Attention, Authors

[bg23]

Before you read on - be warned - here is a rage-driven rant yet again by me.

Its a pain when you happen to be a controversial poster and a writer of stories at the same time. You not only get bombed with ones, people will do anything to get to you.

An example of this is what is happening to me at the moment. Some of you may have come across a fellow Litster by the name of LovingTongue - suffice it to say that he's a troll, and I don't get along with him. Anyway...

A while ago I was accused of plagiarising a story. I didn't - but could not prove it, so finally simply took it off from sheer frustration. (Also outrage and injured pride.) Anyway, LT must have recently been searching my posts because he came across it and had the sparkling idea of accusing me of plagiarism. He did this through an alterego by the name of "bad_qirl23" - note the "q". He posted comments on my public comments section with stuff along the lines of "I plagiarised this story. I'm sorry. It was just an experiment." I hadn't checked my stories for a while. Other readers saw the comments - some saw through it - others didn't. One reader chimed in in claiming that I'd ripped off her stories too. I've deleted all of them now except one - see the fourth and the fith public comment

The problem here is that plagiarism is a serious issue. Because of those accusations, its likely that Laurel is going to have to look into the matter. And because I have no way of verifying that the stories are actually mine, I'm quite worried that I'll have to go through the same thing as what happened before again. The thing about romance stories is that they're all virtually the same. One romance novel, as any romance reader can attest, is pretty much the same as another romance novel. I was seriously upset about the last fiasco. I really don't know how I'd deal if I had to do this with all my stories. I worked quite hard on them. I'll pm laurel about it...but I don't know what's going to happen.

So. That was just my rant. I needed to let off steam and have a teary...also just a caution to everyone...if you don't intend to be sugary sweet all day, don't do it under your own name. You suffer for it.

Here's the link to the fake thread if anyone's interested.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Stick to your guns bad girl. If someone is accusing you of plagirism, it's up to them to prove it, not up to you to disprove it. You can't disprove it, but they are in a position of having to prove the accusation.

There is no way to prove you didn't plagirize. But, they have to have compelling proff you did before Laurel will interceede I think.

-Colly

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Colleen's got a point, even though people may look at you a certain way because they're willing to make snap judgments without reason, that doesn't mean that the people around here, especially the other authors that realize how easy these accusation can be, and even more especially Laurel, will believe them. Without any proff that you did something wrong, there's no real reaction that should affect your place here.
As for pulling your stories, I wouldn't have pulled even one, ever. Changing things because of them would simply make them feel more power over you, and that could make things a lot worse...

 

[cookiejar]

The problem here is an alt using her name with a slight modification and saying she admits she's a plagarist. Some people will think it's the real bad_girl23 admitting it.

It's one thing for an alt to vote 1's or leave comments, quite another to use someone's own name to slander her. I could go on Colly's site as ColleenThomas and say, "I'm a plagarist, I admit it." People may not even notice the difference.

No matter how you slice it, it's inexcusable just because someone want to score points against a person he disagrees with.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

I would suggest sending a PM to Laurel, with all of the appropriate URLs, explaining your objection to this kind of horseplay.

You must report it, as no one can police all the threads and all the posters. Report the problem and ask Laurel what she is willing to do about it.

I do believe the techie operating this board will be able to figure out if the false “bad_qirl23" posts and the LovingTongue posts both originate from the same source.

If nothing else, they can close down the bad_qirl23 nom.

At best, Laurel might decide to shut down both memberships. That is her decision, but I would imagine she will take some action, before other doofi begin to believe that this sort of behavior is permissible.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Vilken jävla skitstövel!

That is so low! So fucking, freakin' LOW!

*hugs bad_girl23*

I'm on your side!

 

[millennium_bard]

Stick to your guns and fight back!

This kind of shit is a disgrace and is beneath contempt.

I agree with the others, contact Laurel and have her look into it.

I for one happen to enjoy your writings, and so does my girlfriend.

 

[doormouse]

Fuck!!!! We're all behind you bad_Girl!!!!

What a low sorry son of a bitch to do that!!!

This makes me sick. Why would anyone believe you'd publically display plagiarism? That's more of a joke than anything!!

Stick to your guns girl, I'll load mine too.

 

[Guest]

Contact Laurel!!!

Just as everyone has already said, you must report every single bit of this to Laurel!

Include all links - and I would resubmit the story you had pulled.

It's yours - no one else can prove they published it at an earlier date than you did - so they cannot prove their claim.

I'm gonna go check out that fake thread and bitch a bit.

 

[doormouse]

Re: Contact Laurel!!!

I'm gonna go check out that fake thread and bitch a bit.

I'm with you. Let's go get the ass!!

 

[ferociouskittycat]

Okies, I'm ready

 

[cloudy]

Re: Re: Contact Laurel!!!

I'm with you. Let's go get the ass!!

Been there, done that.

Anyone care to join me for some kicking butt, AH-style?

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Re: Contact Laurel!!!

Been there, done that.

Anyone care to join me for some kicking butt, AH-style?

Of course! I'd love to kiss your fine ass!

OH!

Kick butt!

Oh, OK - I get it!

Yeah - let's go do that, too!

 

[cloudy]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Contact Laurel!!!

Of course! I'd love to kiss your fine ass!

OH!

Kick butt!

Oh, OK - I get it!

Yeah - let's go do that, too!

 

[Weird Harold]

There is no way to prove you didn't plagirize. But, they have to have compelling proof you did before Laurel will interceede I think.

Laurel is VERY experienced at dealing with Plagiarism -- unfortunately -- and she's as ruthless about eliminating it from Lit as protecting Lit's authors.

Her normal response is to suspend the story in question until she can investigate (probably not going to happen in this case, though bcausse it's the defendent bringing it to her attention.

Laurel will NOT act on an accusation of plagiarism without a referal to the story that was allegedly plagiarized -- preferably with a clear cut time of posting distinction.

Since this is a really a case of character assassination rather than plagiarism, I think she'll probably intercede fairly quickly with a ban on the user (and all of the alts tht can be identified.) She's reluctant to curb trolls because trolls are entititled to free speech too, but this is beyond abuse of "free speech" it's actually criminal (although probbly not prosecutble.)

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Sounds like a real jerkoff.

 

[Edward Teach]

Hang tight, Bad Girl.

Most here will support you.

Kinda wish you hadn't pulled the stories, but you know best.

Ed

 

[dr_mabeuse]

That's really sad, but I don't understand how you can say that all romance stories are the same. They have as many quirks and twists as any other kind of story and I would think it would be pretty clear whether plagiarism was involved. After all, using someone else's plot doesn't have to be plagiarism. It's only when you use their words.

---dr.M.

 

[TheEarl]

Bg: If it makes you feel any better, all this furore has just gained you one more reader. Your work's intrigued me, so I'm off to have a look.

The Earl

 

[wishfulthinking]

Someone accused you of plagiarising without proof?

And then assumed an almost identical nom and confessed on your behalf?

Couldn't they have just left it at hate mail? This is taking jealousy [and what must be extreme boredom] to new levels!

Bloody well repost the stories already!! Give them no satisfaction. If they think they have won, they'll do it again.

 

[minsue]

If it is LT, it isn't the first time he's posted using similar user names and, often, the same AV.

Disgusting. Truly disgusting.

 

[Guest]

Yep. That's the asshole.

Can't he be banned for this type of harassment?