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[mare]

I just think people assume because it's just a show or movie or book etc... It doesn't count where in reality they are the people that will come after you and sue you more so then another fanfic writer lol

[FrickingKaos]

I've gone and added a note to two of my stories. Even though Jizzle Of Oz is clearly a parody of Wizard Of Oz is it necessary to put that in the story notes? Or should I still credit it?

[mare]

You should still credit it but it's pretty well implied.

And all I'm saying to the accusations is, lots of dialogue taken word for word.  Sorry to disappoint, but it's the truth. Didn't take long to find the proof either.

Didn't call her out or delete her account and still have no plans to, because we weren't sure if she realized she even did it. Just left a review hoping she'd go back and just paraphrase or change things. She is the one who decided to take the story down. Just clearing that up.

[FrickingKaos]

I only know from what she told me. If you know she did, I understand. I don't know the show she got inspiration or anything from so I guess I didn't catch it. I understand.

[Carter-Orange]

I've got a story which is inspired by a couple of WWII films (as well as real life stories told by my Grandad and stuff I've researched online), so maybe I should mention that in my author notes?

I haven't copied anything word for word though, and wouldn't do that as I make it up as I go.  I just like to put my characters in similar situations.

[mare]

There's no need to get overly paranoid about things. I would say whenever you borrow from something you should give credit. The only time we will actually step in is if we have proof of you copying something from someone else. It's a heavy accusation and we take it seriously but we're not going to just delete anyone's account on hearsay. There has to be proof to back it up. Even though there was no question in our mind that backpack girl copied we still had to wait to hear back from the original authors just to make sure she wasn't writing under an alias.

I just didn't want you guys to think that we're just going to randomly start deleting people's accounts just because the storyline 'seems' already done or you forgot to give credit to something. We'll leave you a review as a reminder or in the more serious cases your account will be locked until we can investigate. Make sense?

Just keep doing what you all are doing.

[Carter-Orange]

Yeah, that makes sense.  I might just say in my story that I was inspired by a number of films, etc.

[FrickingKaos]

My friend took her story down because she didn't want to go through a huge hassle. She was inspired by the show....we may disagree but I don't think it was plagiarism if it was just inspired by it. If you have proof she copied something from Greys Anatomy, that's another thing. 

[Rose]

I don't think anything would've been said unless something was directly copied. Because it's such a big deal. You can take inspiration from TV shows and movies, etc., but when you start taking parts (even if it's not the whole) word for word, that's different.

[julilly]

My friend took her story down because she didn't want to go through a huge hassle. She was inspired by the show....we may disagree but I don't think it was plagiarism if it was just inspired by it. If you have proof she copied something from Greys Anatomy, that's another thing. 

The script from the show and her story are word for word identical. All she did was take a television script and add descriptors in between the dialogue that she did not write. That is more than being inspired by something. Had she used the same plot but written original content with original dialogue that is different but the reason we  were even aware of this is because we put the script side-by-side with her fic and they were the same words.

[FrickingKaos]

Sorry if it looked like I was trying to start trouble, I was just wondering what happened. All I knew was she took the story down because she was told she was plagiarizing.

[julilly]

You're not! It's easier for us to explain the reasons why the issue was brought to her attention rather than let there be any kind of rumour or misinformation about it. Someone who is a fan of the show recognized the dialogue as being taken directly from the show so we looked into it. Had it only been inspired by the show we would have just left it alone.

When it comes down to it, we are responsible for everything that's on the site. If someone took a plagiarism issue higher than us (to say, the legal owner of the works) it would be us that would have to address it. We have to cover our own asses while at the same time covering all of yours because we wouldn't want anyone to get in shit.

(And before you say "Well what are the chances of that happening?" don't think for a moment that companies aren't scouring the internet for their intellectual property. MANY sites receive cease and desist letters for much less.)

[julilly]

Having just seen some of the things said on Twitter I feel compelled to reiterate this.

We address every single email that is sent to the mod address. Some things are eye roll worthy, some things are legitimate, but we still read and respond to everyone's concerns/questions/issues.

In this case someone presented us with legitimate cause to follow up on a concern and Mare did follow up on it. She first looked further into it, then consulted me, and we came to a joint conclusion. At no point do I believe she acted "immaturely" in that decision, nor do I believe that being open and honest with you guys when you ask us questions about why things happen is immature.

We've always stressed the fact that we are happy to explain to anyone the reasons why something was done because we have nothing to hide. But please, rather than taking your concerns to Twitter (where you may think no one can see it but everyone can) speak to us about it, engage us in discussion, and you may find it's not as serious as you might think.

[mare]

I wasn't rude at all. Not that I owe anyone an explanation about something that has nothing to do with anyone here but all I said was you should go check out the newest post in the news section. Hoping she'd read it and realize what she did without having to go about all the hubbub of accusing her of anything. If she had just taken the time to confront me about it via email or here instead of getting all riled up and taking down her story this would have been resolved and no one would even be talking about it. At no point have I even mentioned her name or anything. It only keeps being brought up because it's being complained about.

She's not even a forum member so I don't want to keep talking about it on here.

[julilly]

I absolutely agree! It's not right to keep talking about someone who isn't here to defend themselves. She is, of course, welcome to join the discussion but for now the issue is closed.

Thanks to everyone for your questions/concerns/comments.