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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.
no subject
I think the problem is that actions and reactions happen on a sliding scale. There's everything from outright copying to inadvertant echoing to similar plot and nothing else, and everything in between. Then there are the people who hide in a corner when someone else blatantly rips off their works, and the people who bang drums and scream when someone else independently thinks, "hey, I'll write Harry/Draco present tense angst!" -- and everything in between.
With our limited universe of characters and situations, there are going to be lots of similar ideas popping up. And it's really hard to tell if your idea of a moving snake tattoo was something you came up with independently, or that you saw in one of the two thousand fics you read over the past two years.
I suppose the moral is, "Can't we all get along -- and if not, can you work it out together before turning it into a great big flamewar?"