So, I got a message from a reader telling me to check out a story, that it was my fic 'Menage au Inu' reworded. I checked and it was. Butchered, but my story, no doubt. I sent the poster (since she didn't write it)and reported the fic. She replied saying that my fic inspired hers, that it isn't plagarism, and she's changed the name, as if that were the problem! I don't know if she pulled the original or if the site did, probably her since I've heard Fanfiction.net is slow to fix problems, but it's back under a new name and now I have to go report it again.

Since then she has posted 2 chapters, which aren't my fic, but refuses to remove or change the first chapter so it isn't my fic. I'm getting really frustrated because she just doesn't get it. She has an apology note at the bottom of the first chapter asking people to see past the issue with the first chapter and read the rest of the fic. Then at the end of chapter 3 she says she apologized to me and it's up to me to accept it, she's not changing it.

The newest news is that now she's put up a chapter announcement saying the fic is no longer hers, that one of her friends is taking it over. Personally I think the 'friend' is just her with another user name, but either way it doesn't matter. She still won't take it down! I don't know what to do and Wiccan recommended I post about it here, that maybe you guys could help. I am so frustrated at this point I could just tear my hair out. It's like dealing with a four year old!

Here is hers:
www.fanfiction.net/s/6663312/1/Mating_The_Two_Inus_Brothers

and a link to mine so you can compare for yourself:
www.fanfiction.net/s/4233135/1/Menage_Au_Inu

And here is the profile of the 'friend' who is taking it over.
www.fanfiction.net/u/2430398/

She's posted a note about it, that claims something entirely different than what the first girl told me, that my fic inspired hers, not that someone else gave her the ideas. Ugh, so frustrated!

Help, please!!!

Wow...it's gone.

Gah, I'll do what I can to help, Sunset! The link to the story isn't working, though, and I can't see the note she wrote about changing hands of the story... but the summary says it is.

Time to put in my... SERIOUS FACE.

Could it have been taken down?
The link was working when I left my review, and reported it about 15 mins-ish ago?

Yeah the story's gone now. I was leaving her a review calling her a thieving swamp duck and a crack head when it was taken down. I'm wondering if she's going to open it on the other account though.

I hate story thieves...

I sent her a PM just... being kind, and having a solid plea. We'll see what she says.

/sigh

As you can see Sunset, we've got your back .

I did report her myself, though the story came down before I could finish posting my review. However, on the off chance that the second account really is a different person, I went ahead and sent them a message warning them that them putting up the story was still stealing.

LOL Hair, I did that too! She'd gunna have a FROOD of MAIRS to check. I hope it reaches her heart.. of her conscience.. or something.

EDIT:// Didn't want to double post:

Great news guys! She promised to discontinue the story. Neither her nor her sister/friend would continue the story. I told her if she promised I would spread the word.


...Now I hope she means that. >3>

She's probably going to keep trying to post it until it sinks in that she's not going to get away with it. Fortunately... It seems plagiarists, in general, aren't that bright, if they were, they'd be harder to catch. Last time someone had to deal with this Wiccan posted a thread with the links and BAM- it was like loosing the hounds of hell, so many people reported this person and left reviews pointing out that the story was stolen... I think someone else even referred to us as some sort of angry mob.

Sorry, I'm rambling, point is you if you continue to have issues with this person and her 'friend', just keep your fellow dokugans (dokugians? I've seen it both ways :/) posted and every single one of us will go to bat for you.

You rock, Fox- here's to hoping she keeps her word.

I hope she keeps it, too... at least we can try and give her the benefit of the doubt, eh? Sometimes it's just really confused kids, honestly. ><; Doesn't make it any more right, but... yeh.

There's nothing wrong with reading a story and being inspired by it to write one yourself. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but if you're going to see a concept, don't copy it - flip the script and make it your own. Changing a few words around doesn't make it less plagiarizing.

Anyhoo, I'm out. I'm not a poster but I saw Sunset Miko and the words "plagiarism problem" and remembered someone stole her stories before and I had to get Sistahgurl to help her out...

Kagome357 wrote:
There's nothing wrong with reading a story and being inspired by it to write one yourself. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but if you're going to see a concept, don't copy it - flip the script and make it your own. Changing a few words around doesn't make it less plagiarizing.

Exactly. It happens all the time that one writer is inspired by another, but if another person can read this 'inspired' story and be able to tell exactly who it was taken from, then we have a problem. I won't lie, there have been times I've been ready to flip because I'd read a story summary that looked like either a friend's story or even one of my own, but upon actually reading the work you can see that it's similar without being a rip off of the original, and similarly presented fics are going to happen from time to time in the same fandom, that's just how it is, but if you can look at the other persons words and see where what was changed, reworded or borrowed exactly.... again, we have an issue.

I don't think we're ever going to get to a point where plagiarism no longer happens and that's kind of disheartening, so it's good to know there's a place we can come to and share our concerns and have others not think twice about standing up for us and our work.

It's actually impossible for there ever to be a time when plagiarism never happens. That's like saying all the envy in the world disappears overnight and everyone gets along. Unfortunately, the world can't be as awesome as Dokuga as much as we may wish it!

Besides, nothing is every completely original anymore. After all, there are only so many ways you can make up a way for canon Kagome to turn from canon Inuyasha... or so many ways for Inuyasha to betray Kagome... so on and so forth.

And honestly if you didn't read the previous fic you'd never know the similarities existed. And because you had read it, you did and you noticed- and of course the anger is amplified by the fact that you know and love the author + story.

