Plagiarized story alert

[cymbidia]

One of my stories, "Hooded", has been plagiarized. I’m posting the contents of the email i sent to the operator of the site so you can go look to see if any of yours have been similarly treated at that place. My “Hooded” is a het BDSM story; the plagiarizer changed it to a m/m story but the thing remains, clearly, mine.

I'm posting this thread all over Lit to try to get the info to those who write but don't cross forum boudaries too often; please excuse me this excess. I really don't know if they have poetry at this site or not but it seems that "better safe then sorry" is a good plan for instances of possible plagiarism, isn't it?

I hope you don’t find any of your stuff at this site.
Regards,
cym

Hello Gaby,

I was alerted to the presence of a story on your site called "The Hood". I wrote and posted a story called "Hooded" late in 2000. At that time, it was posted on A.S.S.M.. Since then, it's been posted on B and Belle's site (since removed) and at Literotica. That's all. Your version of my story came out in 2001.

Beyond very obvious similarities in our stories, several sections of text in my story and yours are identical - certainly identical enough to make your work an obvious plagiarism of my story. Furthermore, there are elements in your story that just don't sound right - not the least is that which made adapting my het story fit your m/m situation. Having browsed some of your other stories when i was trying to determine if you had, indeed, ripped me off, i noticed that our styles are usually very different, my work is much more erotic and descriptive than is yours.

You've got a big rant about plagiarism on your site at the moment since you've, apparently, been plagiarized recently and has insisted upon a public apology from the person who stole your work (as well as vilifying them on your site), it seems reasonable for me to insist that you publicly confirm on your site that you plagiarized my story. It seems hypocritical that you have stolen my work, does it not?

I got the info about you stealing my work from a reader at your site. As a matter of fact, some of the words in this email are lifted straight from his/her email to me to tell me of this matter.

I'm sending a copy of this email to him/her. I'm sending a copy to a few other people i know, too, other writers who might want to look at your site to see if their work has been "reworked". One of them is an attorney. Finally, a copy of this email is going to the people who run the website Literotica, the only place i allow my stories/poems to be published anymore because they work ferociously protect the rights of the writers who publish at the site. They do not allow plagiarism of the stories posted to that site.

Gaby, i'm really hoping you'll do the right thing, the only thing you can do in this unsavory situation, and do it immediately and without acting like a child in the matter.

My story "Hooded" as posted in A.S.S.M on December 4, 2000: http://www.asstr.org/files/Collections/Alt.Sex.Stories.Moderated/Year2000/27708
My Story "Hooded" at Literotica: http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=10238
Your story "The Hood": http://gaby.slashcity.tv/misc/hood.html
Your rant on plagiarism on June 6th, 2002: http://gaby.slashcity.tv/new.html

Apologize to me in public on your site, and in private via email, and remove my story, the one you "reworked", from your site. Do this immediately, please.

Thank you.
cymbidia

 

[WickedEve]

I read both versions. At the bottom of Gaby's version it says he/she was inspired by a BDSM story. I think it went beyond inspiration! lol That was, without a doubt, a reworked version of your story.
There are so many little sites out there in cyber land, that any of our works could be sitting on someone's site right now, and we'd never know it.

 

[cymbidia]

So, about that plagiarism. S/he did use my work but s/he didn't know s/he was doing it. Whatever. It's off the site and out of the archives; that's what matters to me.

Here's the email s/he sent to me regarding the issue:

Hello cymbidia,

I am so sorry about that!

I swear to you I didn't know! I *am* very opposed to plagiarism,
I know how horrific it feels to be the victim, so I can
understand how you must feel. However, I also swear to you that I
did *not* do this on purpose. Please let me explain.

A long while ago a friend of mine sent me an email, telling me
about this story she had read at a BDSM site. I asked her to send
me the link which didn't work. So, instead, she told me in detail
about it, said she was inspired by it and sent me what I thought
was "her version" of it. (she's a fellow fanfic writer who also
writes het) This must have been your story, "as is", however, and
nothing else. I liked it very much, I thanked her and stored it
away in my "story ideas" folder since she told me she didn't want
to use it. Then I forgot all about it. I found it months later,
thought it would make a wonderful slash story. Yes, you're right,
it's different to everything I usually write - and yes,
*everything* else is based on my own ideas, but feel free to
check - and I liked the idea of exploring the descriptive side of
story telling. I did ask my friend if it was okay to use her
story, she said yes, I changed the bits that needed to be slashy
and that was it. I swear, if I had known it was your story,
*exactly* your story, I never would've just posted it without
changing much. I just honestly thought it wasn't yours, it was
hers. Since she said it was okay to use it, I went ahead. I had
added a note about "The Hood" being inspired by something that
was found at a BDSM site and that I didn't know who, when, what -
I mean, I honestly didn't, my friend never told me. If I had only
known... I do abhor plagiarism, I never intentionally did that, I
swear. However, I readily admit it was my fault that I didn't
double-check, so I am to blame.

I have pulled the story already, I have also contacted the
archivists where the story can be found, asking them to remove
the snippet. I will write an update at my site now, informing
everyone about what happened. It should be up in another half an hour or so. Again, I am sorry about this because I never intended to steal anyone's work. I take pride in my own stories, I don't have to use other people's art.

Just one last thing...threatening me with a lawyer between the
lines won't help you much, I'm one myself. And funnily enough, I
specialize in intellectual property - another reason why I am so
against plagiarism. Which is also why I respond right away,
because I want this matter solved for both our sakes.

I hope this email is helping you. Again, I apologize. It was
never my intention to hurt you - or anyone else.

Gaby