Plagiarism

[Bramblethorn]

Now, if I were to write a story about a young woman, let's call her Debbie, who wants to become a Dallas Cheerleader. I could say that her and her friends decide to were themselves out to raise money for the undertaking. Sounds like an interesting story, but not mine. I don't believe that you can steal an idea, but you can steal a method.

"Debbie Does Dallas" is an unusual case - normally a film of that vintage would still be in copyright, but the makers left off the copyright notice that was required at the time, so it's now in the public domain.

 

[MColton84]

"Debbie Does Dallas" is an unusual case - normally a film of that vintage would still be in copyright, but the makers left off the copyright notice that was required at the time, so it's now in the public domain.

Thanks for recognizing the reference. I didn't know that about the open copyright.

 

[SisterJezabel]

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”- Oscar Wilde.

When I was studying music at uni we had an assignment to look at Andrew Lloyd-Webber's work and identify as many copied themes from other classical music works as possible. This was all pre-internet and let's just say there are heaps. But he's popular and in many ways uses musical tropes to create popular music. A lot of us authors do similar things- think of all the tropes around here in each genre and how much people lap them up.

If someone has used a plot, but then used their own words to describe said plot then it is a little tricky in many ways to argue direct plagiarism, however, if thy have copied chunks of your text and changed Debbie's name to Suzy and John's to Mike then there are definite issues.

 

[Bramblethorn]

If someone has used a plot, but then used their own words to describe said plot then it is a little tricky in many ways to argue direct plagiarism, however, if thy have copied chunks of your text and changed Debbie's name to Suzy and John's to Mike then there are definite issues.

I have a habit of including wordplay based on character names, which makes it obvious when somebody's done this. My first story here has a character named Phoebe who's nicknamed "Bee-Bee" because of a childhood mispronunciation; when somebody search-and-replaced "Phoebe" and put it on Amazon, one of the readers noticed that that passage made no sense and figured out it was stolen.

Another option for griefing those thieves is to use names that are also parts of words appearing in the story. If your heroine is called Ann and the story mentions Annapurna, Annapolis, and the Annals of Tacitus, it's going to be very obvious when somebody mass-replaces "Ann" with "Barbara".

 

[KeithD]

And then what? We go over and over and over and over and over this again and again and again and again.

 

[MColton84]

And then what? We go over and over and over and over and over this again and again and again and again.

If it bores you than you can choose to keep scrolling. I am glad you are past this, but not everyone is you, and may require a little more time to catch up.

 

[KeithD]

If it bores you than you can choose to keep scrolling. I am glad you are past this, but not everyone is you, and may require a little more time to catch up.

Well, I'm willing to bet I deal with this more than any of the rest of you--I'll bet I have more stories posted here across my accounts than everyone else posting to this thread altogether.

If you don't want your stories stolen, don't fail to copyright register them and then post them for free to the open Internet in a fake name--and then spend a lot of time trying to play whack-a-mole with Internet thieves.

 

[MColton84]

Well, I'm willing to bet I deal with this more than any of the rest of you--I'll bet I have more stories posted here across my accounts than everyone else posting to this thread altogether.

If you don't want your stories stolen, don't fail to copyright register them and then post them for free to the open Internet in a fake name--and then spend a lot of time trying to play whack-a-mole with Internet thieves.

Am I supposed to bow? I am happy that you know all this. Evidently, some of us peons are still figuring things out. If the subject causes you this much frustration, than why waste your valuable energy reading through it?

 

[KeithD]

- - - -

(nope, it's just not worth it.)

 

[MColton84]

Because I want to. And I've paid my dues here to do so. Who died and elected you the hall monitor?

I'm not being anyone's hall monitor. You are the one is jumping onto a thread, complaining that it's a question that's been asked before. I appreciate that you have paid your dues. So have many others here, but they are not flipping out for reoccurring questions. Perhaps if you would be kind enough to propose a list of threads that people could start with conversations that they could have, this could seem like a lot less heated of a debate. I'm not trying to yell at you, I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm only saying that if the subject causes you that much frustration, why participate in it?

 

[jaF0]

I'm not being anyone's hall monitor.

And yet, here you are. On more than one thread.

 

[MColton84]

And yet, here you are. On more than one thread.