What I'm trying to say is... not everything that seems like plagiarism is or is intentional. Sometimes people can write something that seems very much the same but doesn't change directions until far later. They may never have even read the 'original' fic. It's really situational... and a person clouded with anger may not be able to accept the fact that it might be a coincidence.


(Not relating to this situation, or necessarily any on Dokuga of course!)

Fox wrote:
It's actually impossible for there ever to be a time when plagiarism never happens. That's like saying all the envy in the world disappears overnight and everyone gets along. Unfortunately, the world can't be as awesome as Dokuga as much as we may wish it!

Besides, nothing is every completely original anymore. After all, there are only so many ways you can make up a way for canon Kagome to turn from canon Inuyasha... or so many ways for Inuyasha to betray Kagome... so on and so forth.

And honestly if you didn't read the previous fic you'd never know the similarities existed. And because you had read it, you did and you noticed- and of course the anger is amplified by the fact that you know and love the author + story.

What I'm trying to say is... not everything that seems like plagiarism is or is intentional. Sometimes people can write something that seems very much the same but doesn't change directions until far later. They may never have even read the 'original' fic. It's really situational... and a person clouded with anger may not be able to accept the fact that it might be a coincidence.


(Not relating to this situation, or necessarily any on Dokuga of course!)

I have to agree with Fox. Coincidences do happen. I have read many stories that start our practically the same ways and change later on.

In this case, I wish I had been able to compare the works, but from the looks of it, the story was removed within less than an hour. Did anyone actually get a chance to read it? *kinda curious how close it was.*

Terri-tots wrote:

I have to agree with Fox. Coincidences do happen. I have read many stories that start our practically the same ways and change later on.

In this case, I wish I had been able to compare the works, but from the looks of it, the story was removed within less than an hour. Did anyone actually get a chance to read it? *kinda curious how close it was.*

I did skim it over, and it was the same exact thing for the first chapter, but butchered.

This is Sunset's first sentence:

Inuyasha leapt from tree to tree running faster than he'd ever run in his life. "Fucking bastard!" he snarled to himself while his eyes searched the distance.

This was the person's first sentence almost exactly:

Inuyasha jumped tree to tree faster than ever in is life. "Fucking Bastard!" he whined himself while looking distance.

The person changed the words, but it was the same thing, and the English was butchered.

Madison wrote:

I did skim it over, and it was the same exact thing for the first chapter, but butchered.

This is Sunset's first sentence:

Inuyasha leapt from tree to tree running faster than he'd ever run in his life. "Fucking bastard!" he snarled to himself while his eyes searched the distance.

This was the person's first sentence almost exactly:

Inuyasha jumped tree to tree faster than ever in is life. "Fucking Bastard!" he whined himself while looking distance.

The person changed the words, but it was the same thing, and the English was butchered.

Okay, in that case I can understand it better. (I still wish I could have read it myself, just because I need a chance to formulate my own opinion on the closeness of it all.)

I read over much of the entire first chapter when SunsetMiko first posted about this on her LJ. I was the one who encouraged her to post here about the plagiarism. I applied the same principles that I apply here on our site to determine for myself whether or not the chapter constituted plagiarism.

*I* felt that it was, quite obviously, plagiarized, however butchered it was. I have had many come to me with suspicions of plagiarism as an Admin here... some founded and some not so. The proven ones, we delete, along with the author's profile. I hasten to assure you, though, we are well aware of what constitutes shared cliche and what constitutes actual plagiarism.

Believe me, I've got people upset with me on both counts. In a few cases where we (I never make this determination in a vacuum, I always involve the other Admins) determined plagiarism, I was vilified for that. In a few cases where it was determined that there was no plagiarism, I've been vilified for that as well. Still, we do our best to identify the difference between actual plagiarism and shared cliche in every single case.

Hopefully, this explanation will help some of you feel a little better about how this issue is handled here. We make every effort to give new authors the benefit of the doubt when handling cases like this. We examine every angle, posting dates on other sites, etc. We try to be as fair as possible, while still maintaining the integrity of our authors. Do we make mistakes? Probably, but we'll keep trying to get it right.

~~Wiccan~~

WiccanMethuselah wrote:
Believe me, I've got people upset with me on both counts. In a few cases where we (I never make this determination in a vacuum, I always involve the other Admins) determined plagiarism, I was vilified for that. In a few cases where it was determined that there was no plagiarism, I've been vilified for that as well. Still, we do our best to identify the difference between actual plagiarism and shared cliche in every single case.

But you make such an awesome villain

Hey guys,

As much as I hate plagiarism, I'm going to ask that we put this one to bed.

The proof is gone, which means the story has come down. PMing the author and the site will do no good now except make Dokuga look like a vigilante hunter that picks on people. If it pops back up again, then READ and COMPARE then PM the author and let them that you are reporting them and why. Do not publicly post reviews stating plagiarism.

I'll admit to seeing some of the reviews that people post against plagiarists. People need to be reminded that they're wrong, but not in overly excessive harsh words.

With the proof gone, stop now please. Our end has been achieved and there is no point in continuing. If it shows up again, then by all means, voice your complaint firmly, but not in a way that promotes harrassment, and not without providing adequate proof. They are human beings too and are due some fairness, even if what they did was ugly. It makes you look like the better person and them not the victim.

Yay! It's gone! Of course I also have a nasty message from the 'friend' about how her friend won't talk to her because of this, thanks a lot. I'm just relieved and I don't know what happened or why she finally did it (or if the site did) but thanks to everyone who posted here! What a turnout! I turned off the computer for a few hours and have 20+ messages! *feels very loved*

-hugs sunset- I am glad that it got taken down.