The Mind Of The Fraud.

[icarus]

A Trip Inside The Mind Of The Plagiarist

First, I was just plagiarized on ff.net by someone calling themselves Cedric17. Their story (like mine) is called Skinny Dipping and was posted on 7/11/06.

My story Skinny Dipping was posted on my own site and adultfanfiction.net on 7/12/2003. Please take a moment to contact Fanfiction.net to let them know to take it down. You just click the Review button and there's an option to report abuse.

That said, I am not surprised. A lot of Harry Potter fanfiction writers have been plagiarised. I have been prepared for this since my first fanfic in Harry Potter, and have gone through great trouble to spread my fic far and wide -- with my name stamped in neon across it -- to prevent it from succeeding. The more people who recognise my stories, the more likely the plagiarist will be caught.

Here's why. In 2002, my first beta for Primer to the Dark Arts was extremely strange (not CLS, who ended up beta-ing the whole thing). After reading the first three chapters she emailed me, "This sounds very familiar. You didn't take this from someone else did you? You can tell me, nudge, nudge, wink-wink."

I was floored.

What freaked me out most was her positive attitude about plagiarists. In my experience (and yes, I have experience with very bad people, unfortunately) con artists invariably accuse other people of the sorts of things they themselves do. Because they think they're normal and that "everyone does it."

It occurred to me that I was not established writer and I could be very, very screwed if she plagiarised my stuff. How would I prove that the I was the original author if it hadn't even been posted yet? So I posted the first three chapters of Primer to the Dark Arts wiht alacrity, unbeta'd, then sent her a quick note that I'd update it with her changes. She was furious and commented in reviews that the story "could have been great!" had she continued as the beta. (Later I ran across messages from a mod to her on a twincest Yahoo Group. Apparently she'd been making veiled threats to members, so yeah, not the most stable person.) Her attempt to "stake a claim" to the story made me feel like I'd dodged the bullet.

When cursescar, loupnoir, and cybele_san were plagiarised, I wondered what on earth the plagiarist got out of this? In all cases they grabbed an obscure story, not one that would garner a lot of attention (Skinny Dipping is Harry/Percy, not exactly a magnet pairing). Then, once they were caught, they got all kinds of nasty reviews. What could they accomplish?

I have dealt with in my life two millionaire con-artists (one of whom faces criminal charges if he sets foot in the US, the other was arrested and is being investigated by the IRS), one petty con-artist who ripped off an employer and myself, a coworker from a well-to-do family who stole tens of thousands from an employer of mine, and one online con-artist who attempted to scam myself and a number of other people in the Harry Potter fandom in 2004. Apparently it's my karma.

Drawing on my experience with such people, I would like to take you on a trip inside the mind of the plagiarist. Bring a flashlight. It's a scary, dark place. With spiders.

Entitlement. First, these types all seem to believe that they are owed something by the rest of the world. They all have this song and dance about how hard their life was compared to others, it was so unfair -- the world (by which they mean you) owes them. They are not ripping you off, they are being given their due. The means are acceptable because, the world being unfair, they won't be given what's rightfully theirs otherwise. What is their due? Why, everything they want, of course.

Arrogance. Second, it's fun for them. They enjoy the scam. They like what they can get out of it if they win, sure... the money, the reviews, the attention. But the process itself boosts their ego. Every person they fool makes them feel smarter than the rest of the world. The more clever the scam, the more loops they manage to slip, the better they feel. It's proof that yes, they are owed more, because look how much smarter they are than these suckers. When they're caught, all they do is try to figure out where they slipped up so they can play the game better. Any police officer can tell you that murderers and bank robbers will admit what they did was wrong, but con artists never do.

Minimizing. Third, they all seem to say, yes, "everyone does it" and "these idiots would be taken by someone, so why not me?" They believe that there is no harm done and that the world is unaffected by their actions. This "stupidity" (in their eyes) is a like a terminal disease: the end is inevitable.

Laziness. Fourth, it's easier to take what someone else has than to work for it yourself. Writing a story can take days of effort, while plagiarising only takes minutes -- with the same results (in their minds). And fewer risks. Why marry a woman who might gain weight, when you can steal someone else's wife after seeing exactly how she turned out, post-wedding?

Envy. Fifth, and this goes with that sense of entitlement, these people seem to want so much. There's no end to it. They look at a beautiful house, and instead of seeing "hey, what a nice house" they say, "why isn't my house that nice?" And once they've stolen something or conned someone into buying them that house, they just want something else.