Very well. I didn't realize I was breaking some kind of protocol. My apologies.

 

[jsmiam]

I just read a story that is really close to a portion of a story I wrote a couple of years ago. The author changed things up a little but I was able to predict exactly what was going to happen because I was able to predict exactly what was going to happen.

Reading between the lines, your concerns sound legit. There are other times where a person says, “I wrote a story about accidentally walking in on my sister in the bathroom, then I apologized later, then she said it was Ok, then we did it,” which is so broad that no, that would be not be legit, it’s a theme that’s been around as long as there have been bathroom doors, and well, it’s extremely common, to say the least.

No harm in investigating, asking Laurel, etc. maybe even scan your story or theirs for some abstruse word, see if they use the same one. Or a word in one of theirs. Maybe that leads to (after deeper review) signs that they plagiarized others too.

Google tip/example; jay142 site:www.Literotica.com (change the search term) is a great way to search/dig. Change the site parameter to forum.Literotica.com for just forums, or just Literotica.com for both.

 

[AvroAnson]

If you don't want your stories stolen, don't fail to copyright register them and then post them for free to the open Internet in a fake name--and then spend a lot of time trying to play whack-a-mole with Internet thieves.

Hey Keith, I have a very effective method of preventing plagiarism. It's akin to driving a rusted out 1992 Geo Metro with a dead cylinder and four bald tyres.

 

[KeithD]

Hey Keith, I have a very effective method of preventing plagiarism. It's akin to driving a rusted out 1992 Geo Metro with a dead cylinder and four bald tyres.

You have to have stories before you need worry what to do about plagiarism. You don't.

 

[RandyD1369]

Some "letters" were from "real readers," but most were from writers. They were paying $12 to $15 each in the early 90s. There got to be so many writers competing for the few pages of available non-advertising space in those magazines that the offered pay was down to $5 per item by 1998--due mostly to the proliferation of word processing computers. By about 2004 or 5, a hopeful author couldn't give the stuff away except for free to on-line publishers. The market has actually gotten better since places like Amazon began publishing electronically; 25 cents each for a few hundred sales is better than zero, and some authors have done very well.

 

[AvroAnson]

You have to have stories before you need worry what to do about plagiarism. You don't.

This is my Bulletin Board personality. I tend to be opinionated and type things that upset other people and I don't want that to spill over into my catalog. My latest spreadsheet shows that over 20 years and a dozen or more alts (two of which had to be replaced because I forgot the log in codes back in the day) I have 161 stories in LW, 106 in Group Sex, 43 in E-V, 56 in I-T, 34 CNC stories (23 in BDSM and 11 in Non-Con), 31 in Humor, 16 in Fan Fiction, 15 in Mature, 15 in Fetish, 12 in EC, 10 Lesbian,10 in First-Time, 7 Toy Stories (which is more than Pixar has), 6 Gay Male, 5 Anal, along with thirteen combined Essay, Interracial, Sci-fi and How-to submissions. I also have 83 stories that were once posted here but were subsequently taken down (61 from a category here that was eliminated in toto.)

There is also one writer here -- who has a dozen original stories posted -- who plagiarized one of my stories for their user name and profile and writes their new adventures as if they are my two MCs from that story. They may be my only fan, but they still owe me 10%.

 

[KeithD]

This is my Bulletin Board personality..

So you say. The record says AvroAnson has no story file here. The way to claim it is not to hide it, and maybe if it was connected with your posting account, you wouldn't post to rag on other posters to the discussion board as freely.

I post as KeithD now--and post stories in that name too. I previously posted stories and board comments as sr71plt. I changed because my story file was getting too unwieldy in the sr71plt account to keep track of, but both accounts are clearly linked in profiles. I don't hide anything and claim it's there. (And I don't recognized claimed stories in a hidden account.)

 

[AvroAnson]

I don't think that I rag on anyone. I'd wager that I make self-depreciating remarks about myself more often than I make comments about anyone else. Mostly I enjoy poking fun at people who take things too seriously, but the reason that I keep my identities somewhat separate* is two-fold.

*The two identities I got locked out of have nearly identical "new" names and several stories are linked as are several complete identities. I'm just trying to make it hard for the UnoBomber and Anon Y. Mouse, plus it was suggested that I keep the LW, I-T, and BDSM fan bases apart.

