Plagiarism

[Daddycums]

It has been brought to my attention that one of my stories has been plagiarized. Obviously this bothers me, but that's not the purpose of this post.

It got me thinking about plagiarism, and I'd like to start a discussion on the topic. I'll go ahead and give my views, and I welcome any one else's.

Caveat: I'm talking about stuff that's available for free (like stories on a website like XNXX), not about stuff you have to pay for (like books you buy from Amazon).

First, I consider plagiarism to be much more serious than the related concept, piracy. Unethical though it may be, at least with piracy you're still giving credit where credit is due.

I can understand the allure of piracy. Everyone likes to get something for nothing. That's why I go out of my way to make my stories easy to obtain. I've never asked for money for my stories. I license them under a Creative Commons license that allows you to do whatever the hell you want with them except alter or charge for them. I have them available as .txt, .html, .pdf, .epub, and .mobi so you can read them online, download them to pretty much any ebook reader on the market, even print them out. I have them available on an FTP site with a web interface so if you're technically savvy enough, you can log in with an FTP client and download my entire library at once. I've done all this just so that people can enjoy them however they want, with a minimum of effort. It actually takes more effort to do something with my stories that I don't allow, than to follow the rules.

So with all the freedom I give you to do what you want with my stories, I figure I'm being more than reasonable when I ask that you leave my name on them. It takes a pretty big heel to go through the effort of removing the byline of my stories in order to claim that you wrote them. I put hours, days, months, even years of effort into my stories, and I'm allowing everyone to enjoy the result of my hard work for free. Is it too much to ask that you simply give credit where credit is due?

I don't even understand why someone would want to take credit for someone else's work. You can't really feel good about the compliments you receive in comments on the stories because they don't really apply to you; they apply to the original author, whether the commenters know it or not. You don't get to hold your head up high and say, "Look what I created!" There's no boost to the self-esteem because you didn't put in any work yourself.

So why would anyone want to plagiarize? It makes no sense.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts. What do other authors and readers think?

(And by the way, if you're an author, you might want to take a look at those stories to see if he plagiarized one of yours)

[snowleopard3200]

DaddyCums - I did a side by side comparison of the two links you provided; and I do mean a very careful side-by-side at that. The story of yours has indeed been plagarized.


The stories are identical save for the thief having changed the title.


It looks like they simply copied and pasted your story in the entire volume, and with the exception of one capitalized "U" inserted into a word, probably by mistake, the copy is verbatum identical.


I read the story of yours, not the copy, and my appreciation for your works has grown considerably.

Those commiting plagarizm I have a very simple solution for: Tie them to a post and tell the artillery on the other end of the phone to "commence firing."

[ELaken-Palmer]

It was taken from the XNXX story site and posted on the XNXX story site. How stupid can this guy be?

[Daddycums]

Fortunately, the commenters right from the start mentioned that they recognized the story, so most of the comments point out that it's not original. I actually take that as a compliment; there are so many stories on the XNXX story site that it's surprising that any story would be that memorable.

Now that I've had time to chill out a little and my blood pressure isn't quite as high as when I first found out what he did, I like to think that he read the story and loved it, but it always bothered him that it didn't have an unambiguously happy ending, so he reposted it with "happy ending" right in the title. If that's the case, then I accomplished exactly what I set out to do. I wanted the ending to that story to be one that haunts you like that.

So that's my working theory for now. His plagiarism doesn't bug me so much anymore, although I'd still volunteer to be the one on the phone giving the order to "commence firing."

By the way, Nawtyoldman, if this is your first offense I'm prepared to forgive you if you come to this thread and offer a sincere apology. Maybe we can save the artillery for the next guy who does it.

[JoeDirty]

I would NEVER plagiarize the stories here for three reasons....

1. It is dishonest.

2. It is wrong.

3. It would make people think that I can't write and am a sick fuck.

[1BadDaddy]

My guess is that all or most of his stories are stolen. The writing style seems to vary a lot from one story to the next. Also, if you read his comments and posts, he doesn't seem to be very literate.

It does make you wonder why someone would do that. It's very strange.

Maybe someone with a banhammer will pay him a visit in the middle of the night.

[BlackRonin]

Fact is, if you're an amateur writer posting material on the internet, it's going to be stolen. There's pretty much no way to stop it. People can lift your entire oeuvre with a few clicks. Whoever you are, whatever you write, if you have any significant amount of work on this or any site, someone has stolen it by now, no ifs ands or buts about it. I don't like it any more than anyone else, but it seems to be part of the price of distributing original material in the information age. Go ahead and Google search a few lines from any given story and you'll see what I mean.