Self-absorption. Sixth, and this varies in degree from con to con, but inevitably they are far more important than anyone else in the universe. It's almost childish, their focus on "me." One extreme is the sociopath (and yes, I have run into this). As it was explained to me, they don't even view people as beings with thoughts and feelings like themselves. People are like furniture to them. They may like that piece of furniture but they don't have any personal feelings towards it, of course not. So they can be very pleasant... and then slit your throat for your wallet. Nothing personal. They just needed the wallet.

The less extreme cases figure out ways where their victims "deserve it." They'll say "oh, well, he's a rich asshole" or "that person's a BNF." It's similar to the way the military brands their enemy as "Japs" or "Terrorists," stripping away the human underneath, leaving a label instead.

How's that flashlight holding up? Yeah, I know, it's a little dank, with low ceilings. Watch your step, we're now getting into the next chamber: Why That Fic from That Author.

This last item is why plagiarists (especially kids) tend to steal from people they consider BNFs instead of stealing stories from new authors (where they could get away with it more easily). New authors are more likely to be "people" to them; they relate to them in ways that they don't relate to the BNF.

They steal obscure stories (I think cursescar had a Ron/Ginny story ripped off) because they want to succeed. Plagiarising Cassandra Claire's "Draco Trilogy" is like stealing from the front of the store; a little hard to pull off. But grabbing the "Durmstrang Chronicles" from loupnoir? That's more doable. "Beg Me For It" is a hard to get away with... but "Skinny Dipping"? It's on the back shelf. You can slide it under your jacket.

Okay, now into the light... What Do You Do? (beyond the obvious of course)

Knowing what we know about the con (and make no mistake, although plagiarism is theft, its purpose is to con people into thinking they wrote that story) what do you do? You can't reform the plagiarist or con-artist. They are not concerned with the feelings of others. Instead, you have to lay down the law.

1 - get "their" story taken down. Take away the object that they want. Take away the house. Take away the stuff -- that's what they want.

2 - rob them of the pleasure of fooling people. Cut off that feeling of superiority. Let them know they were caught, and how easily. How transparent they were. Public humiliation works best.

How will the con-artist respond?

Have your evidence ready. For plagiarism this is pretty easy. But be aware:

The con-artist invariably plays their role to the hilt.

Once they are caught, well, they've had no compunction about lying until now. Of course they stick to their guns. More than that, suddenly they become the falsely accused martyr. Their only recourse is to distract, muddy the waters, switch the blame, and put the victim on trial.

The new game is to convince as many people as possible that they have been wronged by the person they stole from. The more empathy they can garner, the more they can continue to get that happy feeling of fooling other people. Plus they get to hold on to the "thing" (whatever it was they wanted) just a little bit longer while it's in doubt. I've seen a con even use the supposed "attack" as a fundraiser. They created a "legal fund," garnered donations, and then just walked off with the money.

This is the part that makes me particularly sick. Because they play on the good-heartedness of people and their faith in humanity. The actions of a con-artist can be difficult to believe. So the con's new victims are their friends and supporters. While they're being offered kindness, they're enjoying tricking the very people who care.

The care is not reciprocated. There will be a lot of signs. If the friends shift the topic to themselves away from what the con wants -- they'll be cut short. Or the con will listen, and then complain about having to listen, or extract a price for it, "I've listened to you and now you won't listen to me." Nothing is for free with these people. Or else their interest will be quite superficial and, well, it'll be apparent they're just saying what their friends want to hear. In person, you'll see an out-of-place expression flicker across their face. They'll turn hard-eyed for a moment while they're playing the concerned listener.

The more they want from you the harder they will work to play their part. That's why con-artists are often caught by kids. The kids don't have the cash so the con doesn't play the role that well. Ask the kids what they think. Also, ask the receptionist. The janitor. The waitress. The people who go unnoticed.

If you manage to convince the supporters that they've been had, well, maybe they won't be fooled in the future but they also will become a little less trusting, perhaps even a little less kind. To my mind, that's where the real harm lies. Not in the original fraud but in the way they compound it later.




ETA: Here's where Skinny Dipping was first posted in LJ, 7/03.





Great news! It's been pulled. It's gone. The plagiarist is done for. FF.net yanked the story within twenty-four hours. Thank you all for sending the Abuse reports. *Icarus breathes a heavy sigh of relief*

Comments

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

Once they are caught, well, they've had no compunction about lying until now. Of course they stick to their guns. More than that, suddenly they become the falsely accused martyr. Their only recourse is to distract, muddy the waters, switch the blame, and put the victim on trial.

