#fandom plagiarism

[unforth]

MXTX Fandom Content Thief: @/coldxperience

I've spotted someone wholesale copying the compiled list of Lan Clan rules I put together a few years ago. My list is here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25470928

Their list is here:

How do I know it's stolen? It's insanely easy to tell, actually. See, this is in my original a/n on ao3:

[ID screen capture of text that reads: These rules are presumably numbered, as when Lan Wangji is being beaten, Lan Qiren asks him “what is the 52nd doctrine of the Lan clan?” However, they are given in a different order in different sources so establishing how they are numbered is impossible. Since we can’t know the order they “belong” in, I’ve organized them by grouping them thematically. For the few I know numbers for, those numbers are included in parenthesis. End ID]

The rules have no official order or categories. I made up this order and these categories myself. And yet in coldxperience's post...

[ID: two side by side screen captures, one from coldxperience's blog, one from AO3, showing rules in a category labeled "appropriate behavior" and two matching lists of rules in the exact same order. End ID]

[ID two side by side screen captures showing rules in categories about respecting authority and cultivation. Again the categories are the same and the rules lists are identical and in the same order. End ID]

Look, there IS no canon categories or canon order. I made them up to organize them. It's absolutely impossible that someone else compiling a list would land on the exact same categories and the exact same order.

Coldxperience's list is plagiarized from my list. Which tbh I wouldn't have even minded all that much except they're claiming its their own work. My list was barely even MY own work, I used other people's translations (and I credited them). So like. Coldxperience didn't credit me, didn't credit the actual translators, and has the gall to apologize that there might be mistakes cause English and Chinese aren't their first languages.

There might be mistakes. On your stolen list. Gee, ya think?

Anyway, this person has been posting other meta they supposedly wrote about character name translations and such. If they stole wholesale from me they certainly stole from others.

I highly recommend yall block them.

(DO NOT HARASS THEM. DO NOT HARASS OTHER PEOPLE ITS NOT FUCKING WORTH IT JUST SPREAD THE WORD BLOCK AND MOVE ON).

[miyagi-hokarate]

Johnny Lawrence:

Almost drowned and set fire to the same child (on separate occasions)

Pissed on his own car during a drunken breakdown

Believed dinosaurs built the pyramids

Made children go inside a cement mixer

Was kicked out of an Applebee's for undisclosed, drunk reasons

Graffitied a dick onto Daniel's billboard

Daniel LaRusso:

Is in love with Johnny

[slayfk]

does having my horse descriptions stolen by a big horse twitter account mean i’ve made it big …

sigh … i got them to take these two down at least, but i had to call each one out individually to them for them to do it and they said it was just an accident that they were extremely similar and that a conscious effort had been made to NOT make them similar… i feel bad making like an actual “callout” since they took the posts down and said they felt bad but when i contacted them about it they only took one post down until i specifically asked them about another so they seemed to be trying to just get away with what they could...unsure

i'm not upset about the images because the purpose of the horseimagebarn (aside from funny descriptions) is to sort and archive horse images so people can find the exact kind of horse image they're looking for with ease...what bothers me (as i am not exactly "upset" as that's a bit intense, more just annoyed and disappointed) is the use of my descriptions

i surprisingly put a lot of effort into my posts so it sucks to see someone with one of the biggest horse image/meme accounts on twitter that i previously really enjoyed and looked up to all of a sudden start stealing my posts and even when they don’t, they use really similar tone and phrasing to mine which would be fine on its own but combined with the stealing it makes me feel very strange like someone is just trying to be me somewhere else and getting a lot more attention for it (attention is not why i do this, but it's just like an extra kick to the penis to see them have so much of it for my work!!)

