Dishonest 'Editor'

[tkoberon]

I saw the mention if volunteer editors on this forum and contacted one named [posting personal info including real names, locations, emails, private messages or other correspondence, other identifying information from offsite is prohibited per our forum guidelines]

He accepted to have a look at two stories and help me make them better. That was the last I heard of them, or him! Repeated emails to him have yielded no result.
Please fellow authors help me. How can I being him to book? I have every reason to suspect he took them and published them as his own after making changes to them.

 

[SimonDoom]

I saw the mention if volunteer editors on this forum and contacted one named Neil Edwards whose email address was listed as -----
He accepted to have a look at two stories and help me make them better. That was the last I heard of them, or him! Repeated emails to him have yielded no result.
Please fellow authors help me. How can I being him to book? I have every reason to suspect he took them and published them as his own after making changes to them.

Woah. What reason do you have to believe he took them and published them as his own? That's a serious allegation. Unless you know something specific, the likelihood is that he dropped the ball or had something else to do.

Editors don't get paid here. Editing Literotica stories probably ranks fairly low on the list of things they have to do. You shouldn't make allegations against someone unless you have very good reason to do so.

 

[KeithD]

Suggest reporting this directly to Laurel via PM (private message function, upper right of this page). A nonresponsive voluntary editor should be dropped from the program.

 

[AwkwardMD]

How shitty would you feel if he just has bigger concerns here in this time of pandemic. Or if he's laid up in a hospital with Corona? Or worse, died?

Maybe just find it in your heart to be patient and let this go in a strange time. Work on your art and do your thing.

 

[WAT456]

I agree with KeithD. Sump'un seems fishy here, for sure. I've read other threads about stories being stolen or plagiarized on other sites. That kind of shit will really harm Literotica.

Tim

 

[oggbashan]

I agree with KeithD. Sump'un seems fishy here, for sure. I've read other threads about stories being stolen or plagiarized on other sites. That kind of shit will really harm Literotica.

Tim

Some of my stories have been stolen hundreds of times. That is what happens if you post them on a free site. They have been translated, without permission, into French, German, Czech, Greek and Mandarian.

But why a Japanese anal fisting teenager site wants my work? I'll never know.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have every reason to suspect he took them and published them as his own after making changes to them.

This is the second thread on this topic within a couple of days, people saying editors are stealing stories.

If folk have proof that's happening they need to take it to Laurel and ask that the editor's account be banned. But they need to show proof.

 

[lovecraft68]

Woah. What reason do you have to believe he took them and published them as his own? That's a serious allegation. Unless you know something specific, the likelihood is that he dropped the ball or had something else to do.

Editors don't get paid here. Editing Literotica stories probably ranks fairly low on the list of things they have to do. You shouldn't make allegations against someone unless you have very good reason to do so.

You should edit the quote so you don't have the e-mail in there, the mod did it to the OP, but you quoted it before he could

 

[lovecraft68]

How shitty would you feel if he just has bigger concerns here in this time of pandemic. Or if he's laid up in a hospital with Corona? Or worse, died?

Maybe just find it in your heart to be patient and let this go in a strange time. Work on your art and do your thing.

Or maybe he's one of countless irresponsible people who didn't have the decency to reply and say "sorry, something came up or I'm no longer interested.

Maybe you could find it in your heart to be understanding to someone to who is new here, and is afraid the story he worked so hard on might be stolen?

Or you could just rant and judge someone by making up something that could have happened when you have no idea what happened.

I'll never understand how people can enjoy being permanently outraged

 

[SimonDoom]

You should edit the quote so you don't have the e-mail in there, the mod did it to the OP, but you quoted it before he could

Good point. I hadn't thought about that and I edited it.

 

[jaF0]

He accepted to have a look at two stories and help me make them better. That was the last I heard of them, or him! Repeated emails to him have yielded no result.

How long ago? How much time has passed?

 

[KeithD]

This is the second thread on this topic within a couple of days, people saying editors are stealing stories.

If folk have proof that's happening they need to take it to Laurel and ask that the editor's account be banned. But they need to show proof.

The first mention was a hypothetical and the second a conjecture. I've always seen it as a possibility, but I haven't seen evidence of it actually happening--not even in the mainstream world, where there are circumstances in how the process works where it could be done as well. It makes for a good story plot.

