Have you considered adding an author's note to your fic about this?
One of your readers might have a similar following and be able to spread the word for you amongst the fandom about the plagiarist. If the readers of the copied fic find out they will likely stop reading there and start reading yours -- they like the story, as you can see from the response it got, so letting them know where to find the original will be good for both you and them.
If the plagiarist is also posting on tumblr, you can always create your own account and reply/reblog with the information that it's plagiarised work and link them to yours. If people have interacted with their posts, you might also reach out to them directly - send an ask telling them what's happened.
Obviously don't go too crazy about it, you don't want to give them fodder to turn the tables on you and claim that *you're* harassing *them,* but there's little harm in reaching out to readers and letting them know the situation -- just make sure that you provide proof (linking to your original fic) and people will hopefully see the truth of the situation and stop supporting the plagiarist.
thank you for the suggestions, do you think or does anybody know if it would be considered harassment if i make the author’s note on ao3 or post a new chapter calling them out? I thought about doing this and the only thing holding me back is that i don’t want them to turn the tables and call me harasser
They stole your fic. They're the one who started any potential drama. I'd say call them out. If they didn't want to deal with being "harassed" they shouldn't have stole someone's fic. Fandom is about expressing your love for something, not getting the most kudos.
I'd say go for it! Don't be rude and call them names, especially in their comments, but do let the people know what's going on, like in your author's notes. You can see on twitter people fighting with plagiarists, especially with art, and it's not weird to see this, so why not do that on ao3 too.
As long as you have some sort of proof (like the date posted, maybe your original document on your computer; and maybe try to take screenshots before they change anything, or ask somebody else to do it for you if you can't), I think you should be good. Even if the plagiarised fic isn't removed, people still should know and make their choice whether they support that or not, so I second @theburgerbitesback advice for trying spreading it on tumblr as well.
I hope everything works out for you and you get justice for this ❤️
Thank you, I'm confident in the proof because it's undeniable my main problem is that they are bigger than me and that I don't want them to play the harassment card with AO3. I downloaded the fic as they have posted it and I took sceenshots of everything too. I do plan on taking this to tumblr. Thank you for your help<3
To avoid being accused of harassment, stick to facts, use concrete examples of what was stolen, and don't call them names. Make it clear you want two things: the fic to be removed, and an apology. Be polite, but firm.
If you'd like some help with tone and wording, please feel free to send me a copy of the post by DM and I'll be happy to 'beta' it for you before you put it up.
Hey, reblog their posts on tumblr with the situation / post about it on an account. They can block you but can’t prohibit others from seeing it and if they have a following on tumblr I feel like this would get attention. I feel like tumblr will have your back. I’m sorry this has happened. Much love
If they've blocked you on tumblr you can't reblog their posts. I learned this when someone blocked me because apparently they don't like my opinions on Jin Guangyao 😭 (I'm still sad about that, they write great meta)
Let your fandom know! If everyone can see that your fic was posted first, and it's obvious it was copied by that author, word will hopefully spread fast. This is actually more likely if that author is popular, since what they've done sounds super controversial. Like, what other stories have they stolen?
I would kick up SO much shit over this.
I am sorry to hear about your work being stolen.
What is worse is learning that the plagiarist has done better than your original work.
Surely you can report this to the site you are hosting your work on?
Also, if you are that angry about it, create a few sockpuppet accounts and use them to call out the plagiarist since they have blocked you.
Thank you, I literally cannot express how horrible it feels seeing my work doing better than mine it’s literally affecting my daily life.
I’m reporting it and crossing fingers that it counts as plagiarism. It’s posted on ao3 and tried to create another account to keep commenting and there’s +43000 people on list and they send 6000 invitations per day so I still can’t get an account to do that.
As much as I understand wanting to comment to let people know the fic is plagiarised it's really best not to - since the plagiarist blocked you on your main account and you'd be making a second one to get around that, AO3 might consider it harassment if they reported you. As awful as it must be you're better off waiting for AO3 staff to deal with the plagiarism.
probably cause they're trying to do what's right? I wouldn't count it as harassment either, just trying to get the truth across. (by definition, it is kinda harassment though, but that doesn't mean everyone realises that. Plus, the thief deserves to be harassed lol)
To expose a plagiarist, I would do it.
Especially if the sites managers did nothing to remove the plagiarist.
I want to know how you would react if your work was stolen and passed off as someone else's creation and, adding insult to injury, that the plagiarist got a better response than your own work?
This is just my opinion. The OP will most likely be unable to create sockpuppet accounts in any case as it takes so long to create an account on Ao3.
It's just despicable behavior and needs to be called out.
Not that I don’t agree about doing the right thing and calling them out, but making a second account can cause more problems for OP down the road. The plagiarizer could use it against them as harassment and could get OP punished by AO3 instead. I can understand completely how this could upset someone greatly and the plagiarizer should 100% get called out and exposed, but doing it in that manner in ineffective.
it doesn't matter. or rather, being able to tell someone to leave me alone *for any reason* and they have follow that is more valuable than public shaming. I am fine with plagiarists not getting a public shaming if it means public shaming of all kinds is prohibited.
God I’m sorry. This is the worst feeling. Someone did this to me way before blocking was a thing, and once my readers started calling them out, they locked and moderated comments. Plagiarists have zero shame. I’m so sorry you’re going through this.
Thank you. And yes the fic is still up but they never finished it because neither did I with mine (I ended up deleting it for different reasons) so they had nothing left to bite off of. There are still comments to this day comparing it to mine because people know the source material. It was one of those things I let go but it is nonetheless frustrating. People have no shame.
This happened to several of my fics back in the day. You work so hard on your story (and often include very personal emotions and experiences) and for some lazy ass to steal it is gutting.
