Would all writers that post here please read (or reread) the "serious copyright notice" on the bottom of the Rulez thread.
It has been brought to my attention by another that a couple of portions of two stories on this board, by two different authors, are suspect. No, I am not going into detail, because to me, they are not suspect enough to take action, and as it is, in these cases, my stories that they are suspected of borrowing from, it is my call.
And don't ask, unless you know you are one of the stories talked about because it was a deliberate act. I won't tell you, because the person who reported it to me may have been wrong and I won't accuse someone if it isn't so, and speculation on this thread will be deleted. That's how serious I consider this.
And this is not an invitation to go trolling through the stories to see who it was, either, m'kay? We're adults here.
But, just in case, all writers, read it anyway. If you are not plagiarising, you have nothing to worry about. If you are, intentionally or unintentionally (and "paraphrasing" counts as plagiarism), then consider yourself warned. If you have borrowed a paragraph or an idea and you know it, remove it or acknowledge your source. Because if it happens again, and a comparison of the ideas string [see "you can't copyright an idea, but you do have copyright on an original take OF an idea"] or passage/s concerned proves it, the writers concerned will be banned. Ignorance is, in this case, not considered an excuse, because you all should be reading this, right? And have already read the Rulez, right?
If you are not sure, just read through your stories and see if it bears any resemblance to someone else's. Be honest with yourself. You can ask if you are not sure. I'm not angry.
Plagiarism is a serious offence, people. And it serves no purpose, because you can't possibly be happy knowing that you are being lauded for work that is not, strictly speaking, your own.
And the writer being stolen from may see it as a compliment--for about 5 minutes. I work very, very hard on my stories, and edit them to death. Many other writers here do the same thing. So seeing a five-minute edit job on a passage lifted from a story that took me hours to write is not a compliment, it's blatant disrespect for what I do. And it is the same for any writer. I've taken Reno's Story down once already for this very reason (although the theft was more blatant: the teenager invovled didn't even bother to edit it). Don't make me do it again.
All writers do borrow, be inspired by, be influenced by, and adapt ideas from other writers. It's the way it is, you can't do anything but, because there is "nothing new under the sun". As Lewis Carroll said, if you strive to be "original", usually, you end up not being so. That is NOT what I'm talking about.
But to clarify: using fanfic ideas, writing in another world, with reference, is not plagiarism. Homages, credited, are not plagiarism. An accidental "omigosh we just wrote the same character independantly of each other" isn't plagiarism (and happens a lot. I should know, hey, Edi?
). Using the specific ideas string or passages of another writer
without acknowledgement is. Copying a passage and changing a few words around, is. Using someone else's original take on a character within a fanfic world
is.
Examples would be Raith, or my "version" of Reno as a character, or MissusZ's "version" of her Harry Potter characters. We don't own the copyright to Reno or Harry, but we do own the copyright of our take on them. Raith is my own character, and the only part of him Squeenix owns is his Turk history, and I acknowledge that.
I do not intend to offend anybody, so if I sound blunt, it's because I am being so, deliberately. Stealing someone else's IP is no joke. If you are doing it, please stop it. If you are not, then all good.
It has been brought to my attention by another that a couple of portions of two stories on this board, by two different authors, are suspect. No, I am not going into detail, because to me, they are not suspect enough to take action, and as it is, in these cases, my stories that they are suspected of borrowing from, it is my call.
And don't ask, unless you know you are one of the stories talked about because it was a deliberate act. I won't tell you, because the person who reported it to me may have been wrong and I won't accuse someone if it isn't so, and speculation on this thread will be deleted. That's how serious I consider this.
And this is not an invitation to go trolling through the stories to see who it was, either, m'kay? We're adults here.
But, just in case, all writers, read it anyway. If you are not plagiarising, you have nothing to worry about. If you are, intentionally or unintentionally (and "paraphrasing" counts as plagiarism), then consider yourself warned. If you have borrowed a paragraph or an idea and you know it, remove it or acknowledge your source. Because if it happens again, and a comparison of the ideas string [see "you can't copyright an idea, but you do have copyright on an original take OF an idea"] or passage/s concerned proves it, the writers concerned will be banned. Ignorance is, in this case, not considered an excuse, because you all should be reading this, right? And have already read the Rulez, right?
If you are not sure, just read through your stories and see if it bears any resemblance to someone else's. Be honest with yourself. You can ask if you are not sure. I'm not angry.
Plagiarism is a serious offence, people. And it serves no purpose, because you can't possibly be happy knowing that you are being lauded for work that is not, strictly speaking, your own.
And the writer being stolen from may see it as a compliment--for about 5 minutes. I work very, very hard on my stories, and edit them to death. Many other writers here do the same thing. So seeing a five-minute edit job on a passage lifted from a story that took me hours to write is not a compliment, it's blatant disrespect for what I do. And it is the same for any writer. I've taken Reno's Story down once already for this very reason (although the theft was more blatant: the teenager invovled didn't even bother to edit it). Don't make me do it again.
All writers do borrow, be inspired by, be influenced by, and adapt ideas from other writers. It's the way it is, you can't do anything but, because there is "nothing new under the sun". As Lewis Carroll said, if you strive to be "original", usually, you end up not being so. That is NOT what I'm talking about.
But to clarify: using fanfic ideas, writing in another world, with reference, is not plagiarism. Homages, credited, are not plagiarism. An accidental "omigosh we just wrote the same character independantly of each other" isn't plagiarism (and happens a lot. I should know, hey, Edi?
). Using the specific ideas string or passages of another writer
without acknowledgement is. Copying a passage and changing a few words around, is. Using someone else's original take on a character within a fanfic world
is.
Examples would be Raith, or my "version" of Reno as a character, or MissusZ's "version" of her Harry Potter characters. We don't own the copyright to Reno or Harry, but we do own the copyright of our take on them. Raith is my own character, and the only part of him Squeenix owns is his Turk history, and I acknowledge that.
I do not intend to offend anybody, so if I sound blunt, it's because I am being so, deliberately. Stealing someone else's IP is no joke. If you are doing it, please stop it. If you are not, then all good.
