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Last call on the plagiarism thing
Apr. 3rd, 2016 07:14 pmThis will be the last that I post about this particular incident, with the hopes that there aren't any more, ever, and none for anyone else, period.
The situation is resolved, more or less.
Timeline-wise, as best as I can put together (names left out since I don't know if they would like to be outed and am erring on the side of caution):
Person #1 contacted me on Tumblr chat to let me know about the fic and its' strong resemblance to Radioman. During our brief conversation, they included a link to the fic and provided several damning examples of plagiarism.
Person #2 left a comment on the fic in question to let them know that the ending was almost exactly the same ending as Radioman, and that they should address that. The author replied that they fixed it and that they would contact me with an apology. The author did indeed "fix" it -- the scene remained the same, with added filler between the key parts, and there were tweaks to the matching text -- but never contacted me anywhere. Not on AO3, not on Tumblr, not on LJ, and definitely not by email, which is harder to find but if you know the right people...
Person #3 contacted AO3's abuse team to let them know that this fic has plagiarized directly from an original fic, though at the first contact, it was more of an inquiry to see if it counted as plagiarism and the fic hadn't been listed. They heard back very quickly from AO3's abuse team, who confirmed that it did, and asked the fic URL. This information was provided to them in short order.
Person #4 posted a comment to point out that there were many other scenes in common with the first two parts of Loaded March. They didn't get a response. In fact, their comment was deleted.
After a really hectic week at work and finally having a few hours to myself yesterday, I sat down and systematically made a list of all the scenes that the fic had in common with Radioman and War Games. It took a while. Some examples were iffy -- clearly borrowed, but nothing solid to prove it -- but others were pretty much word for word. For example, an entire fight scene had been lifted, right down to the exact descriptions, but had been completely restructured so it was out of sequence and very jarring to read.
At that point I left a comment on the fic. Basically, it was a hi, I wrote these fics, I've been told about the resemblances, I checked it out, and, wow, there's a lot of scenes directly lifted, dialogue stolen, or sections paraphrased, can you please address this? thanks.
I don't think I was mean about it. But since another similar comment had been deleted, I covered my ass and screenshot the comment.
Right after that, I contacted AO3's abuse team to let them know several things, mainly listed above, but including the remark that another person had made that this author also had a comment on another fic that it seemed to be a direct copy of two other fandom fics, and added a list of about twelve of the most solid examples of plagiarism from the first two parts of Loaded March.
The next morning, I received an email from AO3's abuse team letting me know they'd been contacted about this fic in relation to a different body of work and that yes it looks like there's some definite plagiarism happening. However, when they went to look at the fic themselves, the fic had been removed from AO3.
Seems that the author got terribly gun shy when I posted the comment and deleted it outright. Person #3 informed me that AO3's abuse team also let them know that the fic had been removed.
While it seems that all is lost, because all the trace evidence has been erased and the culprit scampered off to parts unknown, AO3's abuse team let me know that since I've notified them of one very important tidbit that one of my very enterprising friends uncovered -- that another fic by this author received a comment regarding the similarity with two other fanfics -- that they will be pursuing further investigations.
I'm glad the fic has been taken down. I'm not happy that the person is not going to be held accountable for their actions and that all the people whose work they have borrowed from won't at least get an apology, which, in my case would be appreciated, though I would really, really rather that they realize one thing -- if they are capable of blending in two works to the extent that they have, they're capable of writing their own original (fan)fic. I don't want to shoot someone's aspirations down. Everyone has to start somewhere when it comes to any kind of craft, and one learns by borrowing from other people's toolboxes, but there's a fine line between tracing over someone's work to figure out how to shape a scene, and in tracing over someone's work and putting your name on it.
In any case, I'm very, profusely appreciative of everyone's support and assistance in this. If another instance comes up, please let me know, but please don't be shy about collecting evidence and letting AO3's abuse team know about it. You see, I'm very slow and obsessive about getting appropriate proof, because to be honest, a part of me was wondering the whole time, Who the hell would plagiarize that?? and I had to convince myself of it, first.
