Sarasama1 wrote:
I don't completely agree with what you're saying although I respect it quite a bit. As a reader, when you start reading a story that has been recommended, you become involved with it and have a commitment to seeing its end. It's also an emotional investment on the part of the reader. The majority of writers who post fanfics realize that and update their stories and complete them barring real life getting in their way. The relationship between writer and reader is a two-way street. Without readers there wouldn't be writers and vice versa.

As a reader, she is not a victim of the person that plagiarized Quiet Whisper's story. However, she is entitled to be sad about Whisper's not finishing it because it really was a superlative story that should be completed. I've read it and am also sad that Whisper won't be completing it. I would've had the same reaction if one of your stories was left incomplete because I've read and re-read them all.

I'm not trying to deny anyone the loss of what was a good story, or say that they shouldn't be disappointed. And I agree that the relationship between writers and readers is highly dependent on each other. Without readers, I would be the only one reading what I've written, and I doubt if I would have finished most of it.

But part of the reward for hours of effort for no monetary gain is absolute full control over what you've written and how it's distributed. You should not have to feel pressured to put up a piece of work that you no longer feel belongs on the internet, nor should you be asked to give it to someone else to finish if you don't want to. Nor should it be vaguely said that it might be a good thing if it should happen to be posted against your wishes.

I, like I imagine most writers, fully empathize with my readers. After all, as a whole, writers read all of their reviews, rewrite their stories, edit, spell check, and do all that they can to convey the best story possible for their individual niches. And if we pull a story, we have our reasons and it's not torture our readers. In fact, chances are that it might be for you that we do it.

I'm sorry for the losses many of you have endured when comes to pulled stories, but it's quite often for you that it's done.

As for leaving this thread open, I think everyone is aware of the forum rules on the rules page. I trust that everything will stay polite

Brenna wrote:
I have to ask, why do people feel the need to steal others work?

To get attention, to feel special, to look popular. It's unfortunate, but some people do feel a strong need to get attention or internet popularity as quick as possible, and either they don't believe they have the skills/abilities to earn it on their own, or they're just too lazy to try. It can be superficial need, which I think accounts for most of it, or, in some cases, I think people might have deeper issues with self esteem, self worth, or possibly even depression that lead to the thefty behavior.

I have to admit, theft is the main reason why I quit deviantArt; a scary large portion of the community is made up of people who submit other people's font work, or arts, or even they take photos from commercial websites and submit them as their own work, and dA does a terrible job of moderating it. Then unknowing people leave comments of appreciation and encouragement, and the poor behavior is fueled. If anyone thinks ff.net is bad with removing stolen stuff, I had deviation reports that included links and proof of the stolen work go untouched for 6+ months.

WHY would a person want to attempt to take credit for the creative work of someone else? In the case of fanfiction, it is obviously not for monetary gain, as would be the case in copyright infringement, or to get a good grade in school, as in academic plagiarism, and it seems obvious that the plagiarist could not be gaining personal satisfaction from creating or completing something, a job well done, as is the case of the real creator of the work.

In order to comprehend what is at work in this situation, you need to understand that this is an example of maladaptive behavior, almost certainly a manifestation of a personality disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM IV, classifies such behaviors as an Axis II Mental Disorder.

Simply put, a human learns certain habits, or coping mechanisms, as they develop, as a way of dealing with the difficulties of their environment. Ideally, through the good examples of the people around us, we would learn to apply ourselves, work hard, and be straight shooters. But often, a developing person stumbles upon maladaptive behaviors, such as lying and stealing, to cope with the demands of life. These behaviors can become habits, if they are perceived as successful, and become ingrained in the person's personality. The problem in the case of a personality disorder is that the behaviors only help a person cope on a superficial level, and never in the long run, but actually guarantee that the person who has fallen into such a trap is actually pathological to themselves, others, and society.

Sometimes people with personality disorders construct an elaborate facade, which they guard viciously. They have such a damaged sense of self, that they perceive being exposed as an attack on their psyche.