[Hornycountryboy]

Well then.... I really don't have anything to add besides it wasn't very bright of this person to take a story from this site and post it on this site. I agree, where is the satisfaction in plagiarism?

Oh and DC I did read Shelter from the Cold a month or so ago, after you mentioned that my CAW10 story reminded you of your story. I must say I did see the comparison. I was actually hoping to get the other story you mentioned read before I sent you a message tell you how I liked them. Unfortunately I have been so busy I haven't had much time to read many stories, then I set time to read all the CAW11 stories. There a many great writers on this site I wish I could take a vacation from everything just so I can read all the stories I have on my list to read.

Well anyways Shelter from the cold, was a great story, with a lot of emotion. I really don't know if I could forgive myself if one of my kids were kidnapped that fast. I can't even count the times I quickly run into the house after strapping my kids in their car seats. My only beef with it is I kind of saw where it was headed halfway though, but still read it all the way though. I really enjoyed it very well written. Of course everything I have so far by you is very well written.

[ejls]

The member has been banned and a request has been put through to remove his stories.

FYI - stories have been copied and pasted from this forum and posted elsewhere, also.

[Prurient Purveyer]

Originally Posted by ejls

The member has been banned and a request has been put through to remove his stories.

FYI - stories have been copied and pasted from this forum and posted elsewhere, also.

Well that's good - not the second bit the first part. I have to admit to a bit of the green eyed monster with this guy copying and dumping DC's story like that- can't imagine that happening to Hairy Girls for instance.

On the plus side I clicked on hawt thingie's only post and discovered Fluffer.

I feel my life is richer for the experience,

[Dizzyworks673]

Sorry this happened to you Daddycums. I was angery when I saw another member take Somestory's story 3ES and finish it himself. But to directly re-post something claiming it was his own would make me go irate.

Yes were openly posting our stories for free but I still believe my work is mine alone to share and not be stollen or finished by others. I think your responce is a lot more fair and forgiving then I would be able to do myself in your shoes.

[Daddycums]

Originally Posted by BlackRonin

Fact is, if you're an amateur writer posting material on the internet, it's going to be stolen. There's pretty much no way to stop it. People can lift your entire oeuvre with a few clicks. Whoever you are, whatever you write, if you have any significant amount of work on this or any site, someone has stolen it by now, no ifs ands or buts about it. I don't like it any more than anyone else, but it seems to be part of the price of distributing original material in the information age. Go ahead and Google search a few lines from any given story and you'll see what I mean.

And that's exactly why I make it easy for people to download and redistribute my stories. I know I'm not going to stop it from happening, so why try? There's no harm done if my stories get spread around the Internet; in fact, I might pick up a few new readers here and there.

That's why I hate plagiarism so much. I'm offering so much for free, and I ask so little in return. In this case, if this guy had simply left my name on the story, I would have been fine with him reposting it. In fact, I might have even thanked him for giving it more exposure.

Originally Posted by Hornycountryboy

Oh and DC I did read Shelter from the Cold a month or so ago, after you mentioned that my CAW10 story reminded you of your story. I must say I did see the comparison. I was actually hoping to get the other story you mentioned read before I sent you a message tell you how I liked them. Unfortunately I have been so busy I haven't had much time to read many stories, then I set time to read all the CAW11 stories. There a many great writers on this site I wish I could take a vacation from everything just so I can read all the stories I have on my list to read.

No problem. I have a backlog of hundreds of stories I always intended to read but never got around to.

The other story, A Perfect Match, is also similar to yours, but in a different way. The personalities of the characters don't match yours quite so much, and the tone is much more lighthearted, but the situation is very similar.

Originally Posted by Hornycountryboy

Well anyways Shelter from the cold, was a great story, with a lot of emotion. I really don't know if I could forgive myself if one of my kids were kidnapped that fast. I can't even count the times I quickly run into the house after strapping my kids in their car seats.

That's right, Shelter From the Cold is a Public Service Announcement in disguise! Remember, parents, don't strap your kids in their car seats then go back in the house.

While I'm at it: Remember, men, don't have sex with teenage girls until you've verified their genealogy!

Originally Posted by Hornycountryboy

My only beef with it is I kind of saw where it was headed halfway though, but still read it all the way though. I really enjoyed it very well written. Of course everything I have so far by you is very well written.

