Someone re-posting my stories

[beachbum1958]

I've just had some semi-literate arse screaming at me about plagiarizing stories posted 6 months ago from 'another site', leading me to believe there's another story site out there that's doing just that with my work and re-dating it six months or more earlier so it looks like I'm taking their material; now I understand (mostly!) the issues of posting from the UK on a US-based website (that copyright isn't actually vested in my work unless I pay to copyright my work in the US - fair enough, this is a free site after all, so let the post-er beware), but has anyone else come cross this, or have I just managed to collect my own personal nutjob? Interested to find out, as I realise there's fuck-all I can do about it anyway, but misery loves company, I'd just like to know if this has happened to anyone else.

 

[RejectReality]

People throw around accusations like that in the comments section all the time. Most likely it's just what they believe is a more credible way to attack you. People who have actually seen a story posted before will provide information that points to it such as the name of the site, an author name, or even a link.

Jerks just say "Lern to rite ur own storys luzer!" and hope the accusations of plagiarism make them sound credible.

I wouldn't be concerned about it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have heard of this. There was s site a year or so ago that was lifting stories from here and changing author names and even as you said dates.

I'm not sure there is much to do about it. If they are not making money off it then its sort of a waste to really go after them.

But I feel your frustration and pain. Unfortunately its a hazard of posting anything, stories, artwork, articles, anything can be lifted and "re-credited"

 

[Stella_Omega]

If you want to check, take a sentence from your story, enclose it in quotes and enter it in google.

Don't waste your money on copyright; Only worth something if 1) your story is worth something, and 2) if you have the funds to prosecute your lawsuit.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you want to check, take a sentence from your story, enclose it in quotes and enter it in google.

Don't waste your money on copyright; Only worth something if 1) your story is worth something, and 2) if you have the funds to prosecute your lawsuit.

Its not just funds with copyright. How fast do you think the courts move? Unless you're a big six publisher or have a politician in your pocket, you're going nowhere fast.

 

[beachbum1958]

I heard that...my initial reaction was 'What, someone's stealing my stuff! Shock, Horror, Outrage! Pass me my Winchester... followed by "wait a minute, you gave that story away the second you posted on a free website!"

I suppose my reaction was really more 'keep away from my bone' than anything else, but it is annoying that I go to the trouble of dreaming up the stories I post, so I can hone my own laughably small skills, only for some @$£%"@@!!&! to steal it because he/she/it feels like copping a feel of my work

 

[lovecraft68]

I heard that...my initial reaction was 'What, someone's stealing my stuff! Shock, Horror, Outrage! Pass me my Winchester... followed by "wait a minute, you gave that story away the second you posted on a free website!"

I suppose my reaction was really more 'keep away from my bone' than anything else, but it is annoying that I go to the trouble of dreaming up the stories I post, so I can hone my own laughably small skills, only for some @$£%"@@!!&! to steal it because he/she/it feels like copping a feel of my work

Hey how do you think Stephanie Meyers feels watching 50 shades make millions when its all based on her work?

But really, I practice ignorance is bliss. I never search for my stuff. If its stolen I don;t need the aggravation its my risk for posting here.

 

[beachbum1958]

Amen to that...

 

[Bramblethorn]

I have heard of this. There was s site a year or so ago that was lifting stories from here and changing author names and even as you said dates.

Yep, I saw this on (I think) nookiestar. Although the one I saw was a really crappy site scraper job - I think they only got the first page of each story and it was full of junk formatting tags etc, so they weren't very convincing about it.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yep, I saw this on (I think) nookiestar. Although the one I saw was a really crappy site scraper job - I think they only got the first page of each story and it was full of junk formatting tags etc, so they weren't very convincing about it.

Yes, they had the first page only of about a dozen of my SWB chapters. They did not even have them in order. They had 1-4 then 9-12 and a couple of others. I think they had Breaking of Allison as well. But only the first page.

There was another site that did the same thing and clicking on it sent my anti virus into overdrive.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hey how do you think Stephanie Meyers feels watching 50 shades make millions when its all based on her work?

But really, I practice ignorance is bliss. I never search for my stuff. If its stolen I don;t need the aggravation its my risk for posting here.

I'm reading a popular noire writer, and one of his scenes is right outta Dorothy Hughes 40s noire IN A LONELY PLACE. Some scenes David Goodis wrote are in the film, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. It looks like its hard to keep good material where it belongs.

 

[beachbum1958]

I tend to agree with that; I've read more than 900 books over the last 40 years, and I have no earthly idea how much, if any of that has remained in odd corners and recesses of my brain; what I do know is that sometimes a line occurs to me that's so apt, so apposite, I have to use it, and then months or years later, when I re-read what I wrote and posted, I get a vague feeling that I've seen that line somewhere before, Christ knows where, did I really form it out of mine own special abilities, or did someone else, and have I just taken someone else's pithy gem and appropriated it for myself? An unsettling feeling, believe me.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I tend to agree with that; I've read more than 900 books over the last 40 years, and I have no earthly idea how much, if any of that has remained in odd corners and recesses of my brain; what I do know is that sometimes a line occurs to me that's so apt, so apposite, I have to use it, and then months or years later, when I re-read what I wrote and posted, I get a vague feeling that I've seen that line somewhere before, Christ knows where, did I really form it out of mine own special abilities, or did someone else, and have I just taken someone else's pithy gem and appropriated it for myself? An unsettling feeling, believe me.

I think 99% of prose is generic and in the public domain forever, and the rest is so identified with its creators its impossible to steal. IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES. FRANKLY MY DEAR, I DONT GIVVA DAMN.

 

[sr71plt]

And if you're not a good enough writer to conjure up your own words or are basically lazy, self-centered, and unprincipled . . .