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The Ugly P Word

Cia

Entry posted by Cia in Announcements

1,331 views

Which P word? Well it be similar to the way I stole that title from a Skype conversation with Wildone... Figured it out yet?

 

Plagiarism.

 

Yep, a thief struck again. I'm sure many of you remember my rant from a few weeks ago about how one of my stories, and 6 other authors' works were plagiarized on another site. A conversation ensued about how to protect your work, as an author, but I never had a chance to post it officially on the site. Well, this time we had a thief try to post their stolen work on GA, but they were busted. I contacted the original author and confirmed the theft, removed the work, removed their account, and our site integrity was restored.

 

There is a silver lining to plagiarism, which often brings the community together. Unfortunately it happens more often than you might think. Previously we had a large incident with multiple stolen works, which brought us the lovely Cassie Q. She found she liked the site, so she stuck around and continued posting her stories. This go round we have gained another great author, Gee Whillickers. While I hate that it took a theft of their work to bring them GA, I am happy they decided to keep posting here. Make sure you say hi to Gee Whillickers when you see him on the site, or check out his stories posted so far.

 

So how do you protect yourself against having your stories stolen?

 

Write bad stories no one wants to steal?

 

Some think it's a form of flattery, but I'd rather just get a nice review. If you post a story for free online, there's no way to prevent someone from copying it, unfortunately. Some plagiarists, the really lazy ones, just rename it and post it as their own. Others take more effort, changing names of characters, locations, and significant events/themes in the story. I had a daemon story turned into a werewolf fiction. I saw a contemporary story where the main character's gender was changed.

 

Fortunately for us, the MM reader community is pretty tight. People who read here also read on Awesome Dude, or Archive of Our Own, or Literotica... or many other sites not as well known. Reader discovery accounts for about 25% of the plagiarism we've caught here on the site; usually on work that's posted after the author has left the moderation queue. Why did they wait until then?

 

Every new author is subject to the mod queue on GA until they hit 75 likes. Until that point, their stories and chapters are checked, partly for our posting and content guidelines, and partly to verify the stories aren't stolen. That's how we tend to catch the other 75%. How do we do this? Can you do it? Yes, you can, and it's really simple.

 

How to check your stories for plagiarism:

 

1. Pick a distinctive phrase such as: Nyle looked up nervously as he rode under the portcullis.
2. Search the phrase within quotation marks "Nyle looked up nervously as he rode under the portcullis.".
3. Repeat search with a distinctive phrase without names: "The austere chapel and rigorous training had been a sharp contrast to his youth".

 

Tips: Search on both Bing and Google. Search phrases from the first chapter and later chapters. DO THIS OFTEN.

 


How do I get the story removed if I find one that's been stolen?

 

How to report plagiarism:

 

1. Look for a report button or a contact us link.
2. Copy the story link to the stolen story.
3. Share the stolen story title, author name, and links to your original. Haven't posted online? Keep copies of all sent mail to beta readers/fans with advanced reader copies of your work to prove when the content was written and sent. Offer to provide a forwarded copy of said email. If you really want to protect your work, purchase an official copyright, especially if you might publish later.
4. Follow up. Most sites will work with you to remove the content. Sometimes you have to take it further to the ISP.

 

How to issue a DMCA notice:

 

1. Contact the site owners/ISP with the following information: Your signature, links to your copyrighted work, links to the plagiarized work, your physical and online contact information, a statement in good faith that the plagiarized work is unauthorized, and a statement that your information is accurate under penalty of perjury....

 

There's a lot more to DMCA notices I don't want to outline here, but there is a great website which explains the process: The DMCA Takedown Notice DeMystified by Ken Liu

 

Sample notice:


VIA eMail at ISPHosting[at]isp.com
Re: Copyright Claim

 

To the ISP Hosting Company:
I am the copyright owner of the eBooks being infringed at:
(stolen work URL)

 

Original copyrighted material:
(your work URL)

 

This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512© of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing material to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to "expeditiously remove or disable access to" the infringing material upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.

 

I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.

 

Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

 

Sincerely,

 

Author/Real Name

 

Email: Your email
Physical address

 

 

So that's basically it. Search your stories proactively, but feel free to let me know if you need any help. I've had to deal with this type of situation many times, and I'm always willing to give advice or guide a new author through the process.

  • Like 18

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Timothy M.