A lot of people figured out the surprise ending. Several people suggested ways that it could have been hidden a little better, but I have no intention of revising the story. I would have liked the end to be more of a shock, but I'm still satisfied with it.

[Hornycountryboy]

Originally Posted by Daddycums

A lot of people figured out the surprise ending. Several people suggested ways that it could have been hidden a little better, but I have no intention of revising the story. I would have liked the end to be more of a shock, but I'm still satisfied with it.

No the ending was perfect in my opinion. Just because I saw where it was heading doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the ride of getting there.

[darthel0101]

Originally Posted by Daddycums

… there are so many stories on the XNXX story site that it's surprising that any story would be that memorable.

You have GOT to be kidding.

Your stories, wojomartin's stories, Luvbroker's work, and more ------ ALL are memorable and should be easily remembered by any serious reader for where they were found (or at least searchable for the original).

[onehandedtypist]

Originally Posted by Daddycums

...First, I consider plagiarism to be much more serious than the related concept, piracy. Unethical though it may be, at least with piracy you're still giving credit where credit is due.

I think you missed the fiasco earlier this year. Many of our writers requested deletions of their stories because of plagiarism. We lost everything from smcaaphd which I personally am saddened by. I was a huge fan of her work. This helped me to cease contributing my works here (I know many of you are celebrating the lack of drivel written by yours truly) along with many of the greater minds who similarly followed suit and those who led the way.

When it got to the point where my crap was stolen by someone on deviantart, I posted an offer here that I'd assist any writer who found their works elsewhere.

Keeping to the point of your post, I find plagiarists to be some of the worst scum on this earth. Horrible, horrible people. Many xnxx writers found their stuff on Amazon in the form of a story app. The creator balked at the difficulty of turning a profit on written stories and gave up selling his product after multiple minds (here and elsewhere, including yours truly) requested that the site remove all links to said app.

[cijababe]

And here's a link to someone who lifted 'Mistress Hazel' from my profile

http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2902651/1/Hazel

[cijababe]

On further investigation, I discovered that it is possible to report the story for plagiarism. I'll keep you posted as to how effective the process is.

[cijababe]

Very effective - the story has been removed very quickly, but with no response from the site admin as yet. Sadly I didn't make a note of the author's name in order to check if other stories from here had been lifted. That was the only one of my work that I have found so far.

[Eric the Red]

The story that has been stolen most often from what I've been able to find was Popping Ashley's little cherry, and since that has been removed from here I guess they won't be stealing that one anymore.
The fucked up thing is that not only did they not change the title, they left all the mistakes in, and there were a lot in that posting of it.

IDK, I think maybe the thrill for these people when they get good comments on a story they stole is that feeling of, "Yeah, I have good taste. I only steal the best."
I that's the best explanation I can come up with.

[Lonelyandlost]

I think the worst case of stealing work on the Stories site was a guy who copy pasted a story not even 3 days old. And what he copied was a re-post too. Plus the same guy stole three other bits of work, from two authors, all less then six months old and people are defending him because he put "This is not my work" at the top of the page, like that makes it better

It's sad when they can't think of their own work and it's one reason I don't want to post anything over there anymore. Why go though the hard work of writing, editing to have it stolen less then a day or two later.

[Lonelyandlost]

Originally Posted by Eric the Red

The story that has been stolen most often from what I've been able to find was Popping Ashley's little cherry, and since that has been removed from here I guess they won't be stealing that one anymore.
The fucked up thing is that not only did they not change the title, they left all the mistakes in, and there were a lot in that posting of it.

IDK, I think maybe the thrill for these people when they get good comments on a story they stole is that feeling of, "Yeah, I have good taste. I only steal the best."
I that's the best explanation I can come up with.

I found Popping Ashley's Little Cherry on yet another site, or two one night, plus half of Jackasstale's work, but the site was a bear to navigate by phone

[Kountrygal]

I am a writer and have found my stories on other sites too. Now I make sure they know that the person who posted it is stealing my story. I also write on LUSH stories. One gal there yelled I stole the story it was written by xxxxx on xxxx site. I giggled and replied, duh I know that author is me. She complained that I took too long to post it on LUSH and should not have. Well when I wrote the story I was not a member or LUSH. She had nothing else to say, and couldn't and I blocked her stupid ass. I for one don't need to plagiarize I write my own, and love doing it. HOPE all is well huggies.

[ahorsewithnoname]

For what it's worth, there's one story of mine that cannot be easily plagiarized...The White. There are no words to the story. There are 8 large graphics. So long as i post stories that way, robots cannot grab them. Humans? Depends upon whether they know what to do with them. Probably find it too difficult.