p.s. to combat this i did make a horseimagebarn twitter just to repost screenshots of my posts as it feels wrong to be upset about plagiarism on a platform i am not on, and maybe if that account sees that i am active there they'll stop rewording my posts … so i’ll just be reposting my stuff there to hopefully prevent something like this from happening again :,) there won't be any new content on twitter as tumblr is my home and i care about it one horsillion times more so don't worry, this is literally just to repost my tumblr posts to discourage further plagiarism

not telling you to follow that because i really don't care about that and it's the same content as here but i wanted to inform you in case you see someone with the @ horseimagebarn on twitter that's me don't worry

anyway yeah... if you know which account i am talking about don't harass them because i do NOT want to be the one to start horse image community drama (dischorse as we have coined it), hopefully they'll go back to their original style of post and it'll all be okay!! shoutout to my wonderful friends in the horseblr discord for helping me check the account and figure out the plagiarized posts i love you fellows

[galvanizedfriend]

It has just been brought to my attention (thanks, @deehellcat!) that someone by the pen name of J.D Geraghty and Plush Books has copied one of my fics and published it as an original book on Amazon. I was told it was We'll Always Have New Orleans, but I couldn't actually find that one on their list. I did find The Wolf, though. They didn't change anything, even the summary is the same (even the font on the "cover").

This person has HUNDREDS of books on Amazon. On the supernatural/vampires/werewolves section alone I saw other KC stories, even one I recognized by @willowaus (being sold on print form as well). So I highly suggest that anybody with published fics out there, be it on tumblr, wattpad, AO3, anything, check this person's profile on Amazon. A quick twitter search showed me they've been identified as stealing stuff from other fandoms as well. There are definitely some Teen Wolf and other Vampire Diaries stuff there. Some of it seems to be rather recent (The Wolf was published on Amazon this November). They've also published some of this stuff on Barnes and Noble.

I am trying to figure out how to file a plagiarism complaint on Amazon. The form is not really that intuitive, so I'm not sure how to do it exactly. If anybody has dealt with this before and has any idea on how to address it, I'm all ears. I would really love some tips on how to procede here, because I have no clue and am kind of in shock right now.

Also, would really appreciate a reblog here so that other authors out there might become aware of their stories being stolen.

[cashmere-caveman]

some assorted rats plus a bonus goodsir (more terror text post memes)

[tagedeszorns]

I had to block people posting AI-"art" again ...

I mean, please - we are sharing a creative hobby - how can people justify robbing artists by using the plagiarism machine?

Seriously. Post AI-"art", get your ass blocked. You haven't created anything, you just stole stuff. And not in the funny Trazyn-way!

Also, it devours more ressources than even NFTs. Do you want an even more devastating climate catastrophy? Because that's how you get one.

[currymanganese]

genuine question @sydcarmz am I the "ringleader" that has made baseless callout posts before when the one fandom plagiarism callout post I made before was this one:

For which @/chefkids (in the purple and grey textboxes on the left side of the screenshots below) so very kindly had this to say to me about it?

But when others pointed out that she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar appearing to do exactly what she once called "constant weird behaviour" when it affected her, and when others on twitter were found to be guilty of doing it; and I pointed out the weird parallel -

All of a sudden I am now a weirdo for finding it strange that this DM exchange about fandom plagiarism was the only interaction that chefkids and I had when we were mutuals (before I blocked her before unblocking her to toss in my two cents when @thoughtfulchaos773 @angelica4equity @whenmemorydies were reblogging her Midsummer's Night Dream meta today - and chefkids followed me first mind you, and blogs like @vacationship @moodyeucalyptus @post-woke @caiusmarciuscoriolanus posted midsummers' night dream x The Bar references in the replies to popular posts on here well in advance of chefkids - but I digress) FOR SEVERAL MONTHS, and for pointing out that she appeared to be doing the very same thing that she decried to me unsolicited in my DMs before??

And not only that, Chefkids then replied to me claiming:

The meta posts that predated hers and were eerily similar to hers, but were not as popular as the ones that she posted afterwards - because she has a larger following - were allegedly, "....not meta, but observations that anyone with eyes to see could see."

