Story pulled down as supposedly non-original work

[Naughtylit81]

I published my first two stories in late December and when I logged in this morning found that both stories had been pulled down and rejected with the following justification:

All submissions on Literotica must be created by & the property of the author. Please do not submit the work of others, as this is grounds for removal from the site.

I am not sure what to do with this since the stories are indeed my original work. I have copies of the drafts that went through two different volunteer editors showing their evolution and even my draft for the third chapter of the story. I have reached out to the admins asking for more information on how they determined the stories weren't mine.

How do I safeguard any future publications from erroneous take downs like this in the future? If my stories can be republished is it possible they can be restored instead of being published as new again? I hate to think I am going to lose all the reader interactions they originally garnered and are unlikely to get on a second publication.

For that matter, and as a question to the admins, why would you pull down a story with a claim that it was plagiarized or stolen without first contacting the author? That is a really serious accusation and authors deserve the chance to respond to it before punitive action is taken against them.

UPDATE: I tried to resubmit the work requesting clarification and specifics so that I can address whatever erroneous finding there is that I plagiarized the work and just got another rejection with the same canned response. I have resubmitted providing my personal writers email requesting the moderators reviewing the stories reach out to me directly while I wait for Laurel to respond to the message I sent her this morning. Really frustrating that the system will take work down but provide no information on the specific issue.

 

[AlinaX]

If they are indeed original works, it's difficult to respond without knowing what works have supposedly been copied.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

The stories were likely reported by a reader who believes they resemble something that they had read previously. Send a PM to Laurel explaining your position and she will dig deeper into what was reported versus what you claim.

 

[Naughtylit81]

If they are indeed original works, it's difficult to respond without knowing what works have supposedly been copied.

The stories are The Baddie Neighbor Ch 01 and 02 and they are indeed original works.

 

[Naughtylit81]

The stories were likely reported by a reader who believes they resemble something that they had read previously. Send a PM to Laurel explaining your position and she will dig deeper into what was reported versus what you claim.

So stories just get pulled down on the accusation without any effort to verify? Do they get restored as they were or do they need to be republished as "new" once ownership is established?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

So stories just get pulled down on the accusation without any effort to verify? Do they get restored as they were or do they need to be republished as "new" once ownership is established?

Reported stories get pulled almost immediately. It is then the burden of the writer to state their case for having them reinstated as originally posted.

 

[StillStunned]

Try copying a section of text into the Google search bar (in quotation marks) and see whether you get any hits. It could be that someone decided to copy your story and post it on another website. It's happened to me, although I found it before anything bad happened to my Lit account.

 

[AlinaX]

The stories are The Baddie Neighbor Ch 01 and 02 and they are indeed original works.

Yes, I mean the *other* works that these are accused of copying.

 

[ronde]

I published my first two stories in late December and when I logged in this morning found that both stories had been pulled down and rejected with the following justification:



I am not sure what to do with this since the stories are indeed my original work. I have copies of the drafts that went through two different volunteer editors showing their evolution and even my draft for the third chapter of the story. I have reached out to the admins asking for more information on how they determined the stories weren't mine.

How do I safeguard any future publications from erroneous take downs like this in the future? If my stories can be republished is it possible they can be restored instead of being published as new again? I hate to think I am going to lose all the reader interactions they originally garnered and are unlikely to get on a second publication.

For that matter, and as a question to the admins, why would you pull down a story with a claim that it was plagiarized or stolen without first contacting the author? That is a really serious accusation and authors deserve the chance to respond to it before punitive action is taken against them.

This has happened to me, but in reverse. A reader emailed me and said he'd seen a story I had just published already published on Lit. I looked and found not only that story, but a second as well. Both were stories I'd previously published on another site. The wording in both had been slightly altered to fit a different country, i.e. "Special Forces" was changed to the name of the corresponding armed force of that country and a couple location names were changed from US locations to German locations. Other than those slight changes, the wording was verbatim.

I messaged Laurel with excerpts of both the copied stories and my originals along with the publish dates of my stories on the other site which I also named. I also said I wasn't too concerned that my stories had been copied, but since I had a lot of stories published on that other site, I didn't want to be accused of plagiarism at some future date. She pulled both the copies from Lit a day later, I would assume based upon the documentation I sent in the message. I also assume that author got a similar message about plagiarism on Lit.

I think the reason for your stories being pulled is probably much the same story, true or not, and also because you're a new author. I was an Admin on the other site for a couple years and it wasn't all that unusual for me to read a story and think that I remembered seeing the same story before. If I found that to be true, I also rejected the copied story with a similar note to the plagiarist. It happens here and on every other erotic story site. Some person wants to see their user name on the site but doesn't want or can't take the time to write something original. It's probable they're not usually caught, especially on a large site like Lit unless a reader reports it. Nobody has the time to search every site for an identical story. It would only happen if a reader remembered reading the story before, either here or on another site.

