Hi, I need some form of advice I suppose, and it didn't seem like any other sort of forum fit my situation. Someone, a Guest who has gone by the name of Emma, is threatening to report my profile for my own works, it isn't like it's offence, it is the first chapter of a LoK fanfic that I have updated in ages. None the less, it is my work, she has told me that her 'friend' has written it, when in fact I can prove that it's mine, and that it is my OC, no matter how difficult it may be, I can prove that she is mine. Anyhow, I don't know how to deal with this, and I'm scared that I will lose my profile, along with all my work on it. I understand that it is just fanfiction, but every piece of writing I do, I love and cherish because it was my own hard work that has gone into it. I don't know whether I can report a Guest for threats/abuse? Or if I have to find the person who has in fact copied my work? I have searched key-words of my story in google, put entire paragraphs in, along with the summary, and still, I haven't been able to find a second person who has posted it. Please, if anybody knows how to deal with this, then I would appreciate it more than anything if you can tell me, or give me some advice. Thank you so much, 10/25 #1 |
Did the reviewer give a name for her friend? If so, you can search for the name to find the story, but if you can't find it with the searches you have done, I'm not sure what more you can do to find it. Anyway, an accusation of plagiarism must be backed up, with sceen-shots of the pages and dates of posting, so whatever you do, don't delete the story. You will lose the time-stamp on the story if you do, which is one of the most important evidence you have. If you can't find the story, then it is a fair chance the reviewer wanted to scare you. Why, I have no idea, but they can't delete your stories. They can report them, but that will not get them anywhere unless they can back up the accusations. You can't report a guest, I fear. You can delete the review, but other than that there is not much more to do about the reviewer I fear. There is a forum dealing with plagiarism, but I don't remember the name at the moment, I'll have to dig it up first (or another member might remember before I get that far). One tip: put a bit more about what the problem is in the title of the tread. You might get the right people interested in your tread quicker. 10/25 #2 |
Unfortunately, they didn't give me a name of their friend...and I'm scared there isn't anything I can do to prevent them from accusing me of things that I haven't done. I've not deleted the story, but I have the review so that it won't show up, but it is still in my e-mails, so I can keep an eye out for them popping up on my profile/anything else I've written. I'm going to keep looking, even though the only thing that has come up in my search has been my profile. But thank you so much, and I won't delete anything that can help prove my case! 10/25 #3 |
Try copying and pasting some of your story on a known plagiarism checker like Grammarly or another site and see it it links it to any other stories besides yours. If it doesn't, I wouldn't worry about it and it's an empty threat at most. If it does, then you'll be able to compare and contrast similarities as well as dates of publication. Also, plagiarism checkers may not not catch duplicate character uses if the story words aren't plagiarized. 10/25 #4 |
Thank you for the help, and I've had a look on different sites, and still, nothing has come up! I hope that it is just an empty threat, but the fear is still there. The e-mail claims that I've to wait 24 hours before they respond by reporting me, I hope that once 24 hours is up, I'll having nothing to worry about :) 10/25 #5 |
It sounds as though this person is just doing their best to troll you. To my best knowledge, unless you are copying a published author's work, particularly one whose works are forbidden to the site, the staff don't do a great deal about content or disputes between members. Trolls exist, they are very ugly and very cruel, and there's not much that can be done about them. 10/25 #6 |
And since 'Emma' isn't posting as a member, she can't be held accountable for her actions--but she also holds less credibility. Ignore her. Trolls don't stick around if you don't feed them. 10/25 #7 |
Agreed. The best way to deal with a Troll, is to ignore and report them. 10/25 #8 |
If someone ever accused me of plagiarism, my response would be "bring it on" basically telling them to prove it. That usually is enough to send them running in the other direction because they wouldn't have any proof. They would find it very hard to prove something that wasn't done. There is no need to be scared of you've done nothing wrong. 10/25 #9 |
I suppose I should have seen it that way, as an empty threat. I was determind to prove that I had done nothing wrong, even so, the fear of losing my work was really scary. I didn't know what to do, but you guys have helped a lot. I can't seem to find my story anywhere else but on my profile, and I suppose that means they have no proof and are probably a troll. I suppose it's pretty clear that this has never happened to me before, and I do know for a fact that it's not a fanfiction of an other who doesn't want fanfics to be written, it's a Legend of Korra fanfiction, so yeah...but thank you so much everyone, I owe you guys a lot! Also, I will let you guys know what hass happened with the situation, probably tomorrow seen as that's when I'll find out myself :) 10/25 #10 |
I know how you feel. I've been accused of plagiarism before (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the fact that my stories are pretty terrible.) The best advice I can give is to repeat what the others have said. Don't let it get to you and don't take your story down. The burden of proof is on them. 10/25 #11 |