And claimed that when @/gongziyus (formerly known as eatandsleepwell and songkangsbottomteethcirca2020 / @/anaustenheroine told her to stop reposting her gifs without credit that that was simply because @/gongziyus / @/anaustenheroine objected to her using her gifs in posts that were critical to Claire, when in reality @/gongziyus was one of the first S1 OG HUGE Sydacarmy Tumblr blogs / meta writers and gifmakers (and the one who got me and a ton of other sydcarmys to watch this show with her gorgeous gifsets in fact); not a Claire fan at all or someone that objected to persons being critical of Claire or sharing her gifs - provided that said persons GAVE HER CREDIT.

Before deleting the reblogs that pointed out the similarities between hers and others posts and blocking me (her former mutual mind you) entirely??

Although this isn't an academic setting in the slightest, stuff like what Chefkids and the accounts that I called out in that OG callout post of mine (that was written during Black History Month of all times and pointed out a white Sydcarmy twitter fan's apparent co-opting of BIPOC Sydcarmy Tumbr users' -myself included - work) - is discouraging because it kills conversations and is demotivating for Sydcarmy fan content creators in general when persons take inspiration from others' works and then present their own fan content as 100% original ideas when they post eerily similar shit within hours of smaller blogs posting their own unique perspectives, or even months after the fact; using the same lingo and line of reasoning as the preceding works, and the same imagery in some instances (like when domino - the twitter user first called out - used screencaps that a Google image search could detect originated with me and @/miredball for e.g.) without accreditation, despite obviously being in position to have lurked and witnessed the conversations / threads that birthed the preceding works.

When multiple persons are noticing an established pattern of behaviour of lack of fandom interaction AND a lack of accreditation towards other fan writers, then at what point is enough, enough and does it cross the line from: persons pulling shit out of their ass to pursue a "baseless agenda" - and become a simple case of people calling out very real disrespect, harm, and yes "weird" behaviour that is being perpetrated by some of the biggest Sydcarmy fan accounts across platforms, and mainly targeting and impacting BIPOC fans?

After this whole brouhaha with big Sydcarmy twitter pages lifting Sydcarmy Tumblr bloggers meta first came to light a ton of fan activity died over here in the Sydcarmy tag on Tumblr and some major OG pillars of the fandom pulled back from writing meta or making webweavings and gifs for the sydcarmy / The Bear fandom, and I don't blame them. If you were on Sydcarmy Tumblr around that time haven't you noticed that @/gongziyus and @/miredball etc. have virtually disappeared from the sydcarmy tag? I don't know what's going on in their lives, but if they happened to up and leave the sydcarmy tumblr fandom around the same time more and more people clocked that their work was being stolen by big accounts, then isn't that a huge coincidence?

And even if it's just a coincidence; then isn't that a shame that the fan community here on tumblr is no longer as vibrant as it once was?

Or is everything in the fandom fine and dandy as long as no one broaches even the mildest criticism of your faves?

genuine question but when did coming to the same conclusion become plagiarism? not saying this in defence of or to attack anybody but this has happened more than once in this tag and most accusations are a bit dramatic. it’s getting cliquey and weird.

gifs should be credited that’s a given but you do not own symbolism and references that chris has put for the audience to find. if you found them first that’s cool. but you do not own it.

[myfandomrealitea]

By the way if you follow accounts on Instagram and Tumblr dedicated to sharing a huge quantity of fanart, especially about one thing in particular and with a huge range of art styles, 99% of it is stolen.

They call themselves "fan accounts" and "sharing accounts" but that's just shorthand for; "I steal other people's hard work and art so I can repost it and farm clout."

You'll usually see, at the very bottom of the caption, something like: Credit to creator. DM for credit. By ____

I implore you, no matter how good the art is, please don't feed into them. If you actually look into the people they're stealing from you'll usually find the original artist both doesn't allow reposts and isn't even aware that their art has been stolen.

