This topic has come up recently in private e-mail, and I thought it's only right to warn people.
We do not tolerate plagiarism around here. Previous cases of plagiarism have nearly split the fandom, and no one wants that to happen again.
However -- we also take a *very* dim view of people who accuse others with only the slimmest of pretexts.
Two of our newer authors have been attacked recently, by the same person, with little to no basis in reality. It was in e-mail so I can't quote anything, but I can only call them flames; the latest one was downright cruel. If these authors hadn't talked to us about it, the accusation alone might have driven them away from FOLCdom. We don't want that to happen to anyone else if we can help it.
(If you want to know what we do and don't consider plagiarism, you should have a look at the archive
FAQ on the subject)
So... If you have concerns that your work is being stolen -- and we're talking some solid examples, not just a feeling of "hey, this kinda reminds me of one of mine" -- *OR* if someone's accused you, talk to any of us (admins@lcficmbs.com) for stuff on the boards, and/or LabRat for stuff on the archive. We have (sadly) some experience at investigating this kind of thing, and most of us are authors ourselves, so we have an interest in protecting author's rights. We will investigate, and ripped-off material will not be allowed to stay. But neither will we sit by while innocent authors are harrassed.
Plagiarism is very serious. As authors, we sweat and fret and edit until we get things just the way we want them, and it's grossly unfair of someone else to steal the product of our hard work and claim it was the product of *their* hard work. But by the same token, it's unfair and insulting to falsely accuse an author of stealing someone else's work -- especially after all that sweating and fretting and editing
Let's be reasonable here, people. Similar premises, similar settings, similar phrases, even, are all fine. Luckily for the upcoming author of TOGOM rewrite #763
PJ
p.s., this thread is closed to minimize the potential for trouble-making (this is one of the subjects that launched a thousand flame wars). If you want to know more, feel free to e-mail any of us, or start another thread.
