The case against "Lazybones89/FoxieFirefly"
First, fair warning, this report is going to get long, complicated, contains objectionable language, and image heavy. With that out of the way...
On February 21st izzanami reported a fanfiction.net user, Lazybones89, had plagiarized several authors in the InuYasha fandom. The original case can be found here. This case is unique and I'm going to take it step-by-step while including a general timeline. Normally, reports are not done in this method, but given the events, it seemed that proper documentation was warranted. In this instance, the ‘known plagiarist’ actually shifted as the case progressed.
These are screen-caps listing the original plagiarized stories and their corresponding authors as of February 22, 2011. This is the information as seen in this thread.
V.E.N.O.M is P.O.I.S.O.N by Hella
Power is Strength by ajj7sunhawk
My Fair Slave is Want to Be Your Slave by Lord Youko
InuYasha's First College Year
My Brotherly Affair is Welcome to Fraternal Romance by Shiqure-san
Tales of teh Demon King is Tales of the Demon Lord by Kitty Gets Loose
Unexpected Situations is Unexpected Circumstance by Neptunesdemon
Coming into Maturity is Coming of Age by kougasl0ver
My Forever Love is My Eternal Love by FoxieFirefly
These were all word-for-word copies, so there was no doubt of the plagiarism. As a matter of record, most of these stories were currently being updated and found on the front page in the InuYasha section at ffnet. Also, with this foreword from Lazybones89 it seemed this wasn't just about plagiarism but a personal vendetta
At that point, I could not find the story, “The First College Year” as that information had been originally omitted. So after checking the bios, it was found that it was also written by FoxieFirefly. However, the story was no longer at ffnet, as it was removed by ffnet admin*** due to content and was currently reposted to FoxieFirefly's new account adult fanfiction.net . The original story was called just “First Year.” (***Note this for later)
On February 23rd, I attempted to contact Lazybones89, but did not receive a reply. Please note that the account name has been changed to ‘Non Invoid.’ There are screen-caps of conversations between myself and ‘Lazybones89’, but I didn’t cap my account until after the name change - so it will now show the new user name. I hope this does not cause further confusion…in a very confusing case.
Also, on February 23rd a ‘story’ was posted on the lazybones89 account with title “You want original, I’ll give you original.” Normally, we would not screen-cap ‘original stories’ but Lazybones89 admitted to taking the stories and her supposed motivation behind her actions. Please note, there are some derogatory comments and language in here ranging from religious, sexuality, and ethical slurs, please be advised before clicking the links. The second parts were later posted on the 24th and the third on the 28th. I am included the caps of each of those chapters here - part 1, part 2, and part 3. Thank you to izzanami for part 1. I didn't cap it at the time, but it later became evident there were secondary motives behind the rant.
To save you from reading this, please just note these specific lines: “I’m not going to apologize for a damn thing! So all of you can stop asking me to do because I won’t be saying anything to them until they apologize to me first. I already admitted I was jealous of their work. That’s why I copied them. BUT I WAS THE ONE WHO TOOK THEM DOWN! THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH OF A FUCKING APOLOGY.” - Chapter 3.
Also, on February 24th Lazybones89 removed the nine stories currently on that account, by eight separate authors, but kept the ‘original’ story/rant up. All those involved were hoping that was the end. It wasn’t. A write-up had been started, but new evidence was about to come to light.
On February 28th a new story was posted: “Sesshomaru and Inuyasha: A romance story” . It didn’t take long before it was recognized as Hiei and Kurama a Love Story by shiorifoxiesmom, published in 2005. However, this time, it was in the Yu Yu Hakusho fandom. Lazybones89 posted two ‘normal’ chapters, before posting this rant as chapter three.
**Another important note that needs to be addressed for clarity. On February 28,th a second report was submitted to stop _plagiarism by ravyn_skye . As it was an on-going case, and there was a mod currently assigned, it should not have been approved. It is a normal community policy only to have one post per case. However, through a misunderstanding, it was accidently accepted. At that point, I froze the comments, trying to find away to hide it from the community, when I discovered that we couldn’t have it as ‘read only’ to mods, I deleted the post. All the information, including the provided screen-caps, were currently being watched/discussed in original case thread. This was not intentional and was a miscommunication within our new mod staff reguarding policies in the accepting/rejecting process. I later relayed this information to ravyn_skye and invited her to post any new information to the still-open case against Lazybones89 and thanked her for her understanding.**
Back to the case, again chapter 3 of the newly plagiarized fic was posted on Feb. 28th. Lazybones89 once again focused her full fustrations towards FoxieFirefly, who seemed to be her underlying target throughout most of her rants. The new fandom, Yu Yu Hakusho, was also listed in FoxieFirefly’s bio at the time - as was the fact that she shipped Hiei and Kurama, ironically the same couple as the new story posted. By chance, when checking FoxieFirefly’s account, I noticed she had posted chapter 63 to an on-going story "The Many Adventures of Sesshy and Yasha." I clicked it and found that it wasn't a chapter, but an author's note explaining that she was once again the victim of Lazybones89. Also, she had been contacted by ffnet mods; according to her, she was given 24 hours to remove the story. This (now deleted) chapter (also shown below in the comparison) was an important key in the case. There were some unique similarities between FoxieFirefly’s chapter and one of Lazybone89’s rant, posted about an hour a part.