They do not care about artists. Only how their art can benefit them.

[toast-the-unknowing]

on fanfic plagiarism

Almost five years ago, in January of 2019, someone I'd never met before reached out to tell me that one of my Pynch fics, "Word on the Street," had been plagiarized.

I remember that the stolen fic was posted in k-pop fandom, though not what specific band it related to -- I'm not into k-pop, or really into pop music at all.

I remember that the person who messaged me told me that they had found my fic because the plagiarist had a reputation for stealing fic, so when they'd posted a new story, this person had known to do some digging.

I don't remember what the plagiarist's username was. I remember scanning the stolen story, trying both to read every detail and to avoiding taking any of it in, because looking at that right-but-wrong, not-quite-there, uncanny-valley-ness of it made me queasy.

I remember being darkly amused that the plagiarist had cut out the reference to the main character suffering physical abuse at the hands of his father -- I guess it didn't make sense in the context of the new character. It's almost like the story wasn't written for him. It's almost like someone wrote the story about Adam Parrish, instead.

I filed an AO3 complaint, on the grounds that this was a blatant and unarguable violation of their plagiarism policy. Within twenty-four hours, they got back to me, and the story was removed.

It was a weird, uncomfortable, gross feeling, knowing someone had taken words I'd written and passed them off as their own.

But at the same time -- "Word on the Street" was a silly thing I dashed off pretty quickly, during a period of my life when I was doing a lot of writing. It hurt to have it stolen. It was a violation. But…I had other words, that were more important to me. Maybe that was a buffer.

-

Last month, about six weeks ago, someone I'd never met before reached out to tell me that one of my Pynch fics, "there's talk going 'round this town," had been plagiarized.

I was, bizarrely, amused.

I was less bizarrely furious. I was understandably, relatably, I would say rationally, furious. But in a way (and as always, when I say in a way, I am calling back to the scholars of overthinkingit.com for whom in a way is meant as the thing I have just said or am about to say is false) -- in a way, I was amused.

The plagiarist clearly did a 'find and replace' on the character names, to replace Adam and Ronan's names with those of k-pop characters. They did a bad job of it, since the name "Ronan" still appears in one paragraph and the name "Parrish" still appears in two paragraphs. The fic is here, in case anyone doesn't believe me, under the name "i do(n't remember)". At first when I complained about the fic on tumblr, I didn't mention the name, or which fic they'd stolen, because I was worried about anyone…I don't know, making a scene. I've stopped caring. AO3 user springguk is bad at find and replace and they should feel bad. About their computer skills, and also about their blatant plagiarism.

springguk also did some more edits to my fic, I have to give them credit for that. I wrote "there's talk going 'round this town" within a relatively short time span, for me. I tend to either finish things within one week, or else take several months. I believe this one took about five or six weeks completely to write -- I was very inspired.

(I was inspired, specifically, by the press coverage of Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves 'discovering' they might be 'accidentally' married. I mention that in my author's notes. springguk doesn't mention what 'inspired' them in their author's notes. I wonder how they talk about it with friends. They do, in their author's notes, include a link to their ko-fi, and a request that people buy them a coffee.)

If I'd taken longer with this fic, I might have made some edits. Even at the time, I knew I was being self-indulgent in letting the scene with my teenage female OC talk at such length with Ronan about what his non-canonical film career had meant to her, a person the audience didn't care about. But I had fun. I liked Fox. I didn't want to cut her, and what the hell, it was fanfic. I decided to self-indulge.

I was darkly amused to find that springguk did cut out the scene with Fox from their plagiarized version. Maybe springguk is a more disciplined editor than I am. Maybe springguk just didn't have a good k-pop character to map Fox onto. Maybe springguk didn't even realize that Fox was an OC. Do you know anything about the fandom you steal fics from, springguk? I can't help but wonder. Have you read The Raven Cycle? Do you care about teenage OCs who steal cars because of fake films that are clearly meant to be stand-ins for The Fast and the Furious franchise?

