Thursday, June 11, 2009

Say What?

I wasn't going to mention the whole plagiarism incident again, but the girl who plagiarized my story didn't take the initiative to remove the story of her own accord so earlier in the night, I went and signed up at Winglin to ask the administrators for their help.

And that led to me going through the comments left on "her" story just to see what exactly has she been saying and how the readers have been responding. At first, you know, it was kinda amusing in a "Are you for real." kinda way seeing the way she responded to readers, thanking them and telling them to comment more because it'll give her ideas, but the more I read, the more, ah, pissed off I got.

Because instead of the attention-seeking young girl I imagined her to be, she started to come off as this high and mighty writer who was encouraging people to write and continue their fanfics and noting how sad that some writers never update and abandon their works and ...

Oh, for god's sake. Hypocrite, much?

One of her many gems of wisdom:
Katrina -- 24 May 2008 at 12:13 a.m.

I encourage other fanfic authors to finish their work too. I have seen a lot of kimerald fanfics out there but only a few got updated and finished. After a couple of chapters they were just left forgotten. It was sayang cause some stories had a very good and unique plot and some started out really well. I hope some authors will read this and have a little inspiration to finish what they started. I also encourage other fans to write fics too. I know you guys got lots of creative ideas.:)
And ...
Katrina <email address removed> -- 24 May 2008 at 12:03 a.m.

thanks again for reading.
--
angelica, crimson rose and tanya- thank you for the comment.
--
pink_butterfly and bisangni- yes crazy love will be ending soon. I know you guys hated being bitin, sad but this has to end. I don't have a new story right now to replace crazy love. I can't even promise that I will have the pleasure of time to write another one since school has been taking most of my time. I am actually very glad that you liked this story, my first ever fanfic story. Thank you all for reading . Till my next update.
AND!
Katrina -- 22 April 2008 at 6:41 a.m.

thank you for the comments.
angelica- wow, you really got the whole story printed on paper? thank you for the kind words. :)
hope you like this chapter.
HAppy Birthday Kim Chiu!
So now her dear readers have printed copies of "her" story. Good going, plagiarist. Thanks.

Sighs, I'm sorry, please put up with me. I know I should go the high road and just stop thinking nasty thoughts. You know, cleansing breath, good karma, all that jazz.

Still. If I ever find out who this girl is in real life ... heh.

Anyway! I still need to get the rest of the lab stuff down for my practical on Friday and prepare for my mock interview with the Dean that's immediately following my exam.

But in response to some concerns that I might remove False Facades, rest assured. I probably won't be doing anything to the story. I removed it once before, remember? And during that time, I realized that it wasn't fair to suddenly wipe out what had been left on the site, free for your eyes and comments, for years. Especially since the plagiarists probably had saved copies on file while the readers who really deserved to read the story were just left hanging.

I also realized that just because I removed the story, it unfortunately doesn't mean that certain readers, again, haven't already made personal copies and that some of them might have them ready at hand to distribute and share without my consent. Case in point, I checked the dates of this recent plagiarism case and I believe this girl actually posted up the story during the period of time False Facades had been removed. I think by having the full story back up, it might perhaps help me in tracking down more plagiarists; i.e. there's more of the original story bits to match with copies out there in Google searches.

More importantly, unlike the works of many other authors who have been hit with plagiarism, False Facades is nowhere near polished. It was written when I was very young and while I'm dabbling in revisions in private, I think this draft, which retains its rough and fluffy state, will always have this nostalgic appeal to me and some readers. Without its bizarre, over-the-top sort of humor, the story just wouldn't be the same and I feel that no matter how embarrassingly written certain areas were, I'd like to keep this draft out there. Just for fun. It was the original that had started me off on Fictionpress and drew the attention of most of my readers now and I think it deserves to be kept around to show how far I've developed and how much further I still need to go.

Plus, unlike the authors who are actively protecting their works for publishing interests, I definitely know that while False Facades might make for a light affair, some wacky sitcom, or even a cartoon, I doubt it will ever see the light of day in the hardcore publishing industry. (I'm sorry, FF, but it's true. Don't fret, I still love you the same.)

Thus, I came to this realization that this story is perfect to be left open and free for your perusal and entertainment. Nothing serious, everything at the whims of the characters. While I might still finish up revisions (yeah, some day in the far off shiny future) and self-publish it on LuLu.com, I'm more interested in doing so in order to attain a better copyright on the story so the draft will most likely always be around on Fictionpress.

What this does mean though - and I've been thinking long and hard about the future of FP - is that I probably, sadly, will never be able to post anything with more original ideas. I still want to write for fun and hone my writing (though I wonder how the fear of plagiarism's going to ultimately affect my posting, if I'll ever hesitate over a chapter one day and worry "I need to protect and hide this from the world."), but I'll probably stick to revamping cliches and we'll see how things goes. Do you guys have any favorite cliches you particularly enjoy?

Until then, I'll stick to finishing up Through Me and after that ... we'll see.

14 comments:

  1. Yup, definitely Filipino. So sorry for what happened to you. Hope it will work out. If i could be of any help please let me know.=)

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  2. It irks me so much that these people have such guts to answer as the original authors! Just what type of satisfaction do they get when people praise them for work which is not theirs??