It was then that the case started to focus on similar grammatical, syntax, and unique phrasing by both ‘authors’. Even the format was identical as you can see above. Although ‘chappie’ and ‘summery’ are relatively common, it was the constant use of the word ‘mines’ that stuck out the most - examples of FoxieFirefly using 'mines' and Lazybones89 using 'mines'.
However, the most telling evidence was the post by Foxie herself, as she claimed that fanfiction.net admin had given her a twenty-four hour notice to remove her fic. Apparently, this was the same thing that happened to her earlier story ***First Year. Also, at this point, she had reposted First Year to fanfiction.net, (even though she stated it was removed only days before) with the disclaimer she had been given ‘full-blown permission to repost. As history shows, fanfiction admins would never give permission for a story to be reposted that clearly violated the TOS in mature content. With the repost, she also stated certain chapters were also made ‘more graphic.’ Chapter 63 was replaced the next day the (but I had capped it luckily.) She also added the lines "huge false alarm" in reguards to ffnet's 'threat.' This was done only after she had been questioned by others about the contact with fanfiction.net mods.
On March 1st, I became aware that I wasn’t the only one who had figured this out. Normally, the community would post the findings and let FoxieFirefly deal with the consquences. However, FoxieFirefly had said some hurtful things to her friends and fellow authors - from issues dealing with sexuality, morality, and ethnicity. I had read the PMs and although they are not public, they are out there - these were things that should never have been said to ‘friends’ or anybody.
In this case, it came down to my discretion how to handle it; in the end, I felt it best to have Foxie admit it to her friends herself. So, at this point, I felt it necessary to send another PM to her fanfiction net account, the Lazybones89 one (again, this will now show as “Non Invoid”, not the FoxieFirefly account.) I was treading lightly, but of course was always obligated to post the truth. It needed to be known that our community, along with others had figured out the truth. If the image below is too small, here is the direct link.
Please note this is a unique case as the main goal was never about plagiarizing and trying to pass it off as one’s own; its main goal was to garner sympathy/attention to one particular author while hurting others in the process; the plagiarism was just the vehicle used to achieve this goal. The problem is that plagiarism hurts others in the process, and there were eight real victims in that regard. Because of this, it became a unique case for our community. It is always very important for the truth to be posted, but because she had called out the authors, the community, yaoi writers, and several others on far more than their writing - some liberty had to be given to the actual victims in this case.
Also, at this time, she posted a story under the Lazybones89 account called “Will You Forgive Me?” This was an attempt to apologize as ‘lazybones89’ but not as FoxieFirefly. She even left a review on the story, that cap can be found below. That too was later removed, but showed even after our exchange above, she was willing to continue playing victim.
However, upon further exchanges between both myself and outside parties, she knew there was no other way. Within the next day, she posted the story ‘Deceit’ as an apology on her FoxieFirefly account as an admittance of guilt. The story was original and this marked the first time she publically admitted her wrongdoings as herself. She would eventually remove 'Deceit' and all other evidence for awhile when people were vocal and upset by her actions. Later there were other admissions - from the Lazybones89 account and her own bio (She removed it quickly after the massive fallout began.) Later she reposted it to her bio - here is the copy of the second bio admission. These are also screenshots of her adultfanfiction confessions - this one is her bio there, this one is on her copy of “First Year”. I also want to thank izzanami and ravyn_skye for their help, although we figured it out in slightly different ways, we arrived at the same conclusion.
In the end, there were still actual victims of plagiarism and they should not be overlooked in this case. After the evidence Lazybones89/FoxieFirefly will be added to the list of known plagiarists. For reference, the lazybones89 permanent account number at fanfiction.net is 2745215 - in case she tries to reuse it later, but as of now it remains 'Non Invoid.'
The eight ‘truly’ plagiarized authors in the end are: Hella, ajj7sunhawk, Lord Youko, Shiqure-san, Kitty Gets Loose, kougasl0ver, Neptunesdemon, and shiorifoxiesmom.