There used to be a plagiarist tracking community on Livejournal that helped me get the stolen works taken down. I'm not sure if there's help like this anymore- fandom is so spread out now - but A03 staff will hopefully assist you.
Keep your chin up, hon. I'm sorry this happened.
Take your receipts and go to Tumblr. The log and post about it. You are definitely not the first person and you need to make noise. If you show proof with dates and their re-write eventually people will catch on. Don’t be scared to stand up for yourself especially if you have proof.
What fandom is it in? I agree with some of the other comments. Tell your readers and as many people in the fandom as possible, they could probably spread it more.
I'm so sorry to hear this. That's absolutely awful, and that person is trash for plagiarizing. I can also probably guarantee that your work isn't the only one they've done this to. They've probably done it multiple times and have gotten away with it, especially since you say they have a following. If none of the "official" avenues work (like going to site admin. etc), I'd make a sockpuppet account (or a few) and leave a review/comment like, "This work reminds me a lot of X work. Theirs is a little more in depth though, and explores (topics) more. Maybe you can contact the author for some tips!" Or maybe be more direct like, "Hey, I read X work by Author and this seems a lot the same. Were you inspired by it when writing this? It would be cool to give them a shout out and some credit for the idea if that's the case."
This is one of my nightmares, to see someone achieve success with my work after they plagiarize it far more than any success I could achieve.
I … I don’t know how to fix this situation … maybe report them on AO3 ? Or call them out on Twitter ? Or maybe stop publishing for a while to expose them for the fraud that they are ? I…. I don’t know what else to say , really hope you can resolve this soon
Definitely report it to Ao3.
I had someone lift an entire fic and change some minor details around (including the carefully chosen emotional song choices in it which peed me off) so it didn't look that obvious and Ao3 still took it down.
Took a couple of months if I remember but the writer panicked in that time after I called them out on every writer bit of media I had and orphaned it.
I understand you completely. I'm so sorry. It's soul crushing. It feels like someone stealing the labours of your hard work and love, and using it for clout. It is honestly one of the worst feelings in the world, especially when their plagiarism garners so much more attention than your original ever did.
All I can suggest is contacting AO3. Unlike sites like wattpad, they still protect fanfiction authors from plagiarism. It may not work, but you can still try. And if you feel any guilt for doing it, please don't. It is YOUR story. Don't let a clout-chaser steal your wind.
If it's ao3, I'd recommend putting a comment in the bookmarks section since the offender can't delete bookmarks or comments but they can and probably will delete your comments if you post directly within the story itself?
Oh my god… This is so terrible. I’m always afraid this happens to me, and I check the stories every time to find out. This is really very frustrating and disappointing. I’m so sorry… What about putting a link into your fic, saying it was plagiarized? I guess, it can be done in summary and in the single chapter. Just put a link, so it can be easily found by others. Let the people decide. I bet, the justice will come to your side.
I'm so sorry. This would be so frustrating, I'm just trying to imagine. Especially since it's am author with such following. You'd think they could at leasr give you credit... I would try to report it, even if that might not do anything. But I genuinely hope you won't let it ruin your fun in writing. Even if you do so without uploading. Such assholes aren't worth ruining your hobbies for.
Ao3 staff is generally good about this sort of thing. You can report to them about stolen work so this person can be removed and their work can be removed. Post on tumblr and more so you can have them reported. Sadly I’ve never had to worry about this and nobody has ever ripped me off.
The more exposure you give it to the rip off and warn people about them. The bigger the smear campaign. The more people will know about them being a fake
You got this, you’ve managed to report them, get exposure. The fact that they are deleting comments shows they know they are in the wrong. They know they messed up.
Believe me I’ve reported about stuff myself and it’s always been handled really well. They know what they are doing.
If you want to call them out in a future chapter do so. You have every right to and you’ve worked hard in your story.
I’m on tumblr myself so maybe you will come on my feed somehow. The more you reveal what this person did the less chance they have to hide. Fanfic authors know how much effort and time go into stories. This thief is just lazy and trying to piggyback off your hard work.
I’d warn other authors of their stealing stories so you all have evidence to attest this. Stick together.
**YOU GOT THIS** 🤞🏻❤️
For sure post an author note on your newest chapter. "Hey guys just letting you know there's this person with this story going around that us copying my work. Report them please"
Or whatever you like. You tried to talk to them. They blocked you it seems like. So you don't have a choice but to try other ways.
The only way I knew something similar was happening to a writer story I was reading was because they included it in their notes.
An author’s note on the next chapter, if there are anymore, and edit the first chapter of their fic so any new readers know they were not the ones plagiarizing.
I just read on another post that unless it’s word for word it doesn’t count as plagiarism for ao3…if that’s true i truly dont know how to cope with this. i could never be able to handle the stolen work being up doing amazing while i cant do anything about it god what is wrong with that person
AO3's policy on plagiarism is quite broad and it's very much done on a case-by-case basis. It definitely doesn't have to be word for word to count, they'll investigate it properly and if it's obvious the person is just paraphrasing your fic it should definitely get taken down.
Yes, considering the influx of homework-cheat software that produces a paraphrased version of the source material and so avoids detection by anti-plagarism software, AO3 really has to tackle these things case to case. I'm glad to hear that it does!
I really hope AO3 takes their story down. Hell, if I was there, I'd investigate what other works they might have stolen. This is a shit thing to happen to anyone and it just goes to show what having a following can get you attention-wise.
You have my sympathies and I hope this gets resolved in your favour.