Maybe springguk just didn't give a fuck, because none of their heart and soul was poured into this fic. I cared too much about Fox. springguk doesn't care about a single word in the fic they published. Why would they? They didn't write it.

I'm being a little mean in naming them so many times. But I'm able to, this time, because although I filed a plagiarism complaint with AO3 six weeks ago, springguk's stolen fic "i do(n't remember)," is still available to read on AO3 to this very day. I don't have to wrack my brains to remember what their username was, or which k-pop band they recast my work with. I can just look at their fic with its 24 comments and 151 kudos. Hell, maybe that fic is even better than mine, if you don't mind that by cutting the sequence with Fox they've sacrificed a fairly substantial development in the romantic relationship, and also if you don't care that at one point the characters names switch from Jeongguk and Taehyung to Ronan and Parrish, because seriously, for fuck's sake, if you're going to steal a fic at least do a goddamn ctrl+f at the end.

I was mad. I was amused. I made a complaint that the AO3, six weeks later, has still not acted on. I mostly moved on.

-

Tonight, someone I'd never met before reached out to tell me that one of my Pynch fics, "while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now," had been plagiarized.

I wanted to vomit.

I was supposed to be playing Dungeons and Dragons online with friends tonight; I spent the entire call unable to focus on anything anyone was saying. I had to keep reminding myself that I was on camera and my face wasn't supposed to look like that.

"while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now" is the first of a series of, currently, twelve fics. skytoseungmin, the person who stole it to pass it off as their own work, knew this. Their stolen version was published as part one of a series, though they hadn't published any of the sequels. Presumably, they wanted to wait long enough to make it plausible they'd gone and written the follow ups, instead of just finding them.

skytoseungmin likely didn't know that this fic and this series are intensely personal. They didn't know that the apartment that Adam -- Seungmin, in their ill-gotten version -- lives in, that was based in part off of the apartment I lived in for a year in Pico-Robertson with talldecafcappuccino. They didn't know that the 7-Eleven Adam buys coffee at is the same one I used to tease talldecafcappuccino for buying coffee at. They didn't know that the strip club where Adam and Ronan have their humorously ill-timed romantic revelation outside of, that was the strip club I used to use as a landmark when giving people directions for how to navigate the confusing as fuck freeway exit I lived near, which once caused me to accidentally tell my highly Catholic parents "just go past the strip club and you're good!"

skytoseungmin didn't know that the apartment Adam -- sorry, Seungmin, thoroughly, they were better with find and replace than springguk -- lived in, was also based off of my ex's apartment in Palms, where I as the mere visiting girlfriend was never allowed to park in the parking lot. Where I would sometimes have to spend twenty or thirty minutes circling the neighborhood before I could find parking, often a walk of several minutes away. skytoseungmin doesn't know that when Ronan's car get towed from a McDonald's parking lot, that that was a specific McDonald's on Venice Boulevards, the same one my ex's asshole roommate used to just roll his eyes and say that I should park at. skytoseungmin doesn't know that I once wished passionately that I had just parked in that McDonald's parking lot and risked getting towed, on the occasion that a man followed me several unlit blocks from my car. skytoseungmin doesn't know that when I talk about how helping someone park is the truest love language there is in Los Angeles, that that was what I meant. Has skytoseungmin ever had to circle to half an hour to find parking in Los Angeles? Has skytoseungmin ever loved someone enough to do that, instead of saying, fuck it, they can come to me or we're breaking up? Has skytoseungmin ever loved someone in Los Angeles enough, to do as my ex did, and come running as fast as humanly possibly when their girlfriend called them whispering and crying on the phone, someone's following me, please, I'm scared, I wish I just parked at the McDonald's?

"while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now" is a very personal fic.

