Plagiarism? · 6:27pm Dec 10th, 2014
Here are some excerpts from my story (Mis)taken Identity:
Sunset slid a photo out from beneath the journal. It showed the entire group gathered in the music room, posing with their instruments. Seven happy friends, enjoying doing something they all loved. With a smile, she placed it in the journal, then closed it. The cover of the journal glowed faintly. She picked up the book and shook it; nothing fell out. "It worked!" she cried happily.
The others looked at her. "How's that now?" Applejack asked, a forkful of enchilada halfway to her mouth.
"I tried to send Twilight a picture with the journal, and it worked," Sunset said with a smile.
"Whoa, awesome," Rainbow said.
Dear Sunset Shimmer—and everyone else,
Things have been pretty quiet here in Equestria lately. Well, we've had a couple of little things to deal with, but nothing too serious. I'm so glad to hear things are getting better for you, and that everybody's happy and having fun.
I didn't know the journal could send pictures! How'd you figure it out? I'm sending one back; I rounded up as many of my friends as I could on short notice, so it's a little crowded. My friends here really freaked out when they saw all of you. I don't think they really believed me about what's on the other side of the portal until they saw it with their own eyes! Our Rarity's already trying to copy your Rarity's outfit for herself...she's probably going to copy the others' outfits too. Just between us, I don't think she'll really get anypony but Fluttershy to wear it. Maybe Pinkie, just because Pinkie's Pinkie.
I'm planning to take a little break from everything here in a couple of weeks. If nothing serious comes up in Equestria, I'd like to come over to your world for a couple of days. Maybe on a weekend? That way we can all spend a lot more time together.
I'm so happy to hear from you. I hope to see you all again very soon.
Your friend forever,
Twilight Sparkle"Awesome!" Rainbow cheered. "I can't wait to hang out with Twilight again!"
"Yay! I'm me!" Pinkie said, bouncing in her seat. "I'm so glad I'm me. Can you imagine if I wasn't me? That'd be like...awful!"
"Show us the picture already!" Rarity said. "I simply must see what we're all wearing over there!"
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Applejack, get ready to catch her," she said. "She's gonna faint." She laid the photo in the center of the table. The others crowded in for a look. Rarity gasped and swooned.
"Wow, we're all naked!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Well...Ah reckon that makes sense," Applejack said, eyes wide. "Ah mean...uh...them's an awful lot o'..." She swallowed. "Ponies."
Twilight Sparkle, wearing a simple gold tiara with five small amethyst points, sat on the steps of a grand crystalline palace, the center of a herd of ponies. Lying in front of her on the steps was Fluttershy, smiling shyly with her mane covering half of her face. In the air behind Twilight was Rainbow Dash, giving the camera a cheeky grin. Rarity stood primly beside Twilight, wearing an elaborate, ruffled gown and a wide-brimmed bonnet, all in alternating shades of cream and seafoam green. To Twilight's left, Pinkie stood on one hoof, waving at the camera, a broad, beaming smile on her face. Applejack sat on Rarity's other side, her hat tipped back.
On the ground in front of the steps sat three small fillies, all smiling. A grey pegasus hung upside-down at the top of the picture, her lopsided gold eyes sparkling. A zebra wearing gold bracelets, necklaces, and earrings lay next to the three fillies. On the other end of the young trio stood a tiny purple dragon with slit-pupiled emerald green eyes and green spines.
To either side of the broad castle steps stood two tall, elegant, beautiful mares, each with long, tapered horns and massive, angelic wings. Each wore a crown, fancy horseshoes, and ornaments around their necks. The one on the right was dark blue, with a black crown; her wavy blue hair was speckled with silvery sparkles. The one on the left was white, majestic, and had familiar waves of multi-hued, pastel hair.
"Oh my goodness...Spike really IS a dragon!" Fluttershy said, voice full of wonder.
"Say, those two larger ones...seem very familiar," Rarity said.
Sunset swallowed a lump in her throat. "This one's Princess Luna," she said, pointing to the darker alicorn. "And that...that's Princess Celestia."
"Of course!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I should've recognized that hair!"
Now, here is an excerpt from a story posted 3 days ago:
Dear Princess Twilight,
Hope you are well in Equestria. Just got detention, never a fun thing... We are really missing you here. Maybe you can go through the portal again to visit us one day. This book is great when I need advice or when I just want to talk. Do you think it can send photos?
Your Friend
Sunset Shimmer
I took a photo we took together and stuck it in. I closed it and opened it once again and flipped to that same page, and the photo was gone! It had been sent. "It worked guys! I can send photos through the text-book!"
"Oh that's wonderful." Fluttershy said. A few moments later, the book began to glow and vibrate.
In an excited tone, I exclaimed, "she replied!" I opened it and flipped to that page.
Dear Sunset Shimmer,
Life here is great, no monsters of any sorts attacking yet... How are you, other then that detention thing, is it bad? I hope not. I think I might come over next week, really missing you guys, we really need to get together one day when the fate of both of our worlds isn’t hanging in the balance… I didn't know that you could send photos through this book! I've sent one myself! I can't even believe I got Cadance in on this one!
Your Friend,
Princess Twilight
A picture with a lot of ponies fell out of the book. "Hey girls, come and see this, your pony counterparts!" All of them scampered over to my side to see the picture. There was Twilight with her wings spread out majestically, surrounding her was Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and Spike.