Oh, YES.

In a minor way, I had an OC rematerialise in a (utterly atrocious) fic. My OC. I pointed it out. No notice taken. But later, I saw a chum of the thief wanking long and loud about "bloody prima donnas" (in the context it was unmistakably me who was the diva). So I was the guilty one for complaining, and not the poor downtrodden little character thief, bless em.

In archive admin, you have to be on the watch for this sort of thing all the time. We had a cut and paste D/Hr story reposted as SS/HG (change one name only - where it was Draco, make it Snape) and luckily someone got onto us immediately. We checked, we removed.

What stuns me is it is so blatant. We are not talking idea theft. Or even character theft - but blatant story swiping. Are these people so bloody stupid they think readers won't notice?

Sorry this has happened to you, I hope you kick their sorry backside really hard. It's particularly bad when it is ffnet, who do not act quickly, or at all. Moderated archives are quicker to defend authors, I hope.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I hope you kick their sorry backside really hard.

I'd call it kicked. The story has already been pulled. It may have helped that I took quotes from it detailing Percy giving Harry a blowjob and said that this violated the TOS. Reading ff.net's policy on plagiarism, it seems to be mostly aimed at protecting them against legal action over songfic.

In a minor way, I had an OC rematerialise in a (utterly atrocious) fic. My OC. I pointed it out. No notice taken.

Not even credited? With a link back to your story? What story was this from, by the way? (Must be a great OC because they're rarely stolen.)

So I was the guilty one for complaining, and not the poor downtrodden little character thief, bless em.

Unh-huh.

What stuns me is it is so blatant. We are not talking idea theft. Or even character theft - but blatant story swiping.

They didn't even change the title. Usually the thieves at least slap a different (generally lousy) title on.

Icarus

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

*belatedly, I've been knee deep in a summer mega clean*

Glad you got their poxy arse TOSed.

The OC in question was nothing spectacular at the time he was snaffled (it was only me who knew he was meant to be Snape's ongoing nemesis), but I had spent at that point some four chapters setting up his existence (a different DE from the ones in canon). He was fun, too, a total psycho who caused a bloodbath when he escaped from Azkaban.

I suspect the gacker (who was certainly steeped in fanon, given that her fic had every crappy cliche in the pairing, and then some) apparently assumed he was a canon DE. In a way, that might have been flattering. When I pointed it out, in a friendly way, I expected at least an email, or a disclaimer to appear.

Nothing happened.

I mentioned it rather obliquely and pointedly in a forum. Still no soap. After some time, the OC's name in her fic was changed to a canon DE without any reference to why or what...

All I actually wanted was an email to the effect of "My mistake, I'm sorry!" Nothing else. I do know the perp whinged about what a meanie I am (a shade of opinion that sadly I do little to play down... heighho).

iibnf got her "Care of Magical Creatures" Snagrid classic cut and pasted on (my plagiarised story is pastede on yay) on ffnet last year, too.

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

*standing ovation*

some of this I knew, and some was new. Thank you very much. I am making notes for the villain of my next story.

:).

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's the good thing about knowing Very Unpleasant People. They make for some fine research material. :)

Icarus

[redblaze.livejournal.com]

You know, plagiarizing in the fandom has always baffled me. . . I mean, stealing something you could publish and make money from, at least then I'd see the pay off . . . But fanfiction is a labor of love. The only benefit we get from it, aside from the joy of playing in a universe we love, is the reviews. . . I cherish my reviews. . .But I cherish them because they are for things I have personally written. i can't imagine savoring a review left to me if it was for work someone else did. . .

So I tend to see plagiarizes as sad, insecure people who are too cowardly to post their own work, so they steal from others to get some sort of recognition. It's very strange and I've never seen anyone get away with it. This fandom really is a small world. Most of us have read hundreds and hundred of stories, so eventually, someone will read the plagiarized piece of work and recognize it.

While I've never been outright plagiarized, I had one person post a story on Ff,net (home to most plagiarized stories) saying that since I never finished this story, she was going to finish it for me. . . The whole thing had me laughing, because one, I was still working on the fic in question and never planned to leave it unfinished, and second, that she would just take it upon herself to finish it up for me without asking was a bit shocking. I almost felt bad for the girl, because she was bombarded with flames once the word got out.

People just don't learn that if you plagiarize. . .You WILL get caught. .

[eternalmusings.livejournal.com]

I just have to say, your icon is wonderful, mainly because I remember when ff.net was cool, too :)

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I just have to ask here. Is it that the plagiarizers post to ff.net, or they steal from there, or both? Just wondering if that is why I keep seeing good authors remove all their stuff from that site and point readers elsewhere without any explanation or sometimes a vague reference to something bad having happened.

