The case against mondays_eyes
The case against Mondays eyes
On January 9th, we received a report of possible plagiarism here on Live Journal regarding a fanfic posted to an exchange community. The original report can be viewed here.
Due to the nature of the fic exchange community, the stories are emailed to the community mods at a certain time and then the mods post the stories to the community. Once all stories have been posted according to schedule, a master list is then posted detailing who wrote what stories, and for whom they were written. At the time of the report race_the_ace did not know who specifically to name as the suspected plagiarist, so she contacted the mods at the cm_exchange community with her original complaint. The moderators at the cm_exchange, reviewed the two stories in question and determined that although the stories shared a common theme, and in one instance a very similar scene, this was not sufficient to deem it plagiarism. However, they did offer to remove the story in question if race_the_ace so desired, with the caveat that they would have to let the submitting author know who had reported the story and why, as they felt it was only fair for the submitting author. At the same time, they instructed race_the_ace that they would not let her know who the submitting author was until the master list was posted. At the urging of a friend, race_the_ace reported the case to us for review.
I contacted the mods at cm_exchange, asking if they would reveal the identity so that proper investigation could proceed. We could certainly review the case, but without an accused person, there is no one to contact for their side of the story, posting to the story post would only go to the mods, and there would be no one to list should it be determined plagiarism had occurred. The mods politely declined to reveal the identity, though they did note that they had already notified the submitting author that race_the_ace had made a report of possible plagiarism and that we were considering accepting the case for investigation. They also reported that they had received a response from the submitting author and they had encouraged her to contact race_the_ace regarding this matter. They confirmed that they would post the master list at a later date and that stop_plagiarism would be able to extract the information from that post.
While we were waiting for the time to lapse until the posting of the master, mondays_eyes contacted race_the_ace and identified herself as the author in question. She admitted that she had read the original story posted by race_the_ace, and that she had even commented on it, but that the story she submitted to the cm_exchange community was entirely her own original work. She did acknowledge that both stories had similar themes, but stated that she did not plagiarize any of the story. She also stated that this episode was very regrettable and that she would remove the story in question (and even delete her entire journal) if race_the_ace wanted her to.
Extensive review of the two stories in question shows that although there are some significantly similar themes present, the work appears all be original. The cadence and style are also slightly different.
stop_plagiarism has reviewed similar cases before. We call this the "hive mind" scenario. Although two stories can have remarkable similarities, and even lines or phrases that are the same, it is possible, particularly with certain themes in fandom, that two different authors can come up with completely original stories that are similar enough to call them into question. Such cases may indeed be plagiarism, or they may just be one of those times when "great minds think alike".
For reference, here is a post that another of our mods made regarding this phenomenon: *What plagiarism isn't*
It is therefore determined that although there are similarities, no plagiarism has occurred in this case.
On January 9th, we received a report of possible plagiarism here on Live Journal regarding a fanfic posted to an exchange community. The original report can be viewed here.
Due to the nature of the fic exchange community, the stories are emailed to the community mods at a certain time and then the mods post the stories to the community. Once all stories have been posted according to schedule, a master list is then posted detailing who wrote what stories, and for whom they were written. At the time of the report race_the_ace did not know who specifically to name as the suspected plagiarist, so she contacted the mods at the cm_exchange community with her original complaint. The moderators at the cm_exchange, reviewed the two stories in question and determined that although the stories shared a common theme, and in one instance a very similar scene, this was not sufficient to deem it plagiarism. However, they did offer to remove the story in question if race_the_ace so desired, with the caveat that they would have to let the submitting author know who had reported the story and why, as they felt it was only fair for the submitting author. At the same time, they instructed race_the_ace that they would not let her know who the submitting author was until the master list was posted. At the urging of a friend, race_the_ace reported the case to us for review.
I contacted the mods at cm_exchange, asking if they would reveal the identity so that proper investigation could proceed. We could certainly review the case, but without an accused person, there is no one to contact for their side of the story, posting to the story post would only go to the mods, and there would be no one to list should it be determined plagiarism had occurred. The mods politely declined to reveal the identity, though they did note that they had already notified the submitting author that race_the_ace had made a report of possible plagiarism and that we were considering accepting the case for investigation. They also reported that they had received a response from the submitting author and they had encouraged her to contact race_the_ace regarding this matter. They confirmed that they would post the master list at a later date and that stop_plagiarism would be able to extract the information from that post.
While we were waiting for the time to lapse until the posting of the master, mondays_eyes contacted race_the_ace and identified herself as the author in question. She admitted that she had read the original story posted by race_the_ace, and that she had even commented on it, but that the story she submitted to the cm_exchange community was entirely her own original work. She did acknowledge that both stories had similar themes, but stated that she did not plagiarize any of the story. She also stated that this episode was very regrettable and that she would remove the story in question (and even delete her entire journal) if race_the_ace wanted her to.
Extensive review of the two stories in question shows that although there are some significantly similar themes present, the work appears all be original. The cadence and style are also slightly different.
stop_plagiarism has reviewed similar cases before. We call this the "hive mind" scenario. Although two stories can have remarkable similarities, and even lines or phrases that are the same, it is possible, particularly with certain themes in fandom, that two different authors can come up with completely original stories that are similar enough to call them into question. Such cases may indeed be plagiarism, or they may just be one of those times when "great minds think alike".
For reference, here is a post that another of our mods made regarding this phenomenon: *What plagiarism isn't*
It is therefore determined that although there are similarities, no plagiarism has occurred in this case.