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I have been plagiarised three times in Harry Potter fandom. On two of those occasions I took it up with the offendors in email. On the third, having no solid proof (my fic was offline when the derivative story was posted), I left it alone. Plagiarism happens.
In fandom we don't have a recognized way to seek recourse for this kind of theft, so many people resort to bombastic lj posts, mass emails and snitty, veiled message board posts. I can understand why this is so common - after all, it's natural to want to bring attention to the problem, and even to want the offender tossed out of fandom and into a dung heap - but I really don't think that it accomplishes anything. When I've dealt with plagiarism one on one, I've always had a satisfactory response. Even if the idiot denies it, you've more control over the situation and if you have evidence, you're dealing from a position of power.
Plagiarists are scared of being caught out, so catch them and be rational about it. If you freak out, drag your friends into it and make wild, enraged accusations, you give up your power. Crazy flame war girl? So much less scary and authoritative than the calm bitch who presents you with clear evidence and demands you take down your fic. Flame wars encourage people to take sides, sure, but you can never be sure people with side with you.
Just saying.
In fandom we don't have a recognized way to seek recourse for this kind of theft, so many people resort to bombastic lj posts, mass emails and snitty, veiled message board posts. I can understand why this is so common - after all, it's natural to want to bring attention to the problem, and even to want the offender tossed out of fandom and into a dung heap - but I really don't think that it accomplishes anything. When I've dealt with plagiarism one on one, I've always had a satisfactory response. Even if the idiot denies it, you've more control over the situation and if you have evidence, you're dealing from a position of power.
Plagiarists are scared of being caught out, so catch them and be rational about it. If you freak out, drag your friends into it and make wild, enraged accusations, you give up your power. Crazy flame war girl? So much less scary and authoritative than the calm bitch who presents you with clear evidence and demands you take down your fic. Flame wars encourage people to take sides, sure, but you can never be sure people with side with you.
Just saying.
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I remember the first time I accused someone of it and I was wrong, wrong, wrong. (Two fics with a similar plot does not a textual thief make.) After she wrote back, upset, but firm in her denial with examples of real plagiarism to back it up I was embarrassed (once I cooled off) but at least not publicaly humiliated.
In the olden days, list admins used to *insist* that any theft issue would be discussed privately first before any public declarations could be made, and then, only made public if the a. offense was a real one upon examination by a disinterested party and b. if the offending author refused to admit it/apologize/remove name from fic.
So yeah, sometimes we were smarter back then.