I started posting there a while ago, but I don't like the site much, especially the fact that apparently commenting is not the done thing and responding to comments is considered "attention seeking". (Someone recently explained that to me and it confused me.) I'm thinking of removing my stuff from the site.

[twistedrecesses.livejournal.com]

A lot of the pull out started when ff.net decided to cut the NC-17 stories. For the readers who run in the more explicit story circles, that kinda killed the site as a "cool" place. As far as the reviews go,... I dunno. It didn't seem to be like that a few years ago. *shrug*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Well, they didn't steal "Skinny Dipping" from ff.net since I was never able to post it there (it's heck-yeah NC-17, then there's the issue that Harry's fourteen...). The plagiarizers just take advantage of the size of the site, hoping their rip-off will be lost in the shuffle while they collect reviews and praise.

FF.net is nick-named The Pit Of Voles and authors have had several problems there. In 2001 (or was it 2002?) Cassandra Claire was accused of cribbing lines from Buffy The Vampire Slayer for her Draco Trilogy and the popular series was deleted from ff.net. (She's since credited the lines she used.)

In 2002, responding to worries that Warner Brothers was going to clamp down on NC-17 fanfiction, ff.net got rid of all NC-17 fics. In January 2003, www.restrictedsection.org, which was created to house the best NC-17 stories from ff.net, was sent a C&D letter.

Then in 2004 a group of anti-slashers started attacking slash stories on ff.net. They'd figured out ff.net didn't check out complaints, they just responded by deleting stories, so the anti-slashers made false TOS claims and got a lot of stories deleted. (They did the same with a large number of Yahoo Groups, one reason fandom almost entirely moved to LJ.)

Additionally, a lot of writers feel the quality of reviews on ff.net tend to the "u r so kul!" variety, which I think is a little snobbish, but combined with the other problems I can see why people would be willing to ax ff.net.

It's a different audience. The readers tend to slant younger, tend to be newer to fandom, so ff.net is a little unpredictable.

Responding to comments -- that's a new feature on the site, and it's been a while since I've posted there. It's considered self-promotion to respond? That's a new one.

In my experience, if there's going to be a problem, it will happen on ff.net first, simply because it's the biggest, most visible target.

Icarus

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

That's an awesomely insightful post - thank you so much! It helps explain a lot about the mindset, I think. Because it may seem to me like there are no good reasons to plagiarize and a hell of a lot of good reasons not to, I always find it a little mindboggling. But there's just not the same kind of thought process at work in the minds of people who do.

The one time it happened to me that I know of, it was of the blatant kind. I mean it was literally half of a story of mine copied and pasted and posted at ff.net under someone else's name! I discovered it myself, because I was browsing ff.net and saw the summary. It was a rare enough concept and pairing in LOTR fandom (Sauron/Witch-King) that I was really curious to see how someone else handled it, so I clicked and...wow. "Someone else" handled it just like me. Word for word! (Except stopping before it got to the explicit parts because this was a squeamish plagiarist.)

Upon confrontation, I got an email from someone claiming to be the poster's girlfriend. Apparently said plagiarist was a male who had sent her parts of my story and raving about how good it was, and she thought he had written it, and so posted it at ff.net under his name as a surprise birthday gift! (But he hadn't included the slashy parts because he doesn't like slash--never mind that, at the time, this story was posted ONLY at LOTR slash archives, so what's a slash-hater doing reading at Library of fucking Moria?)

Needless to say, I didn't believe a word of this and I couldn't believe the person would add insult to injury by implying I was dumb enough to!

But now I realize that bizarre and byzantine excuses, backstories, and justifications are part of the process. They usually include invisible siblings or boyfriends or friends to blame things on. They usually include totally innocent and altruistic motives on the part of the plagiarist that led to this terrible accident. "I'm sorry, honey, I was running to be with you and I slipped and fell on his dick!"

They flee from Occam's Razor like vampires from a crucifix. But you're sadly very right about the long-lasting, larger effects.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

There are so many verbal gems in this reply, I don't know if I should respond or review it. I mean --

They flee from Occam's Razor like vampires from a crucifix.

-- just left me standing in awe at the beautiful accuracy. While --

They usually include totally innocent and altruistic motives on the part of the plagiarist that led to this terrible accident. "I'm sorry, honey, I was running to be with you and I slipped and fell on his dick!"