Might be something for the rest of you to consider. Of course it only works here, not the Stories section.

If you do opt, make sure you look up the size limitations, etc. or check with me and I'll help you understand what they mean.

Happy writing everyone!

[Nicola Matthews]

DC, if I had a dollar for every time one of my works had been plagiarized, I wouldn't even bother posting it for sale on Amazon. Everything on XN has been reposted on the web at some point. Even now, huge chunks of Vindictus, The Dark Lord and The Red Fang are still hanging around sites that I have been unable to get taken down. The one that has gotten ripped off the most, the original posting of "Now That's Fucking Hardcore!" had racked up over 350,000 hits in under 30 days when I had it pulled from XN simply because I could not send out DMCA take down notices fast enough to keep up with all instances of plagiarism. Since then, I have posted exactly ONE story on here, and that was a rewrite of "Now That's Fucking Hardcore!" And with all honesty, even though I am still writing, I do not know if I will keep posting on XN simply because I do not want anything else stolen.

Like most everyone, I think that plagiarism is the lowest of the low. And when what is stolen is free in the first place, it's like spitting in the face of someone you just kicked in the groin. Jeeze, you already stole my hard work, the least you can do is leave my name on the piece of trash you just copied and claimed as your own

[Lonelyandlost]

Originally Posted by Nicola Matthews

DC, if I had a dollar for every time one of my works had been plagiarized, I wouldn't even bother posting it for sale on Amazon. Everything on XN has been reposted on the web at some point. Even now, huge chunks of Vindictus, The Dark Lord and The Red Fang are still hanging around sites that I have been unable to get taken down. The one that has gotten ripped off the most, the original posting of "Now That's Fucking Hardcore!" had racked up over 350,000 hits in under 30 days when I had it pulled from XN simply because I could not send out DMCA take down notices fast enough to keep up with all instances of plagiarism. Since then, I have posted exactly ONE story on here, and that was a rewrite of "Now That's Fucking Hardcore!" And with all honesty, even though I am still writing, I do not know if I will keep posting on XN simply because I do not want anything else stolen.

Like most everyone, I think that plagiarism is the lowest of the low. And when what is stolen is free in the first place, it's like spitting in the face of someone you just kicked in the groin. Jeeze, you already stole my hard work, the least you can do is leave my name on the piece of trash you just copied and claimed as your own

Yeah, there are a ton of stolen story sites out there. I write at another site, a none adult site and someone had the gall to steal some stories from several people and pass them off as his own on Amazon for that kindel thingy. Once the original author found out, he told the site and they flooded Amazon with complaints and basically carpet bombed the thief's books with you stole this comments

[snowleopard3200]

Originally Posted by Lonelyandlost

Yeah, there are a ton of stolen story sites out there. I write at another site, a none adult site and someone had the gall to steal some stories from several people and pass them off as his own on Amazon for that kindel thingy. Once the original author found out, he told the site and they flooded Amazon with complaints and basically carpet bombed the thief's books with you stole this comments

I have to remember that method; the carpet bombing with 'you stole this' commentary. Good point you brought up.

[Lonelyandlost]

And he had it coming. I checked and all "his stories" have been removed from Amazon. I mean he was making $3.00 for each book sold, for something he never wrote, so yeah he deserved it.

[Daddycums]

Originally Posted by ahorsewithnoname

For what it's worth, there's one story of mine that cannot be easily plagiarized...The White. There are no words to the story. There are 8 large graphics. So long as i post stories that way, robots cannot grab them. Humans? Depends upon whether they know what to do with them. Probably find it too difficult.

Might be something for the rest of you to consider. Of course it only works here, not the Stories section.

If you do opt, make sure you look up the size limitations, etc. or check with me and I'll help you understand what they mean.

Happy writing everyone!

I would like to discourage embedding the story in an image. It was a great gimmick the first time, but like most gimmicks, it's all about originality.

Furthermore, if I like a story, I want to save a copy of it in my library, which usually means converting it to a format I can read on my ebook reader. I refuse to read a story that can't be easily converted. (Unless I'm obligated to read it for a CAW, for example) Using this method to stop plagiarism seems like a poor man's copy protection, and I am extremely morally opposed to copy protection. Despite my distaste for plagiarism, I will never copy-protect anything I write.

