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Plagiarism - How Do You Handle it?

Started by jeff37923, November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

jeff37923

Well, this is a subject I never thought I would have to deal with....

I'm small time when it comes to published material. An article here or there, maybe a couple of PDFs. Nothing big and nothing long or involved and extravagant. So, I'm surprised when I find a niche Traveller starship design of mine on a pirate website and an article I wrote for the Traveller fanzine Stellar Reaches chopped up and used in the Traveller WIKI.

I never thought that my stuff would get that level of "notoriety" in hobby circles.

So, published authors, how do you deal with this when it happens? Is there a standard procedure to follow? What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?
"Meh."

HappyDaze

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM
What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?
Step 1: Determine exactly what results you want.

Until you complete Step 1, anything else you do is likely just wasted energy.

crkrueger

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM
Well, this is a subject I never thought I would have to deal with....

I'm small time when it comes to published material. An article here or there, maybe a couple of PDFs. Nothing big and nothing long or involved and extravagant. So, I'm surprised when I find a niche Traveller starship design of mine on a pirate website and an article I wrote for the Traveller fanzine Stellar Reaches chopped up and used in the Traveller WIKI.

I never thought that my stuff would get that level of "notoriety" in hobby circles.

So, published authors, how do you deal with this when it happens? Is there a standard procedure to follow? What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?

Contact Rob Connelly (Estar).  He'll know what to do.
Even the the "cutting edge" storygamers for all their talk of narrative, plot, and drama are fucking obsessed with the god damned rules they use. - Estar

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S'mon

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM
Well, this is a subject I never thought I would have to deal with....

I'm small time when it comes to published material. An article here or there, maybe a couple of PDFs. Nothing big and nothing long or involved and extravagant. So, I'm surprised when I find a niche Traveller starship design of mine on a pirate website and an article I wrote for the Traveller fanzine Stellar Reaches chopped up and used in the Traveller WIKI.

I never thought that my stuff would get that level of "notoriety" in hobby circles.

So, published authors, how do you deal with this when it happens? Is there a standard procedure to follow? What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?

If the Wiki is legit it probably has a DMCA notice & takedown procedure? You need to notify them of the infringing material. Not much you can do about a pirate site I'd think.
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oggsmash

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM
Well, this is a subject I never thought I would have to deal with....

I'm small time when it comes to published material. An article here or there, maybe a couple of PDFs. Nothing big and nothing long or involved and extravagant. So, I'm surprised when I find a niche Traveller starship design of mine on a pirate website and an article I wrote for the Traveller fanzine Stellar Reaches chopped up and used in the Traveller WIKI.

I never thought that my stuff would get that level of "notoriety" in hobby circles.

So, published authors, how do you deal with this when it happens? Is there a standard procedure to follow? What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?
Email them and ask them to credit you as creator of that material?  I think that will see where the good faith is, and if they do, you get a bigger stage for your published material.  If they take it down, well they are not using it anymore, if they act like asshats, well... it is what it is and you go to stage 2.

Mercurius

If it is free material, I don't think it is such a huge issue - no one is profiting off your work, and instead some might be enjoying it in their games.

But you could also contact the Wiki administrator and make sure your name is on the page, so you get due credit.

Omega

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM
Well, this is a subject I never thought I would have to deal with....

I'm small time when it comes to published material. An article here or there, maybe a couple of PDFs. Nothing big and nothing long or involved and extravagant. So, I'm surprised when I find a niche Traveller starship design of mine on a pirate website and an article I wrote for the Traveller fanzine Stellar Reaches chopped up and used in the Traveller WIKI.

I never thought that my stuff would get that level of "notoriety" in hobby circles.

So, published authors, how do you deal with this when it happens? Is there a standard procedure to follow? What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?

Um... This is not plagiarism since it sounds like they are just referencing your stuff, adding it to databases, and using it in examples.

If you go after these people you are going to come across as just one more in a growing list of unreasonable designers who will go after people just for even mentioning their stuff in some cases. This can and will get you blacklisted with some publishers and fans are likely to spread the news to avoid your works. You do not want to come across as a trademark troll. The gaming community is well past fed up with this and some have started fighting back, and winning.

