#genivslab

it is *squints at red LED digits of the generic alarm clock in the corner of this beach house bedroom* 2:10 AM here, and i should be sleeping, but i literally cannot rest until i speak my mind on What, exactly, Is Up.

for those of you browsing @genivslab tag to try and figure out why she’s deleted all of her posts and apparently left tumblr, here’s the summary:

she got caught plagiarizing, nearly word for word (minus a few name changes), other writers’ fics after attempting to pass off the writing as her own

a few of the writers (whose work she had stolen) and people who had read her works and noticed similarities to other works they had read, called her out— privately, first (until she blocked them lol), and publicly ( @provocative-envy and @lovewyself wrote great and more detailed posts about what happened— with screenshot RECEIPTS!!! they didn’t come to PLAY 😤💪🏼 )

within MINUTES, apparently, of the call-out posts going up (i, unfortunately, missed the good Drama as it was going down in real time), she wrote a post claiming she would be leaving her blog and proceeded to delete all of her posts except the goodbye post.

what’s crazy to me is that (from what i’ve heard/read from people whose work she stole, or people who actually directly confronted her) she hasn’t yet apologized about her actions. in fact, she’s purposefully kept her goodbye reason very vague, and in the replies of some of her fics, where readers have thanked her or praised her for her “writing” (ie. CTRL + C and CTRL + V dexterity), she’s gladly taken credit for the writing?? and then goes on to encourage other people that they can be great writers, too??? lol i actually can’t even fathom how people think they can a) think any of that is okay to begin with and b) think they can successfully keep their plagiarism a secret in this day and age of advanced technology and readers whose interests span multiple fandoms???

anyway, all of this to say that:

writers write their fics/stories with situations and characterizations and relationship dynamics in mind for certain characters. to lift a story and try to pass it off as your own is not just lazy on your part as a growing writer; it’s also extremely disrespectful to the writers who spend great amounts of time and effort creating scenarios meant to fit/work with their originally intended characters!!

if you were one of genivslab’s readers, please don’t feel as if you have any responsibility in genivslab’s actions. according to her about page (which i’d seen before she took it down), she is 21 years old, which means she absolutely should have had a full understanding of what she was doing when she stole from other writers. none of you should feel as if you should have “known better” or should be apologizing on her behalf for what she did. thank you, though, for those of you who are sincerely sorry for the writers who aren’t being properly credited and for your willingness to help the rest of the fandom’s fic readers (who might not have known about what’s gone down) understand what genivslab did. thank you for taking action to remove her “works” from fic rec masterlists and fic communities. please remember that one fandom member’s actions are not reflective of a fandom as a whole! i, personally, have seen much more support in discrediting plagiarizers and plagiarism than blatant dismissal of it among your community members, and i am buzzed that we can all come together, regardless of fandom, to stand in solidarity against plagiarism and plagiarizers. you all are real ones. hope you’re all doing well!!

also important, but if you ever notice plagiarism, don’t send hate or personal attacks to the offender lol. confront him/her/them about their v wrong actions and let the trash take itself out. 🤷🏻‍♀️

if you plagiarize and are ever confronted about it, acknowledge the wrong on your part, apologize, delete your post(s), and aim to do and be better. you owe it to your readers and to yourself to be the best writer that you can be.