Okay, I read my own post, and I guess I should have written: This type of plagiarist could probably be compared to a pathological liar. Most of us have known at least one of those! They spout the most absurd lies, in front of people who know them, and know what they are saying is not the truth, but they just can't seem to evaluate their own behavior rationally. There is no apparent reason for them to tell the lie, as would be the case for a simple lie, such as a kid saying they didn't steal a cookie. It doesn't take a lot of perception for those around a pathological liar to figure out they have a deeply rooted need to attempt to portray themselves to be something better or more successful that what they really are, rather than changing themselves so that they can take satisfaction at allowing others to see their actual successes. They are hampered by the fact that the maladaptive behavior is so deeply ingrained that it defines their personality. And if you try to expose them, the get really defensive and nasty.

whisper im glad that your story is back where it belongs. if you do ever repost it im sure that it will again attract alot of readers. i have one question though, have you every thought of letting another author take over where you left off? give them the ideas that you had and let them finish it. just a thought.

Jaded_butterfly wrote:
whisper im glad that your story is back where it belongs. if you do ever repost it im sure that it will again attract alot of readers. i have one question though, have you every thought of letting another author take over where you left off? give them the ideas that you had and let them finish it. just a thought.


While I have thought of it, I just don't think I could handle someone else finishing something I started. I do plan on re-working and finishing Living Through Time, it's just going to take me some time to do so. And thank you, I'm glad it's been taken down as well.

This was absolutely horrible! Was that person so clueless not to know that people do read these stories and we know what's original and what's copied?

I don't mean to annoy anyone but I'm confused to what happened to quiet whisper. Did a reader do something or another writer...

never mind, i read the whole post.

i tried to look for that story but it said : Story Not Found
Unable to locate story with id of 6495259. i think she took down already.

Saw it had been deleted

Dokugians should start saying after their disclaimer "if you plagerize my work the Dokuga mafia will find you" lol.

Shay wrote:
Dokugians should start saying after their disclaimer "if you plagerize my work the Dokuga mafia will find you" lol.

I so agree with you Shay! And I am glad that the story got taken down Quiet!

Brenna wrote:
I have to ask, why do people feel the need to steal others work?

I think (at least in the case of fanfiction) it could be because they feel that their lack of confidence in their abilities would justify it.

It sucks.

BTW, it's down. Didn't even get to report it.

Oh well YAY COPYCAT GO BYE-BYE!

okay Dokuga, I need your help. If I'm wrong then I'll make apologies. If i'm right, and some of you know the fic i'm looking for, then I'm going to ask that you help me get the brat that stole this segment to take it down. So, I read A LOT. i think a lot of people know that. I also stalk fiction, and i happened upon this fic over on FFN:

www.fanfiction.net/s/7721995/1/once_apon_a_noise

once apon a noise
ever wondered what each noise means from which person? well here we have the noises which both inuayasha and sesshomaru give with their meanings. sesskag all the way!
Inuyasha - Rated: M - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 3 - Words: 1,316 - Reviews: 3 - Updated: 1-10-12 - Published: 1-8-12 - Kagome & Sesshomaru

My problem is that Chapter 1, again I'm about 99% positive, was lifted from another SK fiction. Problem is that i can't remember which one. The fic i know it was taken from, Kagome had a problem where ALL of her thoughts were said out-loud and she couldn't stop herself from saying them. the exact wording was amusing and so i remember it well. i just cant remember who wrote the original(well what they've re-written a bit seeing as Caps are a bit off):

Whilst walking down a worn road, Inuyasha suddenly stopped and started sniffing the air

"what is is Yash?" kagome inquired knowing his actons more than likely meant that some danger was lurking near by, but unsure of which possible put come it was.

Truthfully it all depended on what he did and if he growled to make the 'danger' clear to her.

"if he growls while mumbling under his breath, its kouga. If he growls whilst pulling out the fang, its Sesshomaru. If he continues sniffing while growling under his breath , he cant figure out what it is..