Not maintaining communications, though, should be a showstopper in the author-editor relationship and someone claiming to be an editor but not maintaining communications should just be dropped from the function--without prejudice in an emergency situation, but still severed from that arrangement.

 

[Bramblethorn]

He accepted to have a look at two stories and help me make them better. That was the last I heard of them, or him! Repeated emails to him have yielded no result.
Please fellow authors help me. How can I being him to book? I have every reason to suspect he took them and published them as his own after making changes to them.

These things can't both be true. If all you have is "person on internet said they'll do a thing, then I didn't hear back", this is unlikely to be the reason. If you do have more information than that, it'd be helpful to know what.

 

[yukonnights]

The first mention was a hypothetical and the second a conjecture. I've always seen it as a possibility, but I haven't seen evidence of it actually happening--not even in the mainstream world, where there are circumstances in how the process works where it could be done as well. It makes for a good story plot.

Not maintaining communications, though, should be a showstopper in the author-editor relationship and someone claiming to be an editor but not maintaining communications should just be dropped from the function--without prejudice in an emergency situation, but still severed from that arrangement.

The story would definitely have to have some upfront warnings of graphic brutality, non-consent punishment and perhaps even murder.

But on a more helpful attempt for new folks trying to find editing help; Don't send the draft of your work until you've exchanged some email correspondence. Try to make a Literotica friend or two via Private Message — preferably someone who writes stories you enjoy reading. Offer your own time to build up a sharing of proof-reading exchange. This may not screen out every potential scammer, but it will no doubt help. If they have no published stories, that would be a red flag to me. Not that there are no editors who have no published works, but why mess with an unknown entity?

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

Perhaps before jumping on the OP, or jumping to the conclusion that there are a bunch of editors stealing work for their own, we should start with questions.

Tkoberon, could you explain why you believe the editor stole your work and published it as his own? Since you say you have every reason to believe he did that, there must be some reason besides the fact that you believe it's a possible explanation for his lack of contact, but it's not clear from your post what the reason is.

If you wish to bring him to book, you will need to know where he's published it. Otherwise, there's nothing for the editor to get in trouble for. He's just someone who volunteered to help you with something and then didn't follow through. At most, he could be dropped from the volunteer editor program like Keith suggests. YukonNights' suggestion is good advice for your future endeavors. When you're getting to know your editor, you could discuss what sort of turnaround times you want and what they anticipate they can provide.

 

[ChloeTzang]

The story would definitely have to have some upfront warnings of graphic brutality, non-consent punishment and perhaps even murder.

But on a more helpful attempt for new folks trying to find editing help; Don't send the draft of your work until you've exchanged some email correspondence. Try to make a Literotica friend or two via Private Message — preferably someone who writes stories you enjoy reading. Offer your own time to build up a sharing of proof-reading exchange. This may not screen out every potential scammer, but it will no doubt help. If they have no published stories, that would be a red flag to me. Not that there are no editors who have no published works, but why mess with an unknown entity?

Better yet if you work with an editor, use Google docs and share with your editor. You can work together collaboratively, you can see your editor, if they’re not doing anything or responding you can remove their access. I find that works well but I also emailed a lot with my editors before we got started. I’m a pain to work with so I wantded my editors to understand my little foibles and quirks and not get offended.

 

[jsmiam]

... <snip> Epic Rant <snip>...

Woah...

This is the second thread on this topic within a couple of days ... <snip> ...But they need to show proof.

These things can't both be true. If all you have is "person on internet said they'll do a thing, then I didn't hear back", this is unlikely to be the reason. If you do have more information than that, it'd be helpful to know what.

This, this, and this... While common courtesy says editors write back and say thanks but no thanks, this sounds a lot more like 'the mean person stopped replying to me' followed by a massive overreaction meeting a conspiracy theory then having a threesome with a basic misunderstanding of the way interacting with strangers on a public forum on the internet works.

And based on the size of the overreaction seen here, it's not a stretch to wonder if there weren't similarly angry/accusatory/overreacted emails directly to the volunteer editor. Like hundreds of them over the span of a few hours maybe?

And OP has ghosted us, just like the mean volunteer editor ghosted him! Oh. Emm. GEE!!

And finally', the ultimate irony: We should all just stop responding/acknowledging this thread. Yet here I am responding and acknowledging it anyway.