Thank you to everyone!
The situation is resolved, more or less.
Timeline-wise, as best as I can put together (names left out since I don't know if they would like to be outed and am erring on the side of caution):
Person #1 contacted me on Tumblr chat to let me know about the fic and its' strong resemblance to Radioman. During our brief conversation, they included a link to the fic and provided several damning examples of plagiarism.
Person #2 left a comment on the fic in question to let them know that the ending was almost exactly the same ending as Radioman, and that they should address that. The author replied that they fixed it and that they would contact me with an apology. The author did indeed "fix" it -- the scene remained the same, with added filler between the key parts, and there were tweaks to the matching text -- but never contacted me anywhere. Not on AO3, not on Tumblr, not on LJ, and definitely not by email, which is harder to find but if you know the right people...
Person #3 contacted AO3's abuse team to let them know that this fic has plagiarized directly from an original fic, though at the first contact, it was more of an inquiry to see if it counted as plagiarism and the fic hadn't been listed. They heard back very quickly from AO3's abuse team, who confirmed that it did, and asked the fic URL. This information was provided to them in short order.
Person #4 posted a comment to point out that there were many other scenes in common with the first two parts of Loaded March. They didn't get a response. In fact, their comment was deleted.
After a really hectic week at work and finally having a few hours to myself yesterday, I sat down and systematically made a list of all the scenes that the fic had in common with Radioman and War Games. It took a while. Some examples were iffy -- clearly borrowed, but nothing solid to prove it -- but others were pretty much word for word. For example, an entire fight scene had been lifted, right down to the exact descriptions, but had been completely restructured so it was out of sequence and very jarring to read.
At that point I left a comment on the fic. Basically, it was a hi, I wrote these fics, I've been told about the resemblances, I checked it out, and, wow, there's a lot of scenes directly lifted, dialogue stolen, or sections paraphrased, can you please address this? thanks.
I don't think I was mean about it. But since another similar comment had been deleted, I covered my ass and screenshot the comment.
Right after that, I contacted AO3's abuse team to let them know several things, mainly listed above, but including the remark that another person had made that this author also had a comment on another fic that it seemed to be a direct copy of two other fandom fics, and added a list of about twelve of the most solid examples of plagiarism from the first two parts of Loaded March.
The next morning, I received an email from AO3's abuse team letting me know they'd been contacted about this fic in relation to a different body of work and that yes it looks like there's some definite plagiarism happening. However, when they went to look at the fic themselves, the fic had been removed from AO3.
Seems that the author got terribly gun shy when I posted the comment and deleted it outright. Person #3 informed me that AO3's abuse team also let them know that the fic had been removed.
While it seems that all is lost, because all the trace evidence has been erased and the culprit scampered off to parts unknown, AO3's abuse team let me know that since I've notified them of one very important tidbit that one of my very enterprising friends uncovered -- that another fic by this author received a comment regarding the similarity with two other fanfics -- that they will be pursuing further investigations.
I'm glad the fic has been taken down. I'm not happy that the person is not going to be held accountable for their actions and that all the people whose work they have borrowed from won't at least get an apology, which, in my case would be appreciated, though I would really, really rather that they realize one thing -- if they are capable of blending in two works to the extent that they have, they're capable of writing their own original (fan)fic. I don't want to shoot someone's aspirations down. Everyone has to start somewhere when it comes to any kind of craft, and one learns by borrowing from other people's toolboxes, but there's a fine line between tracing over someone's work to figure out how to shape a scene, and in tracing over someone's work and putting your name on it.
In any case, I'm very, profusely appreciative of everyone's support and assistance in this. If another instance comes up, please let me know, but please don't be shy about collecting evidence and letting AO3's abuse team know about it. You see, I'm very slow and obsessive about getting appropriate proof, because to be honest, a part of me was wondering the whole time, Who the hell would plagiarize that?? and I had to convince myself of it, first.
Thank you to everyone!