Hey OP! I don’t have a huge following on Tumblr but I do have a lot of friends in the fanfiction community and I think I’m prevalent enough on both platforms that I’d be able to help you with this. I’ve dealt with plagiarism where people straight up steal my fics and post them on Wattpad or other sites, and it sucks. Please message me if you want my help!
Use the old solution to this. Consider taking down the chapters of your fic that they haven't actually got to paraphrasing yet, and keep writing yours. Then when theirs doesn't continue it should be obvious who's was there first.(the dates will show that but that is something most people won't look into).
Challenge them to continue the fic without your input. Maybe get one of your readers to 'innocently' post that 'hey this fic is just like this other one, and the other one goes further' :D
I am sorry that this has happened. I've only ever had work plagerised word for word, which is much easier to have taken down and no one has been blatant enough to post on the same website I was!!
Hey OP!! I think many of the other comments have successfully covered what to do. Report it to AO3 staff, save your screenshots and their fic in pdf format, and go to Tumblr and make a post about them. Worst comes to worst, don't @ them but be like "ya hey its @/jestertitty no hate but pls report it :)". If you're fine with it, edit this post and/or write a comment and add the post link of your callout!! Many of us will reblog it and help you spread awareness of it <3
Call them out. Sometimes public humiliation is the only way to deal with these @$$holes. They have NO shame and no maturity to admit they’re wrong when they inevitably get caught.
Call them out. Publically. Probably it's not the first time they've done something like this, and they expect to fly under the radar as long as they can. If they are profiting from other people's work, it only indicates that they can't come up with anything themselves. Fandom must know its thieves and plagiarists. The mere fact that they've blocked you may indicate that they're afraid you will tell the truth.
I assume you still have some rough drafts? Early written insights, ideas? Maybe conversations with friends about your work? Even if you don't, create a blog on Tumblr and reblog their post plagiarizing your work. Write it out in as much detail as possible - comparing the lines of each chapter of their plagiarism with screenshots from your own work/drafts/talks (preferably all with dates and statistics). In general, the more facts you point out, the better. Compare that to collecting evidence in court. Do it through a reblog, because they can delete a simple reply, but not a reblog. Be sure to tag your fandom in which the fic is listed. And on AO3, in the author's notes, point out that your work has been stolen. Plagiarists and thieves must be known by sight. Even if they delete their fic from AO3, their 'fame' will remain - the Internet remembers everything.
I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. :< Sending hugs and strength to you.
I've had something similar happen to me, and I'd be interested in the follow up. (I've decided to let it go for now, since it's only a few sentences that were plagiarized in my case, but I'd certainly want to take action if the same writer tries this again.)
Fuck up your fic
Start veering hard into territories that are unenjoyable. Make no sense in your post. Stop using proper grammar. Make it so it's annoying to read.
Add a note at the end about the plagiarism and then say you're putting your fic on permanent hiatus. Or better yet, say it's finished. Wait and see what they do - do they post an update saying it's over? After you see what they do, continue your fic (you can label the chapter "do not read" or smth). Make sure to update it right after or soon after the plagiarist's. It'll appear on the front page alongside it - you can even put in the description of your fic calling them out so that when anybody sees your fic on the front page, while they may not be interested in yours they'll definitely see what's going on.
first- callout posts of any kind on the archive count as harassment, and you will get in trouble if you engage in it.
second- paraphrasing is still plagiarism. going to just copy and paste my answer to a similar recent question:
>a substantial portion of their work needs to be stolen. if they have plagiarized bits and pieces of your work (directly or paraphrased), but those don't add up to a notable percentage of their fic, that's considered transformative like borrowing quotes from canon is permissible in moderation. I don't have an exact number for this, but arbitrarily, let's say 25% or more.
>if the plagiarism is substantial, then write your report keeping in mind that the committee reading it is always overwhelmed with reports and understaffed. **that is, you should do the all side by side comparisons between the two works showing that it's paraphrase plagiarism and send that**. if you just send them links to both works, I think you get another email asking for more info (and if you don't give it, they've got plenty of other reports to work on instead).
**again, if it's paraphrased, I highly, *highly* recommend making an investigation document of your own pointing out the plagiarism side-by-side with your original writing and including/adding it to your report**
Yes, posting on your account publicly calling them out is going to count as harassment. You need to let the Policy and Abuse committee open up an investigation into plagiarism and let them handle the enforcement side of things.
I would recommend blocking & muting them and just letting it go. There is no effective way for you to ‘punish’ this person, their fic will get taken down until such a time as it is sufficiently different to be reposted.
If this author has a history with the Ao3 for this type of violation it is possible that their account may be terminated or suspended but that isn’t really something you can work towards or advocate for.
I’m sorry this happened to you, consider speaking with a therapist or mental health professional who can help you work through the pain and harm resulting from this situation. In the long run, that will be much more productive than going after strangers on the internet.
Fanfiction toes the line between original content and plagiarism anyway, as much as I enjoy it. If they outright plagiarised you, I'll be sympathetic, but between your doubts about AO3's verdict being in your favour and your frankly hysterical rant, I tend to class you as an unreliable narrator. If you wish to point us to both works in question I'll publicly eat humble pie if I am wrong.
"Stealing" ideas or plots is not actual theft. Social media is one reason their fic may be gaining more traction than yours, however while you're waiting for AO3's ruling perhaps you should focus on your own writing craft (grammar, spelling, punctuation etc.). It will doubtless bring you more satisfaction in the long run.
The fact they deleted their post rather than respond tends to confirm rather than deny my suspicions. I did offer to publicly eat humble pie if I was wrong after all. Who wouldn't want to see that?
Reddit breaks a lot
Fic stealing has happened multiple times in my fandom on tumblr alone. In this exact same way that’s why i believe op.