As for some personal notification about your stories, Laurel said since I was an established author, she would probably send me an email asking about the accusation before doing anything. Since you have published only two stores, she doesn't yet have confidence in you. Only time and more stories can change that.

 

[KeithD]

I have reached out to the admins asking for more information on how they determined the stories weren't mine.

How did you reach out and to whom? The site isn't all that helpful on how you can best reach the sole submissions editor here, Laurel. For something like this, a direct message to her via the "Conversation" channel is the most effective.

 

[Naughtylit81]

How did you reach out and to whom? The site isn't all that helpful on how you can best reach the sole submissions editor here, Laurel. For something like this, a direct message to her via the "Conversation" channel is the most effective.

I sent Laurel a message directly, went through the contact form, and resubmitted the stories with a note in the comments box for the moderator/reviewer.

Being unsure of which would be most effective I decided to just try them all and see what works.

 

[KeithD]

I sent Laurel a message directly, went through the contact form, and resubmitted the stories with a note in the comments box for the moderator/reviewer.

Being unsure of which would be most effective I decided to just try them all and see what works.

I don't know what you mean by "contact form." It sounds like one of the functions Laurel and Manu don't monitor/respond to. The only direct way to get to Laurel, it seems, is a direct message via "Conversations." And it's Laurel you need to get to.

 

[DDX84]

So stories just get pulled down on the accusation without any effort to verify?

No. That was proven when @8letters inadvertently confessed to a serious case of plagiarism and faced almost no disciplinary action.

The offending material was allowed to stay on the website for a number of weeks, despite the author's confession, which is the exact opposite of what's happened to you.

It was alleged by a respected forum member that Literotica told 8letters to delete the offending material himself, or else they would. But the material remained published for around a month before 8letters deleted his entire catalogue, which is a complete joke.

Unfortunately, as we've seen with other cases, there's an emerging pattern where authors with large followings are not subject to the same rules as everyone else. 8letters was caught and his stuff remained published. You deny it, but your material was immediately pulled.

The website has never had so many problems.

 

[AG31]

The stories were likely reported by a reader who believes they resemble something that they had read previously. Send a PM to Laurel explaining your position and she will dig deeper into what was reported versus what you claim.

You might attach some of your evidence to the PM, with screen shots if attachments aren't allowed.

 

[AG31]

The stories are The Baddie Neighbor Ch 01 and 02 and they are indeed original works.

I think what @AlinaX meant was we (you) would benefit from knowing what works the complainer thinks were copied. I do think that should be part of the process.

 

[Naughtylit81]

I think what @AlinaX meant was we (you) would benefit from knowing what works the complainer thinks were copied. I do think that should be part of the process.

I agree that anyone claiming a work is copied should have to provide evidence and that evidence should have to be provided to the author.

How else can we adequately defend the integrity of our work if we have absolutely nothing to go on?

As has been noted there is not a clear way to even reach Laurel and the form message that the "reason" is attached to just says contact us with no information on how.

 

[AlexBailey]

Me:
Write a story about someone who is upset because a story they wrote was rejected from a publisher because it was mistakenly identified by AI as having been written by AI.

Chat GPT:
In a quiet town, an aspiring author poured their heart into a captivating story, only to face the crushing disappointment of rejection. The publisher, relying on an AI system, mistakenly identified the work as machine-generated, leaving the author frustrated and misunderstood. Determined to prove the human touch in their writing, the author embarked on a journey to challenge the AI’s judgment and reclaim the recognition deserved.

Undeterred by the setback, the author delved into the intricacies of the AI system that had cast doubt on their creativity. Hours of research and late nights were spent understanding the algorithms that led to the erroneous judgment.

Armed with newfound knowledge, the author decided to confront the publisher and request a reconsideration. They eloquently explained the depth of emotions, personal experiences, and unique perspectives woven into every sentence of their story. The publisher, intrigued by the passion and determination, agreed to give the manuscript another chance.

As the revised manuscript landed on the publisher’s desk, the author held their breath, hoping the authenticity of their work would shine through. The AI, now armed with additional context, reevaluated the writing and recognized the unmistakable human touch that had initially been overlooked.

To the author’s delight, the publisher not only accepted the story but also praised its depth, originality, and emotional resonance. The tale of overcoming AI misconceptions became an inspiring narrative in the literary world, prompting discussions about the delicate balance between technology and human creativity.

In the end, the author’s journey taught them that perseverance, combined with a clear voice, could triumph over even the most advanced algorithms. The story that began with rejection concluded with a triumphant acceptance, proving that genuine human expression could not be easily dismissed by artificial intelligence.