"and if he takes off whilst growling loudly, its Naraku." kagome unknowing had said all of this out load enough for only sango, Miroku and Shippo to hear.

"oh wait, there we go. Fangs out...its Sesshomaru,." the others were staring at her in confusion on ho she could know this, when Sango the youkia exterminator hadn't even picked up on these things!

"i wonder if the other notice how everything he does revolves around Growling? In one pitch or another...like when hungry its a high whining pitch...hmm..."

Before anyone has the chance to respond, if they could come up with a way to respond to tha, the dense foliage in front of them parted and through came the deadly Lord of the West.

"makes for nice eyecandy though...too bad that he hates humans...other than that little girl Rin...sucha sweet child...". She continued to speak aloud her inner thoughts, causing Miroku and Sango to have their jaws drop, as they stared at her with utter confusion and shock on there faces. Whilst Shippo just looked not understanding what eye candy was, but hoping it was something that he could eat...

:Any help would be greatly appreciated. - sugar0o

ps. i really don't like plagiarist.

Update: okay thank you ZANDY!, she totally rocks, found the original! It was stolen from our very own Hairann!
dokuga.com/fanfiction/story/3203/1
Balance by Hairann
A truth serum gone awry leaves Kagome with an unexpected side effect that sets in motion events leading her to an unknown fate. A destiny that is over 3,000 years in the making, one that is not even hers. A destiny that leads her on an epic quest to reset the balance between demons and mankind.
Rating: T ?-? Universe: Canon ?-? Status: Complete ?-? Category: Oneshots ?-? Created: 17 Jan 2010 ?-? Updated: 17 Jan 2010
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance ?-? Chapters: 1 ?-? Reviews: 5 ?-? Words: 24,997 ?-? Reads: 1,532

So if you'd kindly help me take that heffer down :3 I'd be very glad!

For those who find it, please remember, we don't attack people via review. We don't call them names, swear at them, etc. Dokuga will not support that and we dont' want to see that.

What you do is the following:

Report the fic to the ff.net admins. yes it will take many of us but it works.
-PM the author, and in a way that doesn't attack them, let them know that you have reported them for plagiarism

I also might suggest that the original author post up the info and screenshots here... stop-plagiarism.livejournal.com/ they have a wonderful record of getting things downed.

Just wanted to put this up since it should probably be said by the original author just to confirm; yes the first chapter is nearly word for word from Balance. Thank you for pointing it out Sugar-chan and to everyone who helps report it.

And thank you for the reminder, Danyealle-sama, I will go do that as soon as I report them myself.

Reported (but didn't leave any review, I've come to learn that while making the comment makes us feel better, it doesn't tend to resolve the situation or quicker or cleaner)- FYI, as of today's date (1/11/2011) the plagiarist posted a footnote to the 1st chapter to 'refer to the chapter 4 AN before reporting the fic' and the AN is as follows:

Hello readers, i am sorry to inform you that i have been reported for apparently stealing someone elses work, when in actual fact i had permission from the author to use this, unfortunately because of the email update i cant see back to when i got this permission, but a lot of you have informed me that it was hairanns work, i domt remember if this was the author, because when i looked at the story that had this chapter in it, it was nothing like the story i had read it from.

So i would like to say I'm sorry, and i have personally apologized to hairann, and I'm waiting for a reply back on whether to take this story down or not,

Again I'm sorry for upsetting a lot of you, and it wont happen again.

I'm, personally, confused over the fact that she says she doesn't remember you as the original author, yet she states that she got the original author's permission. If you undertook someone else's work- after supposedly obtaining the person's permission- wouldn't you remember that person's name? Okay, yes, I know she's lying, I guess I just don't understand the way some people's minds work, but if you get permission from someone else to post their story, wouldn't you state that in the beginning as a precaution in case someone who knew the original story stumbled onto yours? Wouldn't you save the email granting said permission so you can refer to it directly, or fwd it on to others, in case you are accused of using the story without permission? Lying to cover up stealing someone's work- especialy when that lie just lacks any kind of sense or logic- only makes it worse.