I figure that if we don't all stick together the haters will round us all up and the fact that your triangle is pink and mine is black and others are red, purple, and blue just taint going to matter all that much then.

(Pseudonyms ahead.) One hundred years ago, grandpa John and his friend Charles started a business in SA after the first war (ya know the one that was supposed to end all wars). They grew it and its primary focus moved to WA. Charley had Zane and John had Michael, my dad. John and Charley sold out and started separate new businesses after the second war. I grew up hearing epic tales of their exploits.

My sister Mary and I worked for my mom and dad. Mary runs the company now. I hung around with a bunch of miscreants including a flying priest and a bunch of freight dogs who hauled beef carcasses from the Kimberley to London Town. Zane, by this time twice divorced, was one of these larger than life characters. He and Michael weren't really in competition it was more of a vertical connection in the supply chain.

I went to work for him. He taught me everything he knew in both the boardroom and the bedroom. One thing I say that offends people is that I don't see a whole lot of difference between that relationship and a consensual daddy-adult daughter one. I get a qualified pass because he is not a blood relative just a life long family friend. When we were first "dating" he confessed to being a non-monogamous kind of guy. Duh, his two ex-wives and several ex-girlfriends were a clue to that.

We developed a relationship where we were partners in business and in bed. He owned me sexually, choosing my other lovers (male and female) for me, something that fit the LW theme really well before it became misogyny central. That is where my earliest writings** were published. We had a really good run, I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything. But of course mom and dad were right, being 30 years older than I, he eventually passed and left me.

It was right before the beginning of the new millennium when in a short time span I lost dad, Zane and mom. I took up writing about our exploits as a kind of self-therapy. **My first effort was a train-wreck, it cut across too many categories, taboo (daddy-issues suggestive T of I-T but not enough I of I-T), first(serious)-time, May-December, CNC (variously put in BDSM or NC-R).

There was just too much material in 30 + years together for eight chapters. Morgan, Alex, and Selena were active back then and made helpful suggestions. I wrote mostly single theme pieces about Zane and our life together, fantasy I-T stuff asking why this is different than that etc. After a troll who loved my LW stuff, but hated I-T started bombing my catalog it was suggested that all my LW be posted under one alt. All my I-T under another, my CNC under a third.

It hasn't always worked out that way. Stories I consider to be in one category are published in another or rejected outright. I feel for newcomers who try to make sense of why things are the way they are. Much of it is nonsensical if you don't know the history. I never learned to knit, so instead of crocheting penis warmers I come here write some, and I goof off a lot.

I'm a tough old broad, I don't let things stand in my way. I think that I am fair and give people the benefit of the doubt but I'm not PC. I believe that as adults we have moral agency and the right to choose without external limitation. (Meaning that if we all have equal rights i cannot choose to deprive you of your rights.) I hope you don't take me too seriously, because I certainly don't. The only people I feel a need to impress are my shareholders.

 

[Diance]

If someone copies word for word, it is too much. If they use your character's names, that's suspicious.

You have many options to handle such things. You can try to contact the writer that you think stole your work and point out the similarity. That might solve some issues. Or you can simply send it up to be handled by admin here.

If someone complained about my avatar, I would definitely take it down. It is not my work.

And, to be silly... I have an overwhelming urge to start a story that is almost universally directly copied and a hideous failure line: "It was a dark and stormy night..."

 

[MColton84]

If someone copies word for word, it is too much. If they use your character's names, that's suspicious.

You have many options to handle such things. You can try to contact the writer that you think stole your work and point out the similarity. That might solve some issues. Or you can simply send it up to be handled by admin here.

That's a good point. I wrote a story at the end of last year, where such issues popped up. AlexBailey had left a comment on the story about some of the freaky coincidences between her characters and mine. Both stories explored similar themes. We had used the same names on four of the characters, along with many other similarities. AlexBailey didn't think that there was any wrong doing, and we both agree that they were two different stories that came really close to each other. It was enough that I read Alex's story wondering if my ideas were actually memories.

Long story short, we talked it out to be sure before anyone jumped to conclusions. Because of this, I have a friend who has significantly helped me to improve my writing.