Has plagiarism in this community ever been an issue?
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Do you mean people lifting work from here and presenting it as their own elsewhere, or do you mean people presenting work as their own here that they didn't actually write themselves?
I have never heard of the former here. The SYW area is password protected for a reason--it is supposed to be hidden from casual searches, so bots and Google won't bring it up. The only people likely to see your work there are people who are trying to write their own thing. I think anyone who lifted someone else's writing from there would be burned alive by the wrath of mods and other writers.
I've seen at least one person present a query in SYW that he commissioned someone to write for him, but I bet that was an honest mistake.
I have never heard of the former here. The SYW area is password protected for a reason--it is supposed to be hidden from casual searches, so bots and Google won't bring it up. The only people likely to see your work there are people who are trying to write their own thing. I think anyone who lifted someone else's writing from there would be burned alive by the wrath of mods and other writers.
I've seen at least one person present a query in SYW that he commissioned someone to write for him, but I bet that was an honest mistake.
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I know of at least two people banned for plagiarizing the work of others--not AW people--and presenting it here. One, who I directed here, was presenting work stolen from a popular TV show I don't watch.
As far as I know, there haven't been any instances of someone lifting work from AW and presenting it as their own.
Maryn, who's had her work stolen and sold, but not here
As far as I know, there haven't been any instances of someone lifting work from AW and presenting it as their own.
Maryn, who's had her work stolen and sold, but not here
If I had to be plagiarised anywhere, I'd pick here. The plagiarist would be stomped into little stompy pieces. 
Ah. From a year or so ago I remember critiquing a query that was markedly similar to a popular television show. Brought it up gently and the fellow was gracious enough to be frank about it. The idea was clearly hmmm, shall we say an uncomfortably close homage, but the writing was his own. I'd forgotten about that.
Don't know if that was the incident to which you referred, Maryn, but it doesn't matter now. It does seem pretty rare.
It is rare.
It tends to take me from mildly disgruntled right past cranky, and into Pissed Off.
I wouldn't recommend it as a practice, here or anywhere.
It tends to take me from mildly disgruntled right past cranky, and into Pissed Off.
I wouldn't recommend it as a practice, here or anywhere.
I have a list of 5 rules I follow on a daily basis. #3 is "Don't piss off Medievalist."
The list serves me well.
I am also too damn lazy to cheat at anything. Can't keep my life straight as it is, so you couldn't pay me enough to have to pay attention to whom I've told what. Sounds like a nightmare.
I yam what I yam, warts, scars, cliches and all. It's better than the alternative.
The list serves me well.
I am also too damn lazy to cheat at anything. Can't keep my life straight as it is, so you couldn't pay me enough to have to pay attention to whom I've told what. Sounds like a nightmare.
I yam what I yam, warts, scars, cliches and all. It's better than the alternative.
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From Tom Leher:
Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize.
Except, of course, be sure and call it, "research."
(From memory.)
Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize.
Except, of course, be sure and call it, "research."
(From memory.)
Here's the thing, in SYW, most posters only do a few chapters for critique. Very few put their whole work up in SYW. So, if a person is going to lift the first few chapters, they still do not have the full story and most plagiarist are too lazy to finish a story as their own.
Plus, you can always go back, after you've been critiqued, and edit the post with your work.
I don't believe in Hell, but there's a special fate reserved for plagiarizers.
I don't believe in Hell, but there's a special fate reserved for plagiarizers.
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Yeah, I've never heard of it happening, and I agree with the others about it only being a couple of chapters in SYW anyway.
I'm also not sure what's wrong with lap dances.
I'm also not sure what's wrong with lap dances.
The plagiarist would be stomped into little stompy pieces.
Go get 'em, Parametric!
Anyhoot, funny post of the year award goes to you.
The first thing my mom said to me when I put the first chapter of my novel on my website was, "How will you keep someone from stealing it?" I said, "Mom. It's my first novel. Let's hope it's good enough to steal."
Well now, it's a chance you have to take if you want honest feedback. I've had a few members read my books but they've also sent me their books in return. All were long-time members so I tended to trust them.
One thing you can do is keep their comments and information on your computer or print it out, with the date. That's your proof that someone worked on your books, and I'm sure the other reviewers would step forward to back you up.
One thing you can do is keep their comments and information on your computer or print it out, with the date. That's your proof that someone worked on your books, and I'm sure the other reviewers would step forward to back you up.
Actually, if you take from enough different sources it doesn't hardly count. A number of popular movies have taken this approach.
No, Cori. Plagiarism always counts and the more sources you take from, the worse it gets for you.
As far as the movies you refer to, there's a difference between plagiarism and inspiration. Plagiarism would be using lines from one script in another, or using characters developed by other writers or in other movies; inspiration is allowing your writing to be informed by other works, but making something completely new and unrecognisable from them.
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