Now on the other hand if you think your stuff is being misused then its perfectly fin to contact someone and say "hey this is being misused. Could you remove that piece or change it?"

Another ok move is to just ask to be credited somewhere.

Spinachcat

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AMSo, I'm surprised when I find a niche Traveller starship design of mine on a pirate website and an article I wrote for the Traveller fanzine Stellar Reaches chopped up and used in the Traveller WIKI.

1) Pirates gonna pirate. But after two decades of watching internet piracy, it's my opinion that (a) most people don't read the PDFs they download so its just junk on their drives, (b) some people who pirate are doing the equivalent of browsing a bookstore and would buy the product in dead tree, (c) some people who pirate never buy anything so they were never a potential customer.

2) The "chopped up and used" part is interesting. Perhaps the best option is to offer to replace the chopped salad with your actual article if they will credit you and let you curate that page so it remains your original work.

Spike

I've long held as an author (lets say entirely amateur simply to keep it simple), that I literally do not care, and in fact encourage people to take my stuff and run with it. As a practical matter I draw the line at slapping your name on my actual words or monetizing my actual words, but beyond that I'd be flattered if someone wanted something I had created enough to post it on a wiki or a pirating site.

I suppose if someone chopped up something I wrote in order to misrepresent it, to present it, or me, in some malicious fashion that is clearly not evident in context, I'd be upset, at least as much as if they slapped their name on my actual words (I am drawing a distinction for derivative works.  If someone wants to write fiction set in Haven (as posted in on this forum), knock yourselves out, you can even quote me here: I don't claim any right to what you write with my creations.


I suppose, philosophically, I've had reason to reconsider my stance based on an interesting video essay on the tragedy of the commons and the value of strong IP laws in promoting and creating works, but I'm pretty comfortable with where I've drawn my line in the sand, despite being way, way out there in 'its all free man!' territory compared to most folks. 

Huh. Who knew I was some sort of radical extremist?
For you the day you found a minor error in a Post by Spike and forced him to admit it, it was the greatest day of your internet life.  For me it was... Tuesday.

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Shawn Driscoll

Sounds like karma. What goes around comes around.

Lynn

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM
So, published authors, how do you deal with this when it happens? Is there a standard procedure to follow? What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?

I'd check the license (and crediting) on the wiki to see if it is something you can live with. If it isn't properly licensed and released by that site as Open Content then there is a time bomb waiting to happen - especially considering that they didn't ensure they have permission to sub-license it. If a site is making such claims, it is an active danger to anyone that believes them.

But I'd still see about applicable credit where credit is due.
Lynn Fredricks
Entrepreneurial Hat Collector

RPGPundit

Quote from: jeff37923 on November 15, 2020, 10:02:16 AM
Well, this is a subject I never thought I would have to deal with....

I'm small time when it comes to published material. An article here or there, maybe a couple of PDFs. Nothing big and nothing long or involved and extravagant. So, I'm surprised when I find a niche Traveller starship design of mine on a pirate website and an article I wrote for the Traveller fanzine Stellar Reaches chopped up and used in the Traveller WIKI.

I never thought that my stuff would get that level of "notoriety" in hobby circles.

So, published authors, how do you deal with this when it happens? Is there a standard procedure to follow? What do you do to get the best chance of the results you want?

Were you making money from these?

Are they making money from it?

If not, it might not be worth the hassle. I mean obviously, there are measures you can try to take, but you should assess whether its worth the effort.
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Mishihari

If you want to actually pursue this, the first step would be consulting with an IP lawyer.  Mine costs about $400/hour and I would expect the initial consult to be an hour or so.  If it's not worth that amount of money to you, then contacting the wiki for crediting or takedown is about the only practical step I can think of.  And contrary to what others have said, I don't think that reprinting the entirety of your article, chopped up or otherwise, falls under the legal or ethical category of fair use.

jeff37923

Thanks for the input, gang.

I can't do much about the pirated pdf, I can only hope that it makes for good advertising.

The wiki piece bothers me, because it is the chopped up parts of a longer article on the subject. I'm contacting the wiki owner to discuss it.
"Meh."

GnomeWorks

My work has been in some of the larger d20 torrents for over a decade.

At some point, you just shrug and accept it.
Mechanics should reflect flavor. Always.
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