There is a forum dealing with plagiarism, but I don't remember the name at the moment, I'll have to dig it up first (or another member might remember before I get that far). One tip: put a bit more about what the problem is in the title of the tread. You might get the right people interested in your tread quicker. Forum is called The Anti-Plagiarism Investigation Reports, aka TAPIR. I suppose I should have seen it that way, as an empty threat. I was determind to prove that I had done nothing wrong, even so, the fear of losing my work was really scary. I didn't know what to do, but you guys have helped a lot. I can't seem to find my story anywhere else but on my profile, and I suppose that means they have no proof and are probably a troll. I suppose it's pretty clear that this has never happened to me before, and I do know for a fact that it's not a fanfiction of an other who doesn't want fanfics to be written, it's a Legend of Korra fanfiction, so yeah...but thank you so much everyone, I owe you guys a lot! Also, I will let you guys know what hass happened with the situation, probably tomorrow seen as that's when I'll find out myself :) Unfortunately, it is not an empty allegation. On investigation, we found at least 4 cases of lifted text from 4 different authors/sources in your stories. Likely there is more, but you seem to enjoy paraphrasing the lifted portions to make the plagiarism less obvious. One Example: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10246484/8/Beautiful-Madness, chapter posted 2014-04-13 When we arrive near the Capitol three days later, Justice rushes Tiel and I to the front of the train so we don't miss anything. We pass under a tunnel, tucked neatly within the large mountains. I feel a shudder as the world of darkness I cling to the sill of the train window, and squint my eyes. I was unable to see anything for a moment but once we exited, it felt as though we had arrived in a different world, everything was so bright. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7023280/3/The-Black-Games, chapter posted 2011-06-02 by https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2212528/Mrs-Pettyfer When we arrive near the Capital three days later, Joo Dee rushes Sokka and I to the main level so we don't miss anything. We pass under the Great Gates of Azulon—a large statue of the so called Fire Lord standing in the middle of the sea entrance, flanked on either side by two stone dragons. My dad has mentioned the enormous gate to me before—said that it was built in honor of Azulon not being defeated on the Day of Black Sun. Also found at least 2 instances of copyright infringement where whole portions of canon dialogue copied verbatim. Would just like to add, Ms GirlBehindTheBook, TAPIR does not appreciate being used as a blind for your activities. We also do not appreciate your attempts to deceive our staff. If you post on our forum, better make sure you really do not have plagiarized material on your account, because we will be very thorough with checking and documenting of proof. We also verify with the original authors and dates of posting. If you have proof of your innocence that you speak of, would advise you present it now, because at the present, the amount of evidence is against you does not bode well. You may wish to remove the plagiarized stories and/or plagiarized portions of your stories. Apologies to cathrl for if this constitutes naming and shaming. If it does, please feel free to remove above post. But just wanted to let forum regulars know that sympathy towards the OP may be unnecessary. |
... Wow. Just, WOW. But I don't understand why people plagiarise in this way... I mean, if you're going to have to change bits to "disguise" it anyways, why not just write your own work?? It's probably roughly the same amount of effort involved... 10/26 #13 |
I was going to say, at first glance, of the portions provided, because there happens to be some similar phrases, wouldn't necessarily fit the requirement of substantially similar to prove a plagiarism charge. However, then I read the portion where it was mentioned that whole portions of dialogue were stripped and that is more damning evidence, (especially, if whole scenes are also paraphrased similarly to the one above). It looks like there is a reason to worry, after all. I just don't get how one ever feels the need to plagiarize fanfiction. There is absolutely no quantifiable reason to and the consequences if caught will effectively destroy any reputation they've built up and all their stories become suspect. 10/26 . Edited 10/26 #14 |
I was going to say, at first glance, of the portions provided, because there happens to be some similar phrases, wouldn't necessarily fit the requirement of substantially similar to prove a plagiarism charge. Ah, apologies, should have explained more clearly. The quoted example was only one where there was attempt made to the hide the source of the text. There were also others found to be verbatim lifts of stories from offsite with very little changes. But we did not wish to litter this forum with examples, since it has already been done elsewhere. |
But we did not wish to litter this forum with examples I completely understand and you did further clarify later on after the excerpt about chunks of dialogue, which I admitted were more damning, especially if she went on to paraphrase like that extensively (the paraphrase part I had edited in after I posted). Edit - I just took a look at the link provided and well, there is nothing to say except for I am amazed that someone could think they would get away with it by actually trying to come across as the victim in the plagiarism forum where these charges are investigated thoroughly. As for me, I neither believed nor disbelieved as there have been posters here trying the very same thing and ended up being the plagiarist. I have to wonder why. Why plagiarize fanfiction in the first place when there is no gain to be had? Why lie about it and try to do a pre-emptive strike knowing that the dates won't coincide in your favor and you'll be discovered anyway? Where is the logic? The grand irony in all this two of the authors she plagiarized are on her favorite authors list and their stories are on her favorite stories list, proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that she has actually seen the stories she plagiarized from, which fulfills the requirement of "access" where plagiarism and copyright infringement are concerned. It isn't wise to lie if there is a strong probability of being caught. |
Forum is called The Anti-Plagiarism Investigation Reports, aka TAPIR. Thanks. When I went digging, I saw she had posted there, so I did not bother to get back. Guess she found the right people, but it did not turn out the way she expected. I think when it comes to plagiarists, the name and shame rule is usually not applied here. |
I wouldn't consider it name-and-shame to refer to someone who'd come here and initiated the discussion on the thread. We're not an anti-plagiarism forum. But we are a forum which is opposed to plagiarism and I appreciate Horus giving us the heads-up on this one. 10/26 . Edited 10/26 #18 |
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