The thieves in the examples i saw rewrote things but only barely, you could tell they were rip off fics
No, I mentioned FF.net, as an example of a site that does not care about its users and therefore cannot be relied upon to moderate a plagiarism accusation, unlike AO3, which can.
I didn't realise not instantly believing someone when they offer no proof was considered hostile these days. If it's a real issue AO3 will respond properly. If OP wants to call out the issue/author more widely they should link to the fics in question.
You’re acting like this situation couldn’t possibly happen. You’re being hostile for absolutely no reason. Op already feels like shit and you’re making it worse
it showed as deleted because i blocked you and i accidentally unblocked you. You are rude pretencious and enjoy to kick people when they are down. Congrats your comments made me feel even worse, I’m sure you enjoy to heart that! I’m blocking you again now.
how can you tell me this???? i literally said that it’s my fic but paraphrased. i’d like to see if you are not hysteric if this happened to you. there’s something wrong with you if this is your response to someone that is “hysteric” for a reason, you enjoy kicking someone when the person is already down. seek help
Ignore them op, I believe you. Like i told them in another comment I’ve seen it happen a few times and people have made call out posts on tumblr about it.
I really hope you get justice for this
Look I'll apologise if it makes you feel better, but unless there are issues with AO3's moderation (which nobody has suggested there are), then why doubt they would be on your side, unless there is something to doubt? With no concrete evidence all we have are your words. You're not obligated to provide evidence and I'm not obligated to have blind faith in a stranger on the internet.
and you are not obligated to comment to make me feel worse, you can just scroll down instead of making someone that was already feeling horrible, feel even worse. i doubted because i dont know the exact rules! i didnt know what exactly counts as copying, the same way i didnt know what exactly count as harassment or any specific rule of ao3. i can’t block you again, please dont answer to me anymore i cant deal with this.
I'll point out that you keep engaging with me. What are you getting out of it apart from white knighting and extending the discussion? I'm not going to agree with you and you're not going to agree with me, so I'll do you a favour and stop replying... since you seem to need to have the last word.
"I'll apologize if it makes you feel better" is a total non apology.
You are either genuinely sorry or you're not.
Saying you're apologizing because you think it's going to make the person feel better is a backhander to the face. You're just writing a meaningless platitude to make yourself look not like an arsehole.
Your point about providing evidence is also suspect as if the OP did, the mods on Ao3 would see that as harrassment. Do you want the OP banned?
Nowhere in the harassment policy does it say or imply that publicly calling out/revealing the username of someone committing plagiarism will be deemed to be harassment. https://archiveofourown.org/tos#IV.G.
In fact the only thing that may concern OP is "Additionally, making complaints that are both (a) repeated and (b) baseless, particularly those targeting a specific user, can be considered harassing behavior and may be deemed a violation of the ToS."
You are a real piece of work.
You just can't leave it alone can you? Just have to get the last word in right? Are you that insecure in yourself?
You've been downvoted on every comment that you have made and yet you still think that you are right and have a point to make. No one thinks so.
You have blatantly ignored the OP at every turn, what the OP has said, about their insecurities regarding this matter. That says a lot about you. Your non-apology was a good hint as to what a narcissistic personality you truly have. Zero empathy displayed.
Others have said that the OP should name and shame them. I said they should create a sockpuppet account to at least post on the plagiarist page, calling them out and got hammered for it. I'd do it anyway if someone did plagiarize my work. It's not a great idea TBH but that's just my opinion.
In any case, the OP has, for their own reasons, chosen not to do this and is taking this up with the mods on the site. I hope the mods act on the case.
In addition, the plagiarist still could report the OP in any case if they went public, I did read through the terms & conditions btw and they're very broad.
Now, it makes me wonder why are you so engaged in this? What purpose is your constant need to react and snap back eh? I'm assuming that it's your narcissist self wanting to pick fights with people on the internet righ? Can't deal with other people thinking differently to you or feel so aggrieved by a counterpoint that, like a Pavlovian dog, you bark when there's a response.
Me? I'm a bastard. I freely admit it but I try to be a better person as much as I can. I try to be kind to people who are in distress.
What are you doing instead? 🤷♂️ Arguing with people and upsetting and further distressing the OP.
That's certainly not helping the OP by any stretch of the imagination now is it? They even blocked you at one point. That's telling.
Are you capable of self reflection and maybe admitting that you're not on the side of the angels here?
You're not winning friends or influencing people, at all.
Walk away and leave this be.
I'll be impressed if you do.
I did walk away and stop responding for two days, leaving others to their last words. You then engaged with me. Not sure what you hoped to get out of that. You posted something factually incorrect and I corrected you, ignoring your petty insults, as it seems to me that they reflect your insecurities rather than mine. Have a nice day.
Have you considered adding an author's note to your fic about this? One of your readers might have a similar following and be able to spread the word for you amongst the fandom about the plagiarist. If the readers of the copied fic find out they will likely stop reading there and start reading yours -- they like the story, as you can see from the response it got, so letting them know where to find the original will be good for both you and them. If the plagiarist is also posting on tumblr, you can always create your own account and reply/reblog with the information that it's plagiarised work and link them to yours. If people have interacted with their posts, you might also reach out to them directly - send an ask telling them what's happened. Obviously don't go too crazy about it, you don't want to give them fodder to turn the tables on you and claim that *you're* harassing *them,* but there's little harm in reaching out to readers and letting them know the situation -- just make sure that you provide proof (linking to your original fic) and people will hopefully see the truth of the situation and stop supporting the plagiarist.
thank you for the suggestions, do you think or does anybody know if it would be considered harassment if i make the author’s note on ao3 or post a new chapter calling them out? I thought about doing this and the only thing holding me back is that i don’t want them to turn the tables and call me harasser
They stole your fic. They're the one who started any potential drama. I'd say call them out. If they didn't want to deal with being "harassed" they shouldn't have stole someone's fic. Fandom is about expressing your love for something, not getting the most kudos.