It isn't half as personal as some of the fics that come after.

skytoseungmin marked their plagiarized version of the fic as part one of a series. Were they planning on stealing part two, where I, through an alternate universe characterization of Ronan Lynch, dig into my experience of grief and trauma surrounding my grandmother's dementia? Were they planning on stealing any of the explicit fics, where I play with kink and desire in ways I haven't even exposed to my actual sexual partners, but where I felt able to through the guise of fandom? What else was skytoseungmin planning on stealing, with charming little author's notes apologizing for how they missed the fandom-relevant date they were shooting for, because they were so busy with exams, tee-hee! Why the excuses, skytoseungmin? how long does it take you to ctrl+f, even if you are more thorough about it than springguk?

If I seem too accusatory and mean-spirited toward skytoseungmin, well, the LA verse is a very personal fic.

And it's also, it turns out, only one of eight different fics that they stole from me.

I didn't even notice at first, to be honest. I was too stunned. But my friend Jessie, my Lady Galahad, went to my defense and clicked through to the author's page, while I was still reeling at the horrible possibilities of part one of a series. It turned out, of eight fics on skytoseungmin's author's page…I had written every single one of them.

Some were short and pretty lighthearted, things I hadn't had to invest too much of myself into -- like I said, sometimes, I can write a fic in under a week.

Other things…

They stole the space western AU.

I don't think I can articulate to any human being how much that hurt me, to look at it, to see.

I wrote that as a thank you gift for someone who donated to Fandom Trumps Hate.

I spent nearly two years of my life on it -- two years during which, because of mental health issues and life situation changes, my words per year dropped precipitously. I still haven't recovered. I still think of what a failure I am for not writing more, currently, actively, and I remember how the space western AU was both a symptom of that and a defiance of it: yes, writing has become fucking hard, fucking NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE, but I'm still doing it, goddamn it, you can't stop me, even if all I produce is the tiniest trickle of words a month. it can still add up, somehow, if we just keep TRYING.

To see the space western AU, casually nestled amongst a half dozen other fics that were all apparently casually dashed off in the same month…I know it was theft, I know it was a lie, but it still felt like a slap in the face, why can't you write this fast?

Jessie, my Lady Galahad, went on a campaign of commenting on all of skytoseungmin's (my) fics, and I am so thankful. The k-pop fans who heard Jessie have been reaching out, to her, to me, to each other on Twitter, and I am so thankful for them too. skytoseungmin has deleted all of their (my) fics on AO3, and their entire AO3 account, and their entire twitter, apparently. Maybe they were hoping to get enough clicks to parlay them into some kind of book deal, and they'd now rather give up what was a low investment effort on their part than be associated with accusation of plagiarism.

I suppose they can always start over with a new user name and someone else's fics if they really want to.

I suppose they can always start over with a new username and my fics, if they really want to.

And after all, AO3 has still not reached out to me about springguk, and "i do(n't remember)" is still sitting there. Maybe springguk is also going for a book deal. Who knows?

Why complain about any of it?

In a way* (and remember what "in a way" means), isn't it a compliment, if someone loves the words I wrote, even if they don't know it was me that wrote them? toast-the-unknowing and shinealightonme, if they're the same name (and they are), then why not springguk or skytoseungmin, too?

Am I making too big of a deal out of this? Does everyone just have their work stolen from them, all of the time? Is that simply the cost of doing business in an era and an ecosystem where we all can copy and paste twenty-four thousand words with greater ease than our ancestors could transcribe a single phrase? Are more prolific, more famous, more successful fan authors looking at my piteous cries and thinking, bitch, you've only been ripped off by k-pop fans ten times, come back when you have real problems?

And yet in a month, a year, a whole life phase of not being able to write as much as I would like to, because of my health, because of my work, to have someone else just casually pass off the words I have managed to eke out, as though they have no value, as though it were no more than photo copying a shitty flier to stick under a windshield wiper…

I can't imagine springguk or skytoseungmin give a shit how I feel about any of this. At best, they roll their eyes; at worst they laugh to know they hurt me -- and what's the difference between the two? I'll never know either way.