*sigh* I just don't get people.

I am going to reiterate this, especially as I see a review for 'FROM THE DOKUGA MAFIA'.

DO NOT ATTACK THIS PERSON VIA REVIEW and I'm going to add 'I DO NOT WANT TO SEE DOKUGA'S NAME IN ANY ATTACK'

Yes, it looks like I'm yelling, but i'm using caps for emphasis. I am very disappointed in the person who wrote that title in the review, and I am upset at the other reviewer who thought to use Dokuga as well.

Folks, plain and simple: report her and send a PM to let her know she's been reported. I don't know why it has to be reiterated twice because I made it very clear about our process and somebody still uses our name to attack the author.

::very angry::

That is not how we do things in this community. We are not bullies, yet leaving reviews such as that only portrays us as such.

Furthermore, I am going to add that we dont' know this person, we dont' know why they stole this fic. There could be a buttload of other issues that we don't know about. Perhaps there's esteem issues, confidence issues, it's entirely possible that their homelife is a wreck. Maybe they just wanted to look like they've accomplished something good.

We hear about so many incidences of cyberbullying that results in things like teen suicide. I'm not saying that's going to be the case here, but the point is WE DON'T KNOW. Nasty reviews could be the thing that pushes them over. I agree, what they did is nasty, I have reported her, but it does not warrant verbally attacking her. When you verbally attack her, you are doing exactly that, it is cyberbullying and it is not tolerated on this site, and I don't tolerate it anywhere. If you have left her a nasty review, apologise. what she did was wrong but folks, this is fanfiction, it happens. It doesn't warrant that nastiness.

When i posted that i wanted you all to help me get her to take it down, i did not mean for you all to use dokuga in any way. As a community, i think we all hate plagiarism. While the review in question was light in comparison to what it could be, there's no reason to bring this site's name into it.

I will say though, that the author is slowly getting even more aggravating, she is sticking with her claim that Hairann gave her permission to use the work, which is not the case. -_-

This whole situation is never a good thing but again please do not use our site's name in the process of speaking with this person.

Respectfully and politely reviewed and reported.

Can't say the same for everyone out there... especially this person:

DOKUGA MAFIA?LOL! I BET DOKUGA IS PISSED WITH THAT BUT THATS WAT THEY GET FOR POSTING THIS LINK ON THEIR BOARDS!

SO INYWAY HOW THE FUGG YOU SAY THE AUTHOR GAVE YO LYING ASS PERMISSION BUT YOU DONT REMEMBER THE NAME? JUST DELETE THE STORY BECUZ YOU LYING!

I HOPE that is not a fellow Dokugan... >____<;;

I think the story has been taken down already. The link r0o posted does go to that first chapter, but the rest of the chapters, and the fourth one that she posted her claim of Hairann giving her permission were not there. When I clicked on her profile, the story was not posted either.

So I think it's safe to say another plagiarizer's copy was taken down.

the story link still works, but this supposed chapter 4 with the "explanation" is mysteriously missing.

Although its been said by my fellow admins, i feel necessary to say it as well:

Report but do NOT leave nasty reviews... in fact a review is completely unnecessary and only gives the writer warning to quickly modify their stuff and leave no proof of their earlier attempts at plagiarism. FFN is notoriously slow on stopping these guys, and any advanced arning goes against what we are trying to accomplish. Likewise, no one has the right to affiliate themselves with Dokuga in a way which presents the rest of the site in a negative light. We are pleased that so many of you are proud to be Dokuga members, and frankly I think you have every reason to be. We look out for eachother and support one another. But we are NOT cyber bullies and we expect all members to do their part to create a welcoming environment. The last thing we need to be known as is a site of Plagiarism Vigilanties. And really... do we WANT to be associated with the mafia?! I know it was said in silly play but... these things tend to get out of control and mistaken. Just look at whats happened with an innocent request to stop a plagiarist?

Okay- even chapter one isn't showing up now. It's official, the story, in its entirety, has been removed.