Plagiarism Handling (Non-AI)
So, I learned I'd had one of my most popular fics stolen today, and I was really proud of how I handled it, so I thought I'd share as a recommendation to authors for the future in case this happens to you.
I've had my fics stolen probably a dozen times (that I'm aware of) over the past 14 years I've been posting fic on Ao3. It's horrible, every single time it happens. It's never NOT horrible.
Someone steals it, changes the names, posts it, gets the hits, the comments, the bookmarks, all of it, praising the story.
I report it, explain the situation on Ao3, complain about it to a few friends and... feel awful for the next few days.
Nothing has really ever made the awful feeling go away. It fades eventually, but. Call out posts of the user who did it, posts asking for support, none of that really takes away the violation of what happened.
Someone STOLE my work... and pretended it was theirs, and posted it. Even had the guts to put their Twitter handle on the work, with:
This is just the foundation, and I canât wait to explore more of this world! If you enjoy the story, drop a commentâIâd love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Twitter at (TWITTER HANDLE) đ
At the bottom of the author's note.
This is the work they stole, btw.
Never Judge A Shadowhunter By Their Scent
It's a fic I am tremendously proud of, and one of my most popular ones in the Malec fandom. I love that story, and it was written for a dear, dear friend.
A reader, someone who loved it enough to remember it - recognized it, and not only called out the person (I refuse to call them a writer until I know all of their writing isn't stolen from others) who plagiarized me, found me, found one of my fics to comment on, and let me know.
That person is my hero.
The pathetic excuse for a "writer" who stole my story from me? I hope you have the days you deserve for the foreseeable future.
However, being angry at that person does me... no good. It's a waste of time, and energy. Calling them out (even though I could, since I have their Twitter handle) does no good, nor do I really want to.
Which left me sitting with the question of what I actually wanted to take back from the person who stole from me.
I realized what I wanted was what they'd received for their stolen work - the comments on the fic complimenting how good it was, or how much they liked the plot and story. Those? Those were MINE.
And well. I always reply to my comments.
Whether or not any of these people click on the link to the original fic doesn't particularly matter to me. The fic will eventually be removed by the Ao3 Abuse Team because it is stolen and clearly plagiarized.
I went through all 30 comments on the stolen fic and thanked them for enjoying the story, let them know it's plagiarized, and provided them a link to the real fic. I didn't respond to the author at all, nor did I acknowledge what they had so clearly done.
And now? I feel better.
I can't reach everyone who ever read the fic. I can't reach the 40+ people who have it bookmarked. But I can reach these 30. I can let them know the fic is stolen, that the ideas, plot, and other aspects they loved? That those were mine, and I am glad they liked them.
It doesn't fix what happened. Nothing ever does when your story is stolen. But I do feel like I took the tiniest bit of power back.
I wasn't mean, I didn't shout, or scream, or curse. I didn't acknowledge the author at all. I just let the people who liked the fic know that I'm glad they liked it, that it was mine, and it was my writing that they were complimenting.
That was what mattered to me, and now they know.