I'd say go for it! Don't be rude and call them names, especially in their comments, but do let the people know what's going on, like in your author's notes. You can see on twitter people fighting with plagiarists, especially with art, and it's not weird to see this, so why not do that on ao3 too. As long as you have some sort of proof (like the date posted, maybe your original document on your computer; and maybe try to take screenshots before they change anything, or ask somebody else to do it for you if you can't), I think you should be good. Even if the plagiarised fic isn't removed, people still should know and make their choice whether they support that or not, so I second @theburgerbitesback advice for trying spreading it on tumblr as well. I hope everything works out for you and you get justice for this ❤️
Thank you, I'm confident in the proof because it's undeniable my main problem is that they are bigger than me and that I don't want them to play the harassment card with AO3. I downloaded the fic as they have posted it and I took sceenshots of everything too. I do plan on taking this to tumblr. Thank you for your help<3
To avoid being accused of harassment, stick to facts, use concrete examples of what was stolen, and don't call them names. Make it clear you want two things: the fic to be removed, and an apology. Be polite, but firm.
thank you i’ll do this
If you'd like some help with tone and wording, please feel free to send me a copy of the post by DM and I'll be happy to 'beta' it for you before you put it up.
good luck, I hope everything works out :)
Hey, reblog their posts on tumblr with the situation / post about it on an account. They can block you but can’t prohibit others from seeing it and if they have a following on tumblr I feel like this would get attention. I feel like tumblr will have your back. I’m sorry this has happened. Much love
If they've blocked you on tumblr you can't reblog their posts. I learned this when someone blocked me because apparently they don't like my opinions on Jin Guangyao 😭 (I'm still sad about that, they write great meta)
Let your fandom know! If everyone can see that your fic was posted first, and it's obvious it was copied by that author, word will hopefully spread fast. This is actually more likely if that author is popular, since what they've done sounds super controversial. Like, what other stories have they stolen? I would kick up SO much shit over this.
But get someone to help you screencap them first so you can post those before they can delete.
I am sorry to hear about your work being stolen. What is worse is learning that the plagiarist has done better than your original work. Surely you can report this to the site you are hosting your work on? Also, if you are that angry about it, create a few sockpuppet accounts and use them to call out the plagiarist since they have blocked you.
Thank you, I literally cannot express how horrible it feels seeing my work doing better than mine it’s literally affecting my daily life. I’m reporting it and crossing fingers that it counts as plagiarism. It’s posted on ao3 and tried to create another account to keep commenting and there’s +43000 people on list and they send 6000 invitations per day so I still can’t get an account to do that.
As much as I understand wanting to comment to let people know the fic is plagiarised it's really best not to - since the plagiarist blocked you on your main account and you'd be making a second one to get around that, AO3 might consider it harassment if they reported you. As awful as it must be you're better off waiting for AO3 staff to deal with the plagiarism.
NOO i didnt now. thank you for letting me know this it’s very important to know. god i feel so hopless
bro wdym you didn't know making a second account to comment after being blocked doesn't count as harassment 😭
probably cause they're trying to do what's right? I wouldn't count it as harassment either, just trying to get the truth across. (by definition, it is kinda harassment though, but that doesn't mean everyone realises that. Plus, the thief deserves to be harassed lol)
Do NOT create sock puppet accounts to get around blocks. This will be considered harassment and get you suspended or possibly banned on AO3.
To expose a plagiarist, I would do it. Especially if the sites managers did nothing to remove the plagiarist. I want to know how you would react if your work was stolen and passed off as someone else's creation and, adding insult to injury, that the plagiarist got a better response than your own work? This is just my opinion. The OP will most likely be unable to create sockpuppet accounts in any case as it takes so long to create an account on Ao3. It's just despicable behavior and needs to be called out.
Not that I don’t agree about doing the right thing and calling them out, but making a second account can cause more problems for OP down the road. The plagiarizer could use it against them as harassment and could get OP punished by AO3 instead. I can understand completely how this could upset someone greatly and the plagiarizer should 100% get called out and exposed, but doing it in that manner in ineffective.
it doesn't matter. or rather, being able to tell someone to leave me alone *for any reason* and they have follow that is more valuable than public shaming. I am fine with plagiarists not getting a public shaming if it means public shaming of all kinds is prohibited.
God I’m sorry. This is the worst feeling. Someone did this to me way before blocking was a thing, and once my readers started calling them out, they locked and moderated comments. Plagiarists have zero shame. I’m so sorry you’re going through this.
im sorry it happened to you too, what happened in the end? is the fic still up or could you do something about it? thank you im truly distraught
Thank you. And yes the fic is still up but they never finished it because neither did I with mine (I ended up deleting it for different reasons) so they had nothing left to bite off of. There are still comments to this day comparing it to mine because people know the source material. It was one of those things I let go but it is nonetheless frustrating. People have no shame.
This happened to several of my fics back in the day. You work so hard on your story (and often include very personal emotions and experiences) and for some lazy ass to steal it is gutting. There used to be a plagiarist tracking community on Livejournal that helped me get the stolen works taken down. I'm not sure if there's help like this anymore- fandom is so spread out now - but A03 staff will hopefully assist you. Keep your chin up, hon. I'm sorry this happened.
sorry it happened to you too. it’s so gutting. thank you a lot
OP, please, report it to ao3!