I know that some of the people they duped do care, and are also upset. That helps. And also, it doesn't help.

I just fucking hate all of this, and if all I have are words, and if my words are valuable enough for someone to steal, then here, here are enough of them to choke on. I know I did.

[sukirichi]

PLEASE STOP COPYING FICS ‼️

I am by no means gatekeeping concepts or tropes. We all know that it’s normal to see the same tropes or AUs be used differently, and that is not plagiarism. However, I recently found a fic that was oddly similar to my old (and discontinued) Gojo x Reader series, Reckless. The CEO! Gojo is nothing new, and neither is an accidental pregnancy trope. The only reason I am concerned is because this Gojo series I found has the exact same themes as Reckless that consists of: a playboy CEO Gojo with a very notorious reputation, a poor reader who is an employee and asset to the company (someone who works closely with Gojo), reader getting knocked up from a one night stand with Gojo, reader with a seemingly dead/absent mother yet still in contact with her father, Gojo with a very traditional family who does not like reader, and Gojo with an ex he struggles to let go of - which are all elements of Reckless.

The first chapter of that Gojo fic is also eerily similar to my first chapter with the same flow of: YN finding out she’s pregnant and her friend being there for her, Gojo saying he’ll take responsibility because ‘they both made the baby’, YN having to move in with Gojo to take care of the baby, and both of them coming to a mutual agreement that their ‘relationship’ will be purely for the baby’s benefit. The flow of events and specific details about the characters’ backgrounds are too similar to mine.

Again, I am not gatekeeping concepts, just as how I’ve had other writers ask me if they could write their own stories or takes based off of the NAOYA’S TROPHY WIFE COLLECTION or the BONTEN HUSBANDS EXCLUSIVE, and I’m fine with that. I’m even happy people are inspired by what I write. But being inspired is completely different from taking someone’s story and posting it as yours. Please trust your own creativity and skills in writing. You can write amazing stories and have people love them without having to steal from others.

It���s sad to say this is not the first time I, and other writers, have been plagiarized. It’s even more upsetting to know that a friend of mine who has also written a Gojo series (that I’m sure you all know and dearly love) experiences the same issues with the same person. The fact that this is happening to many writers out there is disheartening. We work hard and pour a lot of love in the stories we create. None of us are getting paid for this, and we simply want to share our passions with others. So please, let us be kinder with one another and show love and support the right way. If you love a fic, you give feedback and rb/comment + show support to the writer. You don’t steal their ideas and play it off as your own because you liked it.

[currymanganese]

Chefkids deleted my reblog, lied on @/gongziyus / @/anaustenheroine (one of the biggest OG sydcarmy blogs /meta writers and gifmakers)

and said that her objection to chefkids reposting her gifs without credit was because @/gongziyus is a Claire fan, and then she blocked me lmao

Meta Etiquette?

I enjoy writing meta on this platform and love the responses and reblogs. However, there has been a decrease in participation, and I want to address the issue of stealing replies and reblogs to create a new meta and summarizing it as your own.

It's okay to be inspired by others, but proper credit should be given. I've noticed a pattern of copying content without credit, particularly from chef kids, and it's spoiling the atmosphere for me.

Please source your meta just as you used to have to source gifs when it wasn't yours. I realize that posting content may seem insignificant and that it's a labor of love.

However, it's important to consider the people who invest time in composing their thoughts, as well as new writers or participants who are working towards growing their own audience. It's not official etiquette, but we want everyone to have their own voice and community here on tumblr. The word of our ship on Tumblr is starting to make its way to Twitter. Chefkids already has quite the following there. I'm just asking, please post where you got your ideas from. Don't just read all reblogs and replies and meta and make the content your own.

