Has Your Story Been Stolen?

[SpecialK]

Hi authors,

I did a random Google of some of the lines in my stories and found one of my stories stolen on this site:

http://andreasrealm.tripod.com/andreaspen.html

My story "Hi Beautiful" was stolen and renamed "Bus Stop For Lovers" on this site. THe text was the same and only the characters were changed.

I'd check the list of stories here and see if any are yours.

K

 

[shereads]

"The Secret History," by Donna Tartt. She stole it from me.

 

[TheEarl]

I do have an obsession. It's nothing bad like compulsive gambling or spending money I haven't earned on clothes I don't need to wear to places I'm not visiting. Instead, I like to sit quietly at my computer on rainy evenings or lonely Sunday afternoons and compose short stories. Actually, that's what I like to do. What really happens is that I awaken at 2AM with an idea for a brilliant new plot that can't wait until evening or even until dawn. So, I stumble out of bed and trip my way across the floor to my desk and sit groggily in the dark while the PC whirrs into action. Moments of pure genius must be acted upon immediately or they're lost.

What you'll read here are products of some of those sleepless nights. I hope you find something you enjoy.

Cheeky cow! Off to check if she's 'composed' any of my 'brilliant new plots.'

The Earl

 

[shereads]

Cheeky cow! Off to check if she's 'composed' any of my 'brilliant new plots.'

The Earl

Wow. If that quote you posted is how she introduces a library of stolen work, "cheeky" doesn't describe it. It sounds like she takes pride in this writer persona she's created for herself. That's just criminally sad.

 

[TheEarl]

None of mine there, but even to have one stolen story under that vertiginous an introduction speaks of a whole range of personality-problems.

Special K: I'd recommend PM-ing that link to Laurel. She'll have the ego-stroking little cow down in no time.

The Earl

 

[Guest]

Bloody hell! Words defy me.

I haven't found any of my own there, but it is very obvious to me - by going through each story individually and reading just the first few lines - that all of those stories were not written by the same person. There are a myriad of different styles and voices there.

As Earl said: Cheeky cow! And then some.

There is an email address there, to contact her. Hmmm... I'd love to give her some very in-depth feedback.

I won't, though, not yet anyway, I'll wait and see if anybody else finds any of their stories there.

Plagiarism sucks.

Lou

 

[NoJo]

She has a Cinderella pisstake story on her site. Thought it was my Cindy Heller story till I read it -- thankfully it was a piece of poo, so fuck her.

 

[davidwatts]

what the f*#*?

I did a search and found some of the descrption lines of my stories which strangely led me to a bunch of porn sites. No stories or anything there, just a bunch of naked people that I didn't even recognize.

Why in the world would just a line "It was well worth waiting for submitted by davidwatts 4.67" be used as a lure for people to look at a web site that promotes "Lesbian Conversions" of innocent young ladies? I was appaled, and continued to be disgusted for the hour I spent roaming the site. Fortunately I came out of my trance when I was unable to pull my credit card out of my wallet while honking my horn.

If somebody wants to use something of mine I can do better than that line, and besides, the 4.67 is not a very erotic grouping of numbers.

 

[TheEarl]

Re: what the f*#*?

I did a search and found some of the descrption lines of my stories which strangely led me to a bunch of porn sites. No stories or anything there, just a bunch of naked people that I didn't even recognize.

Why in the world would just a line "It was well worth waiting for submitted by davidwatts 4.67" be used as a lure for people to look at a web site that promotes "Lesbian Conversions" of innocent young ladies? I was appaled, and continued to be disgusted for the hour I spent roaming the site. Fortunately I came out of my trance when I was unable to pull my credit card out of my wallet while honking my horn.

If somebody wants to use something of mine I can do better than that line, and besides, the 4.67 is not a very erotic grouping of numbers.

I like you!

The Earl

 

[davidwatts]

Re: Re: what the f*#*?

I like you!

The Earl

...and might I respond by stating that your taste is impeccable!

 

[cantdog]

I don't seem to be there, but it wasn't much fun checking them.

 

[cantdog]

My searches to see if Fire Pole had been stolen led me to the front page of a site which apparently was about videos, and some still porn images. I don't feel like joining it to penetrate into the stories listings they have, but the google showed me the first lines of the page they have it on. Not the first time.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I have dial-up, so I didn't want to check them all for my words. I'm honestly not sure I care much if she stole any of them, else I probably would have gone ahead and looked through them all.

Most Laurel can do is make her take them down, yes?

Q_C

 

[thebullet]

davidwatts said:
I did a search and found some of the descrption lines of my stories which strangely led me to a bunch of porn sites. No stories or anything there, just a bunch of naked people that I didn't even recognize.

I've got the same results! WTF? If anyone understands what the heck that is about, I'd sure like to hear it.

 

[SpecialK]

I did send Laurel an email about the situation as well as the links.

K

 

[KarenAM]

Re: what the f*#*?

Nothing of mine there, but I see the variations of style between the stories. How sad.

I did a search and found some of the descrption lines of my stories which strangely led me to a bunch of porn sites. No stories or anything there, just a bunch of naked people that I didn't even recognize.

This happens fairly often. I suspect that these sites have some sort of automatic program that plucks up stories from Lit. and attaches them to the porn site in such a way that search engines pick it up. They're hoping that anyone searching for your erotica will get diverted to their site, using you as a form of promotion. Once there, of course, the hapless surfer doesn't get to read your work.

I wouldn't mind it so much if the porn sites gave credit and directed potential readers back here, but they don't.

 

[TheEarl]

I did send Laurel an email about the situation as well as the links.

K

SpecialK: I don't know if the situation's changed recently, but sending Laurel an e-mail is as useful as a chocolate urinal. She gets quite a bit of spam AFAIK and your e-mail could get lost very easily.

You'll definitely get a reply from a PM though.

The Earl

 

[Op_Cit]

Sadly, my stories must not have been good enough to steal.

I'm jealous of you all.

 

[Octavian]

My first story has often been used without my permission and is presently on a number of sites. However, my authorship is acknowledged and the readers are invited to send the author feedback. I do not condone this, but I would be dishonest if I denied that I do find it rather flattering. One site even posted it a chapter at a time, announcing each time when the next chapter would be posted, apparently believing that it would encourage return visits.

However, I did take exception to a site that posted the same story without crediting me as the author. I protested and to be fair, they did remove it.

The bottom line is if you post a story on the web, you run the risk of it being purloined.

Octavian

 

[davidwatts]

SpecialK: I don't know if the situation's changed recently, but sending Laurel an e-mail is as useful as a chocolate urinal. She gets quite a bit of spam AFAIK and your e-mail could get lost very easily.

You'll definitely get a reply from a PM though.

The Earl

A chocolate urinal? Mmmmmm.... maybe,
as long as it doesn't have one of those big mints in it. Yuck! They are way too salty for me!