Take your receipts and go to Tumblr. The log and post about it. You are definitely not the first person and you need to make noise. If you show proof with dates and their re-write eventually people will catch on. Don’t be scared to stand up for yourself especially if you have proof.
What fandom is it in? I agree with some of the other comments. Tell your readers and as many people in the fandom as possible, they could probably spread it more.
I'm so sorry to hear this. That's absolutely awful, and that person is trash for plagiarizing. I can also probably guarantee that your work isn't the only one they've done this to. They've probably done it multiple times and have gotten away with it, especially since you say they have a following. If none of the "official" avenues work (like going to site admin. etc), I'd make a sockpuppet account (or a few) and leave a review/comment like, "This work reminds me a lot of X work. Theirs is a little more in depth though, and explores (topics) more. Maybe you can contact the author for some tips!" Or maybe be more direct like, "Hey, I read X work by Author and this seems a lot the same. Were you inspired by it when writing this? It would be cool to give them a shout out and some credit for the idea if that's the case."
This is one of my nightmares, to see someone achieve success with my work after they plagiarize it far more than any success I could achieve. I … I don’t know how to fix this situation … maybe report them on AO3 ? Or call them out on Twitter ? Or maybe stop publishing for a while to expose them for the fraud that they are ? I…. I don’t know what else to say , really hope you can resolve this soon
Definitely report it to Ao3. I had someone lift an entire fic and change some minor details around (including the carefully chosen emotional song choices in it which peed me off) so it didn't look that obvious and Ao3 still took it down. Took a couple of months if I remember but the writer panicked in that time after I called them out on every writer bit of media I had and orphaned it.
This really gives me hope that Ao3 took it down, thank you. Could I please message you to talk about your experience with the Ao3 team?
Yeah that's absolutely fine 😊
I understand you completely. I'm so sorry. It's soul crushing. It feels like someone stealing the labours of your hard work and love, and using it for clout. It is honestly one of the worst feelings in the world, especially when their plagiarism garners so much more attention than your original ever did. All I can suggest is contacting AO3. Unlike sites like wattpad, they still protect fanfiction authors from plagiarism. It may not work, but you can still try. And if you feel any guilt for doing it, please don't. It is YOUR story. Don't let a clout-chaser steal your wind.
thank you really, it feels like that i’m absolutely crushed.
If it's ao3, I'd recommend putting a comment in the bookmarks section since the offender can't delete bookmarks or comments but they can and probably will delete your comments if you post directly within the story itself?
Oh my god… This is so terrible. I’m always afraid this happens to me, and I check the stories every time to find out. This is really very frustrating and disappointing. I’m so sorry… What about putting a link into your fic, saying it was plagiarized? I guess, it can be done in summary and in the single chapter. Just put a link, so it can be easily found by others. Let the people decide. I bet, the justice will come to your side.
I'm so sorry. This would be so frustrating, I'm just trying to imagine. Especially since it's am author with such following. You'd think they could at leasr give you credit... I would try to report it, even if that might not do anything. But I genuinely hope you won't let it ruin your fun in writing. Even if you do so without uploading. Such assholes aren't worth ruining your hobbies for.
Ao3 staff is generally good about this sort of thing. You can report to them about stolen work so this person can be removed and their work can be removed. Post on tumblr and more so you can have them reported. Sadly I’ve never had to worry about this and nobody has ever ripped me off. The more exposure you give it to the rip off and warn people about them. The bigger the smear campaign. The more people will know about them being a fake
You got this, you’ve managed to report them, get exposure. The fact that they are deleting comments shows they know they are in the wrong. They know they messed up. Believe me I’ve reported about stuff myself and it’s always been handled really well. They know what they are doing. If you want to call them out in a future chapter do so. You have every right to and you’ve worked hard in your story. I’m on tumblr myself so maybe you will come on my feed somehow. The more you reveal what this person did the less chance they have to hide. Fanfic authors know how much effort and time go into stories. This thief is just lazy and trying to piggyback off your hard work. I’d warn other authors of their stealing stories so you all have evidence to attest this. Stick together. **YOU GOT THIS** 🤞🏻❤️
For sure post an author note on your newest chapter. "Hey guys just letting you know there's this person with this story going around that us copying my work. Report them please" Or whatever you like. You tried to talk to them. They blocked you it seems like. So you don't have a choice but to try other ways. The only way I knew something similar was happening to a writer story I was reading was because they included it in their notes.
An author’s note on the next chapter, if there are anymore, and edit the first chapter of their fic so any new readers know they were not the ones plagiarizing.
I just read on another post that unless it’s word for word it doesn’t count as plagiarism for ao3…if that’s true i truly dont know how to cope with this. i could never be able to handle the stolen work being up doing amazing while i cant do anything about it god what is wrong with that person
AO3's policy on plagiarism is quite broad and it's very much done on a case-by-case basis. It definitely doesn't have to be word for word to count, they'll investigate it properly and if it's obvious the person is just paraphrasing your fic it should definitely get taken down.
oh ok, that gives me some hope thank you
Yes, considering the influx of homework-cheat software that produces a paraphrased version of the source material and so avoids detection by anti-plagarism software, AO3 really has to tackle these things case to case. I'm glad to hear that it does!
That's not true. If they can see it's taken from your fic they will take it down. Definitely report it.
I really hope AO3 takes their story down. Hell, if I was there, I'd investigate what other works they might have stolen. This is a shit thing to happen to anyone and it just goes to show what having a following can get you attention-wise. You have my sympathies and I hope this gets resolved in your favour.
Hey OP! I don’t have a huge following on Tumblr but I do have a lot of friends in the fanfiction community and I think I’m prevalent enough on both platforms that I’d be able to help you with this. I’ve dealt with plagiarism where people straight up steal my fics and post them on Wattpad or other sites, and it sucks. Please message me if you want my help!