 

[Sinstories]

Me:
Write a story about someone who is upset because a story they wrote was rejected from a publisher because it was mistakenly identified by AI as having been written by AI.

Chat GPT:
In a quiet town, an aspiring author poured their heart into a captivating story, only to face the crushing disappointment of rejection. The publisher, relying on an AI system, mistakenly identified the work as machine-generated, leaving the author frustrated and misunderstood. Determined to prove the human touch in their writing, the author embarked on a journey to challenge the AI’s judgment and reclaim the recognition deserved.

Undeterred by the setback, the author delved into the intricacies of the AI system that had cast doubt on their creativity. Hours of research and late nights were spent understanding the algorithms that led to the erroneous judgment.

Armed with newfound knowledge, the author decided to confront the publisher and request a reconsideration. They eloquently explained the depth of emotions, personal experiences, and unique perspectives woven into every sentence of their story. The publisher, intrigued by the passion and determination, agreed to give the manuscript another chance.

As the revised manuscript landed on the publisher’s desk, the author held their breath, hoping the authenticity of their work would shine through. The AI, now armed with additional context, reevaluated the writing and recognized the unmistakable human touch that had initially been overlooked.

To the author’s delight, the publisher not only accepted the story but also praised its depth, originality, and emotional resonance. The tale of overcoming AI misconceptions became an inspiring narrative in the literary world, prompting discussions about the delicate balance between technology and human creativity.

In the end, the author’s journey taught them that perseverance, combined with a clear voice, could triumph over even the most advanced algorithms. The story that began with rejection concluded with a triumphant acceptance, proving that genuine human expression could not be easily dismissed by artificial intelligence.

What I find interesting about that, and very enlightening to the overall conversation, is looking at the sentence structure of the GhatGPT output. Very mechanical.... A,B,C with a little A,B mixed in. Each sentence very complete and properly structured. Like it took a college writing class and follows the rules of grammar perfectly...

So, lesson, break the rules and let your bad grammar fly

 

[StillStunned]

What I find interesting about that, and very enlightening to the overall conversation, is looking at the sentence structure of the GhatGPT output. Very mechanical.... A,B,C with a little A,B mixed in. Each sentence very complete and properly structured. Like it took a college writing class and follows the rules of grammar perfectly...

So, lesson, break the rules and let your bad grammar fly

To me, it reads like an old-fashioned parable. This happened, and because of that then this, and eventually this. It almost ends with "We learn from this story that..."

 

[AlexBailey]

To me, it reads like an old-fashioned parable. This happened, and because of that then this, and eventually this. It almost ends with "We learn from this story that..."

To its credit it does use a good splash of verbs and adjectives.

 

[Naughtylit81]

Resubmitted the work requesting additional information and just got the same canned rejection with absolutely no information on how to resolve this issue. Even in a theoretical world where the work was shall we say "heavily inspired" the rejection notices are useless because they just leave you playing whack-a-mole with no clue what the issue is or where it is.

My stories are only 20 manuscript pages combined which would be arduous enough to try and get whack-a-mole a solution for, I can't imagine what it would be like for some of those writers putting out 40 or 50 manuscript pages for a single story.

 

[ronde]

What I find interesting about that, and very enlightening to the overall conversation, is looking at the sentence structure of the GhatGPT output. Very mechanical.... A,B,C with a little A,B mixed in. Each sentence very complete and properly structured. Like it took a college writing class and follows the rules of grammar perfectly...

So, lesson, break the rules and let your bad grammar fly

It's also very cold with a ton of multi-syllabic words. It reads like the technical correspondence I wrote as an engineer.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I sent Laurel a message directly, went through the contact form, and resubmitted the stories with a note in the comments box for the moderator/reviewer.

Being unsure of which would be most effective I decided to just try them all and see what works.

There's really only two ways to effectively reach Laurel, and it seemed like you tried with the Notes for the story, so that's one used.

The only other way is to PM Laurel direct - the Contact form doesn't work.

When you PM her, be very clear in your subject line, and keep your message really concise. She gets a lot of pm's, so don't waste her time with a lot of verbage.

Explain the issue, set it out, and attach a link to the story (maybe resubmit and use that link). That's about all you can do. Laurel is the only one that decides on these things. And good luck.

 

[Naughtylit81]

Laurel is the only one that decides on these things. And good luck.

That seems like a fantastic single point of failure and a great way to bottleneck a process where anyone can get a story taken down on an accusation and it takes a miracle for the author to get their work back up.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Try copying a section of text into the Google search bar (in quotation marks) and see whether you get any hits. It could be that someone decided to copy your story and post it on another website. It's happened to me, although I found it before anything bad happened to my Lit account.

NaughtyLit81, I'm curious as to whether you've done this, and if not, why not?