Imitation can only go so far before you spot the outright theft. · 2:35am Sep 7th, 2018
So I was reading a story to kill time, just enjoying myself.
Then I notice that this author was writing about runes. Cool, I thought. Someone else likes the idea.
Then I noticed the words seemed mighty familiar about how he was explaining them.
The idea of aspects? Hmmm.
Oh wait, long lost family returning to canterlot to see the princesses. Hmmmm.
Oh wait, the same fucking lines used to introduce them to the characters and story as a whole?
Yeah, I'm calling it plagiarism. Not enough to make me go 'take the story down' but maybe make it look so not outright stolen, ya bastard?
The story in question is called The return of the reaper of life. Honestly, the only well-written bits were the ones he stole from the work me and Aus did on our story. And it's been going on for months.
It's a bitch when it happens. It can be funny for those of us who won't do it, but can laugh at the stupidity of others to resort to stealing other people's work. Maybe that might just be me. If I wanted to steal something from someone I might borrow a few ideas or have a headcanon... which isn't stealing now that I think about it. I have borrowed a few headcanons from people that I liked! Haven't written anything with it though yet, but its there
ah.. i read the chapter right before 'training: magic' so.. i only got the aspects and stuf from it. i did notice the similarities tho
Wait... What?!
Is it bad that the first thing I did after seeing the link was check the comments of said story?
4932538
Honestly I wish there were a way to track a story, but not make it seem like I liked it in any ways. Just so I could know when the next theft would occur.
4932540
Add the story to a private library to my knowledge its doesn't track and you could name it something negative
I am know super conflicted since i like a few stories by that guy mind you not the one your talking about
More i like the clockwork story and returning home
4932540
If I'm not mistaken you can make and name a virtual bookshelf on this site, I've never done it but if I remember correctly you can do it.
Edit: You can do it.
Evidently, the author of said story didn't read the manual on how to write a university report. I was grilled on how to make it not look-so-much-like-copy-and-paste thing when I submitted my reports.
So, the guy’s been offline for 2 hours, and this has been going on for one hour.
So am I right in assuming you called him out and then, not even giving them time to get online, let alone respond, report him, and tell all of your followers that he’s a stealing piece of crap?
4932565
How would you feel if someone stole lines from a story you were working really hard to make interesting and engaging, not just by your lonesome, but with a trusted writing friend, who has himself said 'I need a break, all the negative comments on the story are getting me to the point where I don't want to write it anymore'?
I would love to see him try to defend himself! I bet he can't, but I would love the chance to talk to him honestly. Maybe even ask him, now that our story has taken a hiatus, where he sees his story going. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he said he 'needed time to think about how to write the next segment.' Hmm, will that time be the same amount of time it takes Aus and I to get around to writing the next chapter? I won't say his story is completely filled with instances of him stealing things from us, but when you know what to look for, those instances stand out like a lighthouse in a harbor.
4932573
I understand that, what I can’t understand is why you immediately went to public humiliation while the guy is offline, instead of trying to send a simple PM to the guy and ask him about it.
4932577
Because I'm offended that it took me this long to notice. I mean, I can't read every story ever, but sometimes when I want to kick back and relax, I would like to not read a story that just so blatantly screams 'NOTICE ME SEMPAI I COPIED ALL YOUR BEST WORK INTO MY FANFICTION!'
Like, I get that we don't even own the setting. The only things we really own are our takes on it, our ideas on it. But his setting cribs far too much from things that I consider my own ideas introduced to the fandom to be a fucking coincidence.
And besides, as you pointed out, he's been offline for a few hours. Did you honestly think that the magical act of me PM'ing him will get him to suddenly appear out of the ether?
4932582
No, but you could have simply waited for them to come back online for them to respond, as unanswered notifications take days to go away.
PMs even longer if memory serves.
4932584
Frankly, the act of delaying the dealing with this theft any longer, when it's been going on since December of last year, offends me and my OCD.
4932587
By what, a few hours?
So because you don’t want to delay, you would rather ruin a person’s entire reputation than wait maybe one nights sleep?
4932593
Like I would be sleeping easily knowing he would keep getting away with stealing lines directly from the story Aus and I wrote.
If anything, I would have been more angry. Right now, I'm just offended and angry at myself that it took so long for me to notice. If you had given me a few more hours, I would have turned my entire fanbase into a lynch mob with torches and pitchforks. I have a way with words, and if you let me stew over any slight, I will become a poet to put modern speechwriters to shame, capable of inciting the masses to heights they never imagined. When I am motivated, I can stir myself to craft entire worlds and settings, spin tales of beauty and majesty that would have you weep at their glory, and leave you wanting for more.
Did you really want me motivated and stewing over this slight? Or would you rather I just take this blog down and repost it in the morning with a stirring call to action in it's place, one that would get a recruitment call to all corners of the site?
4932597
Bravo
i.imgur.com/v06N8.gif
Have you reported this act of plagiarism to the administers yet?
4932605
Yes.
4932607
Excellent. Hopefully they act swiftly to counter this act of injustice.
I knew something was bothering me about that story. It seemed so fimilar
Hey, the author of the story is online right now.
Oh boy.
4932597
The legion of bronies await your orders heir commander.
All I can say is,--
Lel.
your story is better.
i do not like Anthro
i.pinimg.com/564x/36/2a/3f/362a3f400868ba02a27eab91b21f7a00.jpg
4932597
Yes, mob justice and relying on rhetoric rather than cool heads, evidence, and proper examination of who's right IS the way to go! Let's all just fuck up everyone we think has done us wrong without allowing any merit to the idea of defending themselves. Let's get a fucking PURGE going!
