info, check it for accuracy, and offer suggestions. She said she'd be glad to, but couldn't do so until after the holidays.

I'd like to see this info page become something that can be considered an authoritative resource in fanfic fandom, so that whenever someone makes an accusation, people can link the accuser to the page and either:
1) point out what the accuser should do if they have grounds for the accusation, or
2) point out that they do not have such grounds.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Whohoo, yeah, I saw the infopage on that group. Very good. Very impressive.
you did a great job.
If you need a sounding board, count me in.

But now I have to go to bed - before I drop. *yawn*

[ketzel.livejournal.com]

My honest opinion? I would just ignore it. Life is too short to waste time on sad pathetic people who steal fanfic. I mean, what's the point in stealing fanfic? Getting feedback on something you haven't written? What kind of satisfaction could you possibly get from this? You all know what you can write. Let those miserable creeps rot in oblivion.

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

My honest opinion? I would just ignore it. Life is too short to waste time on sad pathetic people who steal fanfic.

I say that my work - original fiction or fanfic - is too important to allow someone else to claim credit for it. In fact, allowing it to occur unchallenged can cause unpleasant legal repercussions later (if, say, the plagiarist decides to change character names and market the story, which has been known to happen.)

Not challenging it means you can legally lose the copyright (which, by the by, protects even fanfic.) Derivative works are definitely covered by US copyright from the moment of creation. In addition, it opens the door to questioning of your character, because it allows the plagiarist to possibly claim that you were the thief.

No, I think it always needs to be challenged loudly, and the theif exposed. If they don't mind stealing credit for something they didn't write, who knows what they'll steal next?

[spicklething.livejournal.com]

Totally agreeing with Harmony. Just because it is fanfiction doesn't make literary theft any more acceptable. It is the same heinous act if the victim in question is Estepheia, HarmonyFB or JRR Tolkien.

We need to take a zero tolerance approach to this behavior.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you for clearing this up, Sheri. Well put.

[ketzel.livejournal.com]

Just my two cents :) But I can see where you are coming from too.

[treacle-a.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone who has been on both ends of plagiarism kerfuffles in the past, I know how incredibly hurtful and upsetting it can be to be falsely accused of stealing. But I also think it is very important that fic-plagiarists are brought to the attention of their fandom and 'outed'.

Whatever their motives, gaining dishonestly from someone else's hard work is completely unacceptable behaviour

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

You've been on the other end? Good lord. That must have been very painful.
I like how you still think that plagiarists should be outed. Thank you.

[treacle-a.livejournal.com]

I think it's important that any writer who's been accused of plagiarism should have the opportunity to defend themselves and to answer any allegations that have been made about their work. If it was an honest mistake - an unconscious osmosis of another person's idea or phrase - then that is entirely defendable and, as I'm pretty sure that the majority of fic-writers would agree, fairly common.

If it was clear-cut theft, I want to be able to ask them directly why they felt they had the bleeding right!!! ;)