-- I had to read to the boyfriend, who cracked up. wildernessguru: "That's good."

(Except stopping before it got to the explicit parts because this was a squeamish plagiarist.)

It's amusing that your squeamish plagiarist was reading Sauron/Witch-King in the first place. Ha. I'll never forget your Snape/Nazgul in the clothing store for evil villains.

Icarus

[venivincere]

I not only reported it, I also left the same message in the comments to the fic. We'll see what happens.

You're right on plagiarists are cons. They sow a dark and destructive seed.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I just checked to see if it was (hopefully) down and saw your comment. And it's still there. For all the stories I've seen taken down for no good reason on ff.net (dien's "Hallelujah" Snape/Dumbledore series was taken down repeatedly) you'd think we'd get just as quick a response on a plagiarist.

There's such a big gap between the motive of a plagiarist and the fanfic author. Fanfiction is an homage, giving credit to the original source material, and creating something that is the author's own. Plagiarism is a scam.

Icarus

[eternalmusings.livejournal.com]

Plagarism has always pissed me off, so I did as you asked and reported the story.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you. What a creep.

Icarus

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

Reported. When this happened to me, they took about three weeks to take action.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Three weeks? Oh, shit. Well. The site is huge, I can see why. But it burns that the plagiarist will have my story up for the better part of a month.

What story did your plagiarist take?

Icarus

[dr-jasley.livejournal.com]

the mind of a plagiarist really is a dark scary place....and interesting*reminds me of why I study psychology*...sent two abuse reports

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. Yeah, wow do I despise con artists.

This is going to take some time and work, but I'm hoping this situation is far simpler than the situation iibnf described. Also, I'm sending Abuse reports about the rating, just because that's easier for them to check it. "Skinny Dipping" is *very* explicit.

Icarus

[http://users.livejournal.com/meara_/]

It's gone!! Yay you and your campaign to have the story removed.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Whoo-hoo!!!!

Thank you! Right on! *pops the cork on the champagne*

That was fast. Thank god.

Icarus

[vangirl]

In from metafandom. I don't have much to add except to say that I now better understand the reasons con-artists con. I hope you don't mind that I posted the link to my own journal (I think the majority of my f-list would be interested as well).

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Sure, go right ahead. I'm glad that helped.

Icarus

[ignazwisdom.livejournal.com]

Here from metafandom and very late to the discussion, but I've been in the process of moving, so I'm a little behind.

This is a great post, and I'm glad that things were resolved by FF.net. I just have two things to add:

1. I would never have thought of a plagiarist attempting to steal a story as she was beta reading it. That is some freaky, duplicitous stuff.

2. Although I think your profile of the plagiarist mind is generally spot-on, I also think that there's a strong element of self-delusion not included in the post. It's the answer to the eternal "but what do they get out of receiving reviews for a story they didn't write?" question, not to mention the "why do they keep insisting that they're the original authors even after they've been exposed?" question. I think they're pleased by those reviews and defensive of "their" stories because they genuinely believe that they're their reviews and their stories.

I think a lot of plagiarists, in addition to being lazy, envious, and self-absorbed, are incredibly confused about the whole concept of ownership of a story. Somehow, they manage to convince themselves that they actually are the original author. Maybe they're just nuts. Or maybe the process of copy-and-pasting and search-and-replacing resembles the "writing process" -- or their perception of it -- closely enough that they begin to delude themselves into thinking that they actually created it.

Going out on a limb here, I think that mental process is somewhat similar (although obviously far, far more dangerous and hurtful) to what many normal writers experience when we write something, like a plot sketch or a line of dialogue or whatnot, and then realize that we didn't originate the idea: someone else did, and we just internalized it. For most of us, reality quickly kicks in, we realize what we've done, and we change whatever we've inadvertantly nicked and laugh it off. With some plagiarists, that second part never happens, even if they're staring right at the source material. (And maybe that's a variation of the entitlement you mentioned -- they perceive that the world owes them writing talent and good stories to post/publish, and hey! Look! Here's one right now ...)

I don't think that many plagiarists are consciously out to con people and hurt people. As I think you mentioned, a lot of them are kids, who are typically new to writing (and to life in general), and I can't really reconcile that with deliberate, malicious trickery. (Not that I haven't known a lot of really nasty kids! And not that plagiarism isn't always hurtful, no matter what the plagiarist's intentions might have been.) I just think that most plagiarists are slightly daffy, slightly self-absorbed people with a large capacity for self-delusion, which includes formulating excuses and justification for their crimes.

Thanks for letting me think out loud here :)