/end sarcasm.
Dude, having seen your case in the story itself, you're in the right... but DAMN, your views on "justice" are despicable and egoist. Don't rail on that mustashioed guy for telling you you did a shit decision, because you did. The fact that you're right doesn't matter. Keep it private until you talk to a moderator or hear that guys side of the story first. Just a reminder for in case anything similar happens. For your OWN better resolution.
God on you for fighting for what is yours, having someone steal your ideas and your lines word-for-word is just atrocious. Hopefully, this guy will take his story down and rewrite it from the ground up.
4932831
I think the word you wanted was egotistic
Honestly I like both stories however I do like foster father more and its in my favorites and reaper is just in my read laters
4932935
Same. Following both of them. what has me confused is I don't remember him using runes other than in his cloak in Reaper, which both of them use. Foster goes into more detail and uses a lot more runes, as far as I'm aware. There's a bunch of other stories that have a human as the sisters father too.
4933002
yea i dont see it either unlike this one dude who was doing marvel crosssovers and while yea they were his stories when he introduced a character he not only used the same setting he also used the same paragraphs and only changed the person used like he did one for deathstroke and one for another person and used the same paragraphs used introducing deathstroke except changing deathstroke to the other character
I found it kinda odd. His story isn't as near as good, was hoping to get more out of it but it just doesn't seem to be happening. Much rather prefer some more of Thadius' writing.
So have the mods gotten back to you yet?
4932831
I feel that the ratio of thumbs up to thumbs down on your comment is the result of (ironically for this website) a herd mentality forming to seemingly protect thaddius here.
4933188
I honestly hope it's that and not disagreeing with that statement to show the preference for demagogues forming them into mobs. Stuff like what happened here can snowball, that's why you handle these issues with care and patience. Otherwise it can turn ugly. Heck, what if the mods decided the accusation was flimsy or not grave enough but Thadius followers decided to start downvoting the other guy or leaving comments and harassing? Then Thadius could potentially have faced a ban for inciting this.
Luckily it seems the other guy is acknowledging what he did and will rewrite the offending passages so the issue can be laid to rest.
Thadius , buddy, I hope you understand what I mean here. I've seen the evidence and I take your side on this as well give you my understanding of how sucky it is to see someone appropriate parts of your hard work, but you almost dropped the ball and the threat of:
is something you should never consider doing again. Don't be that guy. That's a shit guy to be.
To those of you who agreed with this idea, shame on you. Stand on the corner and think of what you did.
Oh, but do keep an eye on that story until the changes are done. Maybe keep a screenshot of the comment chain on the guy's story since you don't have control over it, and keep any PM's you had with him. If the changes don't happen in a decent amount of time or what he's promised you, urge him to do so, give him a leeway of a few more days (so you don't seem like you take the chance to go for the throat) and if he still hasn't made the changes have a private talk with a site moderator. I don't think the guy did what he did out of malice or anything equivalent, but he was just dumb and lazy. Make sure he doesn't laze out or thinks he can keep them in after a token apology.
4932931
Probably. English is my second language (I'm Greek). I should google it at some point to make sure I don't use the wrong word again.
4933201
i think its cool being being greek thats actually my favorite mythology also i didnt know you were writing lunar guardsman i was reading that at one point but not anymore but i dont remember if it was because the characters were making me mad or if it was hard to keep up with what was happening one or the other
4933201
Would you happen to know what's being claimed as plagiarism? I am not seeing anything. Cuz the only thing I can find that are similar is the cloak that Reaper wears has runes on the inside just like Foster's main character and that's about it.
4933219
Probably making you mad, since it's a story about individuals learning to do the right thing after years of bad choices. There's constant backslide, to rightly portray how changing the aspect of your being is hard, and that doesn't sit well with many, especially since in most media a heel-turn is a sudden, out of the blue realization, and from that point on the former villain never makes a mistake again. If you ever tried to help a drug addict you'll understand what I mean. It's one step forward, one step back.
4933253
If you look at the comments of the offensive story you will find the two really egregious passages that Thadius has provided for comparison. Basically, the guy took the text as it was and the only changes were made to suit his different characters. It's extremely obvious when compared side by side. Borrowing premises is not plagiarism, especially since Thadius is nowhere the first one to use them, but in addition with the text copying, it's bad. Mind you, just the text copying is bad enough. If the guy had bothered to provide credit to Thadius and had an excuse to the like of being a reference or a shoutout, then that might have been fine, but right now no such excuses were made. Just "It fit for me so I took it" in essence.
4933321
Thanks. I'll take a look.
4932597
i love the way you talk, it sounds like a writer, but you also sound like you have a little bit of an ego, no offence
Not the first story, They had been doing the same with a story named 'Don't get cocky' that curiously had the same name chapters, the same story and stopped updating after the original author dissapeared
I found your story when it was mentioned in the comments of another one just recently posted (if that one is copying yours I don't know as I haven't read yours yet).
I do know however that this is something I'm deathly afraid of. I take so much inspiration from other amazing stories on this site I can hardly come up with my own ideas. I try so hard to make my stories feel like my own but it's not easy. And very very draining.
he started his before you did so if anything you copied him.
5143848
Thadius0 started his fic on April 19 2017.
Arceaion started his fic on April 9 2018.
Almost a whole year later, meaning you're wrong.
Apologize.
Is all of this the reason this story is stuck in hiatus? This is the first I've heard of the other story but I've been waiting for 4 years for the next update so....... Anybody know if this is completely abandoned or if I should try to stick it out longer? I enjoy the story and I would hate to see it fade.