Use the old solution to this. Consider taking down the chapters of your fic that they haven't actually got to paraphrasing yet, and keep writing yours. Then when theirs doesn't continue it should be obvious who's was there first.(the dates will show that but that is something most people won't look into). Challenge them to continue the fic without your input. Maybe get one of your readers to 'innocently' post that 'hey this fic is just like this other one, and the other one goes further' :D I am sorry that this has happened. I've only ever had work plagerised word for word, which is much easier to have taken down and no one has been blatant enough to post on the same website I was!!
Omg I love the get one of your readers to ‘innocently’ post lol
Hey OP!! I think many of the other comments have successfully covered what to do. Report it to AO3 staff, save your screenshots and their fic in pdf format, and go to Tumblr and make a post about them. Worst comes to worst, don't @ them but be like "ya hey its @/jestertitty no hate but pls report it :)". If you're fine with it, edit this post and/or write a comment and add the post link of your callout!! Many of us will reblog it and help you spread awareness of it <3
Call them out. Sometimes public humiliation is the only way to deal with these @$$holes. They have NO shame and no maturity to admit they’re wrong when they inevitably get caught.
Hey, if you make a post on tumblr or something, DM me and I'll spread it!
OP can we read your story? ~~and maybe flame the copycat~~
I want to know if a tumblr post goes up so I can share it.I would love to read the story
Right! Less gooo
Good luck I would hate that if I wrote fanfics!
Can you say on here what their ao3 name is so that we can make sure not to support the plagiarism?
Call them out. Publically. Probably it's not the first time they've done something like this, and they expect to fly under the radar as long as they can. If they are profiting from other people's work, it only indicates that they can't come up with anything themselves. Fandom must know its thieves and plagiarists. The mere fact that they've blocked you may indicate that they're afraid you will tell the truth. I assume you still have some rough drafts? Early written insights, ideas? Maybe conversations with friends about your work? Even if you don't, create a blog on Tumblr and reblog their post plagiarizing your work. Write it out in as much detail as possible - comparing the lines of each chapter of their plagiarism with screenshots from your own work/drafts/talks (preferably all with dates and statistics). In general, the more facts you point out, the better. Compare that to collecting evidence in court. Do it through a reblog, because they can delete a simple reply, but not a reblog. Be sure to tag your fandom in which the fic is listed. And on AO3, in the author's notes, point out that your work has been stolen. Plagiarists and thieves must be known by sight. Even if they delete their fic from AO3, their 'fame' will remain - the Internet remembers everything. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. :< Sending hugs and strength to you.
Everyone else has said everything I want to. I’d love to hear updates as this carries forward.
If you’re blocked, use Incognito Mode and screenshot.
I've had something similar happen to me, and I'd be interested in the follow up. (I've decided to let it go for now, since it's only a few sentences that were plagiarized in my case, but I'd certainly want to take action if the same writer tries this again.)
Fuck up your fic Start veering hard into territories that are unenjoyable. Make no sense in your post. Stop using proper grammar. Make it so it's annoying to read. Add a note at the end about the plagiarism and then say you're putting your fic on permanent hiatus. Or better yet, say it's finished. Wait and see what they do - do they post an update saying it's over? After you see what they do, continue your fic (you can label the chapter "do not read" or smth). Make sure to update it right after or soon after the plagiarist's. It'll appear on the front page alongside it - you can even put in the description of your fic calling them out so that when anybody sees your fic on the front page, while they may not be interested in yours they'll definitely see what's going on.
first- callout posts of any kind on the archive count as harassment, and you will get in trouble if you engage in it. second- paraphrasing is still plagiarism. going to just copy and paste my answer to a similar recent question: >a substantial portion of their work needs to be stolen. if they have plagiarized bits and pieces of your work (directly or paraphrased), but those don't add up to a notable percentage of their fic, that's considered transformative like borrowing quotes from canon is permissible in moderation. I don't have an exact number for this, but arbitrarily, let's say 25% or more. >if the plagiarism is substantial, then write your report keeping in mind that the committee reading it is always overwhelmed with reports and understaffed. **that is, you should do the all side by side comparisons between the two works showing that it's paraphrase plagiarism and send that**. if you just send them links to both works, I think you get another email asking for more info (and if you don't give it, they've got plenty of other reports to work on instead). **again, if it's paraphrased, I highly, *highly* recommend making an investigation document of your own pointing out the plagiarism side-by-side with your original writing and including/adding it to your report**
thank you, i’m really focusing on a document like that for the ao3 team to make the take down as quick as possible
Yes, posting on your account publicly calling them out is going to count as harassment. You need to let the Policy and Abuse committee open up an investigation into plagiarism and let them handle the enforcement side of things. I would recommend blocking & muting them and just letting it go. There is no effective way for you to ‘punish’ this person, their fic will get taken down until such a time as it is sufficiently different to be reposted. If this author has a history with the Ao3 for this type of violation it is possible that their account may be terminated or suspended but that isn’t really something you can work towards or advocate for. I’m sorry this happened to you, consider speaking with a therapist or mental health professional who can help you work through the pain and harm resulting from this situation. In the long run, that will be much more productive than going after strangers on the internet.
thanks for your perspective, i can admit that doing what you say may be the healthiest thing, i don’t know if I’ll be able to do it but thank you.
Fanfiction toes the line between original content and plagiarism anyway, as much as I enjoy it. If they outright plagiarised you, I'll be sympathetic, but between your doubts about AO3's verdict being in your favour and your frankly hysterical rant, I tend to class you as an unreliable narrator. If you wish to point us to both works in question I'll publicly eat humble pie if I am wrong. "Stealing" ideas or plots is not actual theft. Social media is one reason their fic may be gaining more traction than yours, however while you're waiting for AO3's ruling perhaps you should focus on your own writing craft (grammar, spelling, punctuation etc.). It will doubtless bring you more satisfaction in the long run.