    I'm immensely relieved that FF will stay on, and because of that...I think my hair will stay on just fine.^^

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  3. I can totally understand how this can be so frustrating.

    And I just don't see why anyone would be so dishonest in their work. Writing should be a past time, something that you can be proud of that because it was all your own.

    As much as I would love love to read til the end of 'Through me', I can see why you might be discouraged from posting on fictionpress. So don't feel bad!

    Best of luck!

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  4. Man. Finding out a Filipino plagiarized you makes me feel so... ashamed. I'm sorry this happened to you. But I hope you'll still continue writing stories- they're awesome. :)

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  5. Yes, she IS Filipino. Kim Chiu is a celebrity here.

    She's such a (*@)#(*!_#(*)@$(!!!!!!

    It's a shame to our country! I can't believe anyone would have such a thick ### to do that! Can't she just enjoy reading the story and be your number one fan!? Is that so difficult!?

    And I can't believe there's already a watcher thinger campaign thing. I really don't know how they get fully satisfied with being praised not for their own work. That's stupid. They need rehab. Err... :|

    That just goes to show that I HATE HATE HATE people who plagiarize. They deserve hell. Many GREAT authors have removed their works before I even got to have time to read them! It's just so...arrrrgh...

    But I really hope you'll get on with writing some cliches! XD And I hope you get published soon! I'll be waiting for your books, of course! Maybe you can start a donation thing and when I get old enough, I'll donate XD But I dunno how that works so...

    BTW, I'm waiting for Through me to be finished so it won't be so hard for me if it leaves me hanging... XD

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  6. i seriously hate those plagiarists. if they dun have any original ideas, just stick to reading, why copying other people's hard work and claimed them their own?

    anyway, i cant wait for the update for 'through me'. comparing 'false facades' and 'through me', i really like through me better and if 'through me' is ever published, i will so buy it. XD.

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  7. Thanks for the comments and all the support! Looking at the lighter side of things, with all these plagiarism incidents, False Facades sorta went international. The first plagiarist changed the characters to Korean celebs, then came the Hong Kong version, and now the Filipino copy. It's almost amusing.

    You're all the best. Thanks again for your encouragement!

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  8. I happened to stumble upon your blog, and I own an account at FF.net... I just needed to say that these people who steal other people's work are criminals. They rob you from your will to write, because seriously - how can anyone keep writing devotedly after being plaguerized?

    And "encouraging" people to write... where does she get off, really?

    I admire you for taking the high road, not sure if I would've been able to do the same if I were you.

    Keep on writing! :)
    Morie.

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  9. *she's a Filipino. Please don't think that all filipinos are like that, cause i'm not.(yep. i'm a filipino.)and it's very disappointing that she did that. i'm really sorry about what happened and what she did. i really am.

    "It was sayang cause some stories had a very good and unique plot and some started out really well."

    *the word "sayang" is a Tagalog term. and she also used the names of the actor and actress here ,namely, gerald anderson and kim chiu.

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  10. i think you are a very VERY kind person because if i were you i would actually have killed her and even though she is young is not an excuse i am young but i think ppl like that just dont have a life or a brain.

    -a reader from fictonpress

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  11. Mm-hm. What's the link to their account? The plagerizer, I mean. What's the link? I'd like to tell them how annoying it is when someone plagerizes. (Not that I've ever had something plagerized before. No one would probably want to, seeing as I'm still a beginning writer.)
    But still... I'm on the 24th chapter of False Facades at the moment and believe that anyone who plagerized THAT wonderful work of literature should obviously get some sense kncoked into them--preferably by someone as violent as your own character, Vincent.

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  12. Aww, thanks for the support! The issue has been resolved now and the account's been deleted. Hopefully, after all this time, certain readers have learned by now that plagiarism is a huge no no.

    I was more ticked off by the fact that the person would respond to readers as if she was indeed the original author. It's partly lingering bitterness from the plagiarism incident that made me remove FF in the first place - the girl had not only impersonated me and claimed she was reposting the story after Fictionpress, but she gave permission to readers to make copies and print them out. Gave permission, ha. I completely lost my cool then.

    Thanks again for the comments!

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  13. Hi there!

    I already PMed you on Fictionpress, but I wanted to post on here because you said you reply faster on here. I found someone who has posted the first chapter of your story "False Facades" with different character names and a different school name, but that's about it. She claims that you gave her permission to post it, but she doesn't say that anywhere, nor can she provide any proof of you giving her permission and since you have been plagiarized so many times, I would highly doubt that you would give her permission to post it, so I'm just contacting you to see whether she is lying or telling the truth. Here's a link to it: http://www.wattpad.com/6393544-false-facades

    Sarah

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so, so, so much for bringing this to my attention. I just got home, but I had received your messages last night and was planning on dealing with it after work. I really wasn't looking forward to spending time sorting this issue out again so I'm so glad to see that the story had been removed already. You're absolutely right that I had never - and would never - given anyone permission to repost my story on other sites, especially when the names of the characters are being changed. As if that's not fishy enough.

      The part about this that bothered me the most was that she tried to blatantly lie to you instead of just quietly taking down the story, but I'm glad you knew better than to trust her and resolved to fix this even though this wasn't your story and you could have just shrugged and walked away. Thankfully, this incident seems to be resolved now due to your perseverance and you have my utter adoration for being so awesome. Thank you!

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