“WOW! So Spike really is a dragon!” exclaimed Fluttershy excitedly. There were the Cakes, the Mayor, Zecora, the CMC, Big Mac with Granny Smith and Snips and Snails together, all in the photo that was taken. At the right-hand side of the photo was three exceptionally tall, mares, a midnight blue one, a white one and also a pink one standing together.
“Hey… These three look really familiar. Can’t quite put my finger on it though…” Rainbow Dash looked like she was thinking hard.
“They’re Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance. They are the rulers there.”
I'm calling plagiarism. What say you, good sirs and madams?
try just bad timing
That does seem pretty suspiciously close.
I'm willing to bet you're right. It just seems so obvious since the other work reads like amateur-hour.
2644717
I don't think a week-and-a-half between debuts is bad timing. I think it's a little less wholesome than that.
2644739 ah sorry i did not know all the info i suppose, thought i have had "bad timing" happen to me.
Uh... That does appear to be quite suspiciously similar...
I think you're right on the plagiarism. So I think you should call the author of the other story on this, then bring it to the attention of Knighty and the staff here.
That is just too close to what's in your story to be a mere coincidence.
2644759
Funny thing. He did bring the notion to their attention. The author just called it "coincidents" [sic], but offered to make changes anyway.
2644767 Which is the only reason I haven't already reported this.
Even if they changed a few words and left out a sentence or two, this definitely counts as plagiarism. OFF WITH HIS HEAD!
And which story does this happen to be from?
2644807 Not saying, don't want to start a lynch mob here. I'm handling it.
i'm pretty sure it's only plagiarism if they copy your story word-for-word. i mean really, if THIS counts as plagiarism then i bet one fourth of the authors on this site would have their stories taken down.
If you had not said these two scenes where from different stories, I would of probably assumed they wher different drafts for the same story.
2644894
If we're using the actual definition, then yeah it's not actual plagiarism. But still, its wrong to copy someone's work without any sort of recognition. There must be a better word to describe it, although plagiarism is the closest word I can think of.
2645004 There really should be a better word. How about we use a phrase instead? How does "almost blatantly copied" sound to you guys?
2644767 Hmmm, okay.
Well, I trust Mythril to handle it, and I think that he will.
Most definitely. A few sentences and such may be changed, but if you copied Harry Potter and changed out names you'd be sued faster than you can say 'Expecto Patronum'.
Did you read the story/chapter before writing yours?
2645255 Uhh...I think you're a bit confused here. I'm saying someone else plagiarized ME.
2645263 Oh, right. Maybe. Well, yeah. Pretty sure.
It's not like this was a copy-paste job. (The errors and generally weaker writing style kind of make me wish it was.) Still, it definitely seems suspicious. Is the other author following you or tracking (Mis)taken Identity?
Plagiarism is bad and they should feel bad...
that and Twilight has a bone to pick with the buffoon who thought it was an okay thing to do. Plagiarism is blatantly stealing and needs to be dealt with more seriously instead of just a slap on the wrist...
2645488 I have over 777 followers and that story is being tracked by hundreds of people...I have no idea. In any case, author has agreed to change it...we'll see.
2645525 The author is 12, from Singapore, and probably doesn't know better, so I'm being lenient this time.
2645943
stands to reason, of course, but you should at least inform the little guy about how serious of a crime it can be... In a nonthreatening manner of course...
It could be, but I hardly think the concept is original enough to deserve any sort of protection. It's not like the idea of the rest of the EQG "mane six" visiting Equestria is all that unusual. The notion of sending a photo through the book is more so, but not inconceivable. The glowing and vibrating book bit is Rainbow Rocks canon.
You can go bother them if you want, but as to whether you have any right to, well... this is fanfiction after all.
** Frankly from the excerpt it doesn't appear that the EQG girls have gone to Equestria, they merely were sent a photo (or a duplicate thereof) from Equestria. I don't think that's really grounds to claim plagiarism
2645074
The notion of a boy going to a school for magic and ending with some friends, say a guy and a girl is hardly grounds for an accusation of plagiarism. There are certainly elements that might cue you in though. For what it's worth, some of what happens in Harry Potter is borrowed from common english history so if you did some serious work you could have a look alike that really isn't plagiarism in the sense of copying. Especially if you took care to write a different sort of story. It's really the final assemblage of various concepts/ideas/themes that makes it unique. Just removing Voldemort and having a different background for the main character and writing fun stories about wizards going to a school for wizards would make it different. Copying the entirety of a 500 page book is very different from having a similar chapter in another work.
2646099
Really, the important part here is to, if one is concerned, ask the party in question whether they in good faith believe that their work is original and point out the importance of recognizing when you are borrowing something from someone else without asking them or acknowledging them. Threatening them isn't necessary at all, if you really feel it's a problem you should tell them that politely and or bring it to the attention of the moderators.
http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism/
2645074
You do know that 'expecto patronum' is latin, right? Honestly, I'm pretty sure you could use those words for a protection spell in another work if you didn't copy the exact workings thereof.
http://www.cnet.com/news/expecto-patronum-what-harry-potters-magic-words-really-mean/
2646278
You did read that I said to, you know... Do it in a nonthreatening manner. If I remember, I specifically wrote that as well...
2646339
I think what you are suggesting is inherently threatening and cannot be done in a non-threatening manner. Saying that plagiarism is a "serious crime" and then implying in any way that they might have committed is threatening, especially it is your own work that is in question.