I have to admit I don't care about plagiarism for my own sake. However, if it hurts GA, ie because readers, who might have joined us here, instead use sites which are careless about accepting stolen stories, then I might feel differently and make the effort to check. Not that I think anyone wants to steal a couple of half-done stories, but perhaps if I ever manage to get them finished, lol. :unsure:

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Cia
  • Site Administrator

The choice to check stories or not is always up to an author, and if you don't feel it's worth it, that's totally fine. I don't think having an author's stories stolen reflects badly on GA, though I do feel horribly anytime it happens here. We've had a few instances where several of our authors were targeted, but that's rare. Unfortunately, it's far more common on other sites, and if you cross-post, you're at an even greater risk. I wanted authors to have the information available if they feel the need to check their work. Readers are often instrumental in discovering stories on sites you don't post on (because a plagiarist is obviously going to avoid sites where you have a presence) but this gives authors a chance to be proactive.

 

Since I've been personally plagiarized 3 times, it's very upsetting to me on behalf of other authors. Additionally, by searching for my stories, I once found someone had posted a blurb and link to my story on their site... and it was NOT a site I wanted to be associated with. I've also found my published eBooks on download sites, which are a dime a dozen online, but it's still worth it to me to issue those DMCA notices.

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Valkyrie
  • Site Administrator

My biggest fear about posting online is someone stealing my work.  You've given some great insight and ideas about how to counteract it.  I'm grateful to all who are diligent about noticing and reporting plagiarized work. 

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wildone
  • Site Administrator
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Like Cia mentioned, it must be horrible that anyone as an Author finds out that someone has stolen their personal work and are trying to take credit for it. That's must be a horrible feeling when it is learned.

 

On on the good side ( have to find a positive), our site has gained so much in having both Cassie and Gee joining and sharing their work with us!!!

 

Thank you to Cia and your team ( ) for watching out. 

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Daddydavek
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I can't like this post because I find the whole subject despicable.  Plagiarism is too nice a word for what these sneaky little thieves do.  I have nothing but contempt for anyone who tries to take credit for someone else's hard work.  

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Gee Whillickers
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I'd like to personally thank Cia and the team here for discovering that one of my stories was plagiarized before it appeared under someone else's name. It's  interesting how I felt about it when it happened. You might think it would make sense to be flattered, or maybe a bit annoyed, but instead I found myself feeling angry and hurt. 

 

I can tell you I certainly learned a few lessons from this ordeal and will be protecting my work better in the future. And yes, it did bring me to post that story, and now one other, here as well. Hopefully that's a good thing, but that's up to the readers to decide! It's a great community here though, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

  • Like 7
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Krista

Welcome Gee Whillickers! Sorry your story(ies) were stolen and claimed.

 

I just think, if you're wanting to be praised for something.. want some sort of attention.. want to contribute to a writing community to just WRITE. If it sucks, it sucks.. :P But you get better.. if you try. 

 

Anywho, thanks Cia, for the tips to keep our work safe. As expansive as the internet is, I say many of us are victims without even knowing. This is why I like GA - the staff and most importantly the readers fight for the authors here. :) 

  • Like 5
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Westie

Unfortunately, DMCA takedown only applies to servers in the US.  If the server of the site you are complaining to is based in the EU, you will almost certainly have a higher burden of proof requirement before the site owner has to act.  It's worth getting some information on the EU process if possible - I know one ISP that refuses to even read a DMCA notice if issued

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Lisa

I think it's horrible that there are people out there who think nothing of stealing someone else's work. Each and every author puts everything they have into their stories. How can someone disrespect an author and steal his/her work and pass it off as his/her own?

 

Years ago, when I was on that site you were talking about, Cia, I was reading a story that was pretty much word for word of Cassie's Not the Sun. I immediately informed the mods there, and they pulled it and I think banned the impostor. Being a big fan of Cassie's writing, I was very upset that someone was trying to post it as his/her own.

 

I have heard of Gee from someone somewhere, and I've always meant to start reading his stories. Now he made it easier by coming on here. :)

 

Thank you, Cia, for posting this and also for informing authors how they can find out if their stories have been plagiarized. I would have never thought of going onto Google and/or Bing.

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comicfan

Unfortunately, too many people feel they can just walk off with another author's work. I've seen the hell Cia and KC went through trying to prove their work was their own. As someone who went through the trouble of getting an education, there is nothing worse then plagiarizing someone's work. It will get you kicked out of school faster than you blink. To know people see it as a viable option, instead of doing the work of writing their own is just horrible. I am grateful that the site works so hard to protect the stories of our authors and the authors of other sites.

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