That being said, I know there are no original ideas here, and that's OK. Readers, if I've written something that sounds familiar to you or if it's something you've written that you think aligns perfectly with the meta you're seeing, I encourage you to reblog and show what you've written. It not only helps you get views on your ideas but also spreads the word for other readers who genuinely want more meta and ideas to read.

If anyone needs more evidence. Here you go:

[tightjeansjavi]

Whether the accounts that are stealing and plagiarizing fics from MULTIPLE writers in the community are doing it to be trolls, gain clout, and whatever the fuck else they have on their agenda, it is deeply disturbing and disappointing to see.

Preemptively block and report @kiwiispunk & @pedroslakersshirt (if more accounts are found to be plagiarizing and stealing fics, I will update this post accordingly.)

[inthesleepydunes]

‼️‼️‼️ FIC STEALER ON THE LOOSE ‼️‼️‼️

I just wanted to bring this to the fandom’s attention because I keep seeing the same people interacting with these fics who may be unaware that everything on this blog is stolen!!!

@/cyarikaplease has been copying stuff from the user ibsbabe on ao3 for two weeks now. I have one of the most recent examples of their theft under the cut and it happens to be their post with the most notes 🙄🙄🙄

They’re directly targeting this user since they’re not on tumblr and they have stated once they’re done with this person’s work they’re moving onto someone else. I’m not super familiar with tumblr’s reporting system when it comes to plagiarism but I’ve been told that it has to be the og author who reports them? If anyone has contact with this person please let them know their work is being stolen!!!

Link to the original fic

[chuluoyi]

heyyy so there's this person who is translating your works on wattpad and I'm pretty sure you didn't give them authorization so yeah here it is

user @lvsedd and the story name is "revenge"

also they have other work (name: paradise jujutsu kaisen) with multiple translations of other authors but I couldn't find them here :/ if anyone wanna help pls

unauthorized translation/plagiarism

thank you for letting me know! and i most certainly don’t give any permission to translate anywhere, and i don’t understand spanish but they seem to copy my “the deposed empress remarries” series and make it into many chapters and retitle it as “revenge” instead

since june? gosh. this user lvsedd in wattpad do put me in credits as the original author but no, this is not how you do it. it’s still called stealing for your own convenience

to others out there who plan to do the same/have thoughts of plagiarism and whatnot, please stop doing this kind of things. it’s very discouraging to the original author. even tho this is just some hobby, i do put a lot of time into writing fics. this is very, very unpleasant to look at and it makes me get mixed feelings bc it’s the same as feeling your work is recognized as someone else’s. how would you feel if it happens to you?

please just be decent even in online space. you can be inspired by someone else’s works but don’t copy the whole material. the very least you can do is ask for their permission and respect it if they don’t give it. and in this case, i’ve never even been asked and to suddenly see this makes me reconsider even writing altogether bc why should i when it’s so easily stolen anyway?

and then i also checked out their oneshots library called “paradise” and found my and several other fic writers’ oneshots being copied and translated too since 2023 without credits even — THIS IS PLAIN PLAGIARISM

this is just disheartening. other fic authors please watch out for your fics in this book! and by the end of this, i’d suggest just report them altogether

[aquicat]

guys i have a theory

[myfandomrealitea]

Bored this fine evening? Consider:

Searching through works titled or marked as "collections" of X fandom/pairing on AO3 and reporting re-uploaded, stolen fanfiction and fanart.

Searching titles such as 'looking for fanfiction' and 'help needed' on AO3 and reporting non-fannish uploads that violate the TOS.

Reverse-searching the fanart used on Wattpad book covers to find the origin of stolen fanart and alert the original artists to the misuse.

Leaving comments on works containing the above to explain what the author has done wrong and why its unethical/against the rules.

I can promise you; its worthwhile and cathartic. To date I've helped somewhere in the region of over 200 people get their stolen and misused content removed. I have never had a single creator ungrateful or disinterested in protecting their content.