 

[jaF0]

And OP has ghosted us, just like the mean volunteer editor ghosted him!

It hasn't even been 24 hours and we don't know if the OP has full time access to the web.

And we still don't know how long since they last had contact with each other. A few days, no big deal. A few weeks ... well.

 

[KeithD]

Better yet if you work with an editor, use Google docs and share with your editor. You can work together collaboratively, you can see your editor, if they’re not doing anything or responding you can remove their access. I find that works well but I also emailed a lot with my editors before we got started. I’m a pain to work with so I wantded my editors to understand my little foibles and quirks and not get offended.

Oh, no, as an editor I don't want to be toing and froing with an author on the fly. I want to do my thing and then go over it all with the author afterward, as needed. I also definitely don't want anyone else messing around in a manuscript while I'm working on it and maybe changing things I won't know about. I also want snapshots of each version at each turnover point so I can trace what happened when.

As far as foibles and quirks, I also think it's best for the editor to discover those cold and to work them out--in the context that it's the reader, reading cold, who has to understand this, not just the author.

 

[Ginlover]

Now I much prefer google docs for editing. Typos and rephrasing are easy to track and you can leave comments so discuss. You can also pull up any version of the document in the history too.

Word I now find clunky especially when tracking edits

 

[lovecraft68]

Something I want to add here for people who haven't been around that long, or maybe weren't around when this went down.

A few years back(maybe 5? Time flies) I was contacted by someone from the Smashwords team that someone published one of my books under their name. Because mine was older they went to them first and they claimed I stole it.

I showed them the link of the original version here on lit dating back to 2011 and they said fine, and also told me that person had put it on amazon

I go there and find it, then post a thread here because this person had over 300+ books and come to find out many were stolen for lit

But here is the relevance to this thread. The thief? A woman who went by the name of Evelyn Turner

ET was a VOLUNTEER EDITOR" on lit for years and many of her stories were those sent to her over time by people looking for editing-which by the way, her editing was changing a few words, maybe adding a comma and telling you it was all set.

So for those here who think the OP is over reacting?

I repeat....300 stolen stories published by a longtime VE

 

[ElectricBlue]

So for those here who think the OP is over reacting?

I repeat....300 stolen stories published by a longtime VE

I'm not sure anybody is saying the OP is over-reacting. Most of us are saying, "If there's proof, take it to Laurel, get the 'editor' banned."

So far, we've seen an accusation, an outed email address, but no evidence. Whether the OP has taken their case to Laurel we don't know, but this thread, so far, contains an accusation without proof.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

But here is the relevance to this thread. The thief? A woman who went by the name of Evelyn Turner

ET was a VOLUNTEER EDITOR" on lit for years and many of her stories were those sent to her over time by people looking for editing-which by the way, her editing was changing a few words, maybe adding a comma and telling you it was all set.

So for those here who think the OP is over reacting?

I repeat....300 stolen stories published by a longtime VE

That's awful. Was she kicked off of Lit for that reason, or was she already gone by the time the discovery was made? I suppose stories are just as vulnerable to that type of theft after they are published, too. It seems like there are three choices: (1) ignore it, (2) monitor and litigate it, or (3) don't publish online. Choice number 3 seems like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. Choice 2 could be expensive and all-consuming. Choice 1 would feel fine until you found out. Then it would be a kick in the gut.

 

[KeithD]

Or 4. Use an outside, trusted editor and get it published yourself to the marketplace before anyone else sees it.

 

[lovecraft68]

That's awful. Was she kicked off of Lit for that reason, or was she already gone by the time the discovery was made? I suppose stories are just as vulnerable to that type of theft after they are published, too. It seems like there are three choices: (1) ignore it, (2) monitor and litigate it, or (3) don't publish online. Choice number 3 seems like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. Choice 2 could be expensive and all-consuming. Choice 1 would feel fine until you found out. Then it would be a kick in the gut.

She had been gone from lit for sometime. Most of the stories she published were ina period of a few weeks and that alone should have had Amazon's attention, and even with proof it took dozens of complaints from author's here as well as Laurel herself getting involved to get them removed.

She had a blog at the time and a facebook and during the entire time she was claiming she wrote all those stories herself. She eventually gave up and I think deleted those pages. I always wonder if she popped back up somewhere else and is doing the same thing and hasn' been found yet.