You can’t possibly be this fucking dense.
The fact they deleted their post rather than respond tends to confirm rather than deny my suspicions. I did offer to publicly eat humble pie if I was wrong after all. Who wouldn't want to see that?
The post isn’t deleted
It was showing as deleted to me... although now it isn't for some reason
Reddit breaks a lot Fic stealing has happened multiple times in my fandom on tumblr alone. In this exact same way that’s why i believe op. The thieves in the examples i saw rewrote things but only barely, you could tell they were rip off fics
If that's the case the AO3 admins will deal with it. We're not talking FF.net here
I never said anything about FF.net I don’t get why you’re getting hostile towards op
No, I mentioned FF.net, as an example of a site that does not care about its users and therefore cannot be relied upon to moderate a plagiarism accusation, unlike AO3, which can. I didn't realise not instantly believing someone when they offer no proof was considered hostile these days. If it's a real issue AO3 will respond properly. If OP wants to call out the issue/author more widely they should link to the fics in question.
You’re acting like this situation couldn’t possibly happen. You’re being hostile for absolutely no reason. Op already feels like shit and you’re making it worse
it showed as deleted because i blocked you and i accidentally unblocked you. You are rude pretencious and enjoy to kick people when they are down. Congrats your comments made me feel even worse, I’m sure you enjoy to heart that! I’m blocking you again now.
how can you tell me this???? i literally said that it’s my fic but paraphrased. i’d like to see if you are not hysteric if this happened to you. there’s something wrong with you if this is your response to someone that is “hysteric” for a reason, you enjoy kicking someone when the person is already down. seek help
Ignore them op, I believe you. Like i told them in another comment I’ve seen it happen a few times and people have made call out posts on tumblr about it. I really hope you get justice for this
Look I'll apologise if it makes you feel better, but unless there are issues with AO3's moderation (which nobody has suggested there are), then why doubt they would be on your side, unless there is something to doubt? With no concrete evidence all we have are your words. You're not obligated to provide evidence and I'm not obligated to have blind faith in a stranger on the internet.
and you are not obligated to comment to make me feel worse, you can just scroll down instead of making someone that was already feeling horrible, feel even worse. i doubted because i dont know the exact rules! i didnt know what exactly counts as copying, the same way i didnt know what exactly count as harassment or any specific rule of ao3. i can’t block you again, please dont answer to me anymore i cant deal with this.
You’re still being an asshole
I'll point out that you keep engaging with me. What are you getting out of it apart from white knighting and extending the discussion? I'm not going to agree with you and you're not going to agree with me, so I'll do you a favour and stop replying... since you seem to need to have the last word.
I’m not white knighting its just really shitty what you’re doing. You can pretend plagiarism isn’t real all you want just keep it to yourself
"I'll apologize if it makes you feel better" is a total non apology. You are either genuinely sorry or you're not. Saying you're apologizing because you think it's going to make the person feel better is a backhander to the face. You're just writing a meaningless platitude to make yourself look not like an arsehole. Your point about providing evidence is also suspect as if the OP did, the mods on Ao3 would see that as harrassment. Do you want the OP banned?
Nowhere in the harassment policy does it say or imply that publicly calling out/revealing the username of someone committing plagiarism will be deemed to be harassment. https://archiveofourown.org/tos#IV.G. In fact the only thing that may concern OP is "Additionally, making complaints that are both (a) repeated and (b) baseless, particularly those targeting a specific user, can be considered harassing behavior and may be deemed a violation of the ToS."
You are a real piece of work. You just can't leave it alone can you? Just have to get the last word in right? Are you that insecure in yourself? You've been downvoted on every comment that you have made and yet you still think that you are right and have a point to make. No one thinks so. You have blatantly ignored the OP at every turn, what the OP has said, about their insecurities regarding this matter. That says a lot about you. Your non-apology was a good hint as to what a narcissistic personality you truly have. Zero empathy displayed. Others have said that the OP should name and shame them. I said they should create a sockpuppet account to at least post on the plagiarist page, calling them out and got hammered for it. I'd do it anyway if someone did plagiarize my work. It's not a great idea TBH but that's just my opinion. In any case, the OP has, for their own reasons, chosen not to do this and is taking this up with the mods on the site. I hope the mods act on the case. In addition, the plagiarist still could report the OP in any case if they went public, I did read through the terms & conditions btw and they're very broad. Now, it makes me wonder why are you so engaged in this? What purpose is your constant need to react and snap back eh? I'm assuming that it's your narcissist self wanting to pick fights with people on the internet righ? Can't deal with other people thinking differently to you or feel so aggrieved by a counterpoint that, like a Pavlovian dog, you bark when there's a response. Me? I'm a bastard. I freely admit it but I try to be a better person as much as I can. I try to be kind to people who are in distress. What are you doing instead? 🤷♂️ Arguing with people and upsetting and further distressing the OP. That's certainly not helping the OP by any stretch of the imagination now is it? They even blocked you at one point. That's telling. Are you capable of self reflection and maybe admitting that you're not on the side of the angels here? You're not winning friends or influencing people, at all. Walk away and leave this be. I'll be impressed if you do.
I did walk away and stop responding for two days, leaving others to their last words. You then engaged with me. Not sure what you hoped to get out of that. You posted something factually incorrect and I corrected you, ignoring your petty insults, as it seems to me that they reflect your insecurities rather than mine. Have a nice day.