Originally Posted by Lonelyandlost

Yeah, there are a ton of stolen story sites out there. I write at another site, a none adult site and someone had the gall to steal some stories from several people and pass them off as his own on Amazon for that kindel thingy. Once the original author found out, he told the site and they flooded Amazon with complaints and basically carpet bombed the thief's books with you stole this comments

Funnily enough, I'm not too worried about people selling my stories for money. Even pay sites that specialize in erotica tend to frown on the themes in my stories, specifically young teen incest. So my stories have a built-in protection against plagiarism for profit.

[Nicola Matthews]

I just discovered my originial draft of "Now That's Fucking Hardcore!" appears on SSP on both the story site and the forum. The sad part? A MODERATOR thanked the plagiarizer for posting it. I was forced to join the site and then had to do a public thread about it requesting the story be removed. You can't PM a mod until you hit 50 posts. Whatever. I'm sick of my shit being stolen. *sighs*

[Eric the Red]

Originally Posted by Nicola Matthews

I just discovered my originial draft of "Now That's Fucking Hardcore!" appears on SSP on both the story site and the forum. The sad part? A MODERATOR thanked the plagiarizer for posting it. I was forced to join the site and then had to do a public thread about it requesting the story be removed. You can't PM a mod until you hit 50 posts. Whatever. I'm sick of my shit being stolen. *sighs*

The thing that's really fucked up about it is that if someone had just sent a PM, and said, "Hey, I really like this story, and think people on this other site would dig it too. Can I post it over there?"
Most of us would probably say, "As long as you put my fake name on it, sure, why not?"

[wantsomefun]

Originally Posted by Nicola Matthews

I just discovered my originial draft of "Now That's Fucking Hardcore!" appears on SSP on both the story site and the forum. The sad part? A MODERATOR thanked the plagiarizer for posting it. I was forced to join the site and then had to do a public thread about it requesting the story be removed. You can't PM a mod until you hit 50 posts. Whatever. I'm sick of my shit being stolen. *sighs*

Originally Posted by Eric the Red

The thing that's really fucked up about it is that if someone had just sent a PM, and said, "Hey, I really like this story, and think people on this other site would dig it too. Can I post it over there?"
Most of us would probably say, "As long as you put my fake name on it, sure, why not?"

This idiocy was going on from the time the second used logged on to the web. Hell, it's not that much different from counterfeiting money and legal documents, and that's been going on forever.

Not to say that it doesn't piss me off. It does. It's theft, compounded by mental deficiency. Once a plagiarizer is discovered (and they often are, idiotic mods and rules on some sites notwithstanding), the house of cards crumbles, and the account is harassed or banned. So why bother? Even the "See what good taste I have" argument seems a little hollow.

I think it's done more in the spirit of vandalism, not unlike troll-voting on the Sex Stories Site here or sock-madness on our forums.

Fucking dweebs.

[Nicola Matthews]

Well I must give a big thanks to the moderator on the forum side of that site. She responded within a few minutes and had taken the story down from the forum, banned the member, and put in a request for someone over on the story site to remove the story on their end. I was even invited to post stories over there. I might, but one thing I love about XN above all others, besides the lax content rule, is that there are NO photographs or videos or advertisements any where on the forum or the story site. This is absolutely priceless when you have your computer in the living room which is full of prying eyes. I can post without screaming at people to get out of the room.

But any way, it's being dealt with and pretty quickly too so I can't very well complain. Now if I could just get hold of someone over at the Farm and get all my crap taken down from there as well I'd be happy ..... until something popped up somewhere else, as it always does.

[Chagrin]

So I just copied and pasted a random sentence from my most popular story into google and checked the results. There were some weird formats to most of the sites that stole my stuff, but the one that did the best job was AskJolene.com or something. It was posted by user "chagrin1", it appears.

Heck, I'm not complaining, they even took my name, so they basically gave proper attribution

The way I think of it is this: I want my works to reach as many people as possible (of the audience that would appreciate the work, of course), so if someone "steals" my work and posts it somewhere else, where it gets read by lots of people, I have no problem at all with that. I'm not getting paid for it anyway, nor do I have a legal copyright on it, so it's neither legal theft nor moral theft to me. In fact, they're helping me. I don't even care if someone else takes credit. Credit is irrelevant, and to me the work is what counts.

The only problem arises if that person who's claiming my work is theirs is a dick, and people mistake me for that person later on and think I'm a dick. :/

All in all, it would be nice to be credited for my own work, but it's more just a bonus to me. I'd still like Starry Night even if I didn't know Van Gogh painted it.