The Case Against ArjetLuna
On 18/2/13, karinms reported that Angel Baby1's Star Trek story Atlas had been plagiarised on Fanfiction.net by ArjetLuna in her Smash story, "Fame".
ArjetLuna's story had been removed before this incident was reported to us, but screencaps were provided in the original report (and additional ones by email). Reviewing this evidence, it was very obvious that this story lifted multiple passages from Angel Baby1's work, including her very unique author's note, without any credit whatsoever. The original report with this correspondence is here.
When I contacted ArjetLuna, I received the following response:
I understand the charges and what plagiarism is, and yes, the story Fame was a nearly direct copy of AngelBaby1's "Atlas." It was on purpose. I was doing an adaption of her story into another section and genre.
What got lost in translation was that I sent several messages to AngelBaby1 asking for permission to use the story. When AngelBaby1 didn't respond for several months, I sent a message telling the author that I was going ahead with the adaption but if there were ever any objections that I would remove the story because, yes, it is a copy and no, I am not the original author.
What I didn't expect was an outright accusation of theft and blasts from fans that I was a horrible person and should be ashamed. I am not ashamed of what I did, the story is amazing and I was simply trying to share it with a wider audience, but because I didn't have permission, I wasn't going to proclaim the story an adaption until I was finished. It was why I changed as little as possible (including the Author's Notes). As soon as I was aware that AngelBaby1 objected I removed the story and have no plans to post it anywhere else. I removed my other stories because of continued harassment from AngelBaby1 fans.
I don't blame AngelBaby1 for this. The author has a right to be upset, especially if they didn't get my messages. I should have waited until I had completed the adaption and given credit at the beginning instead of the end like I'd planned. I should have waited until I received a response from AngelBaby1 before posting at all. I should have done a lot of things. I'm sorry this situation turned out the way it did; remorse and bad feelings are not what I was hoping for by adapting a wonderful story from syfy film into dramatic television.
Thank you for your diligence and give my continued apologies to the readers.
I've responded with an explanation of what plagiarism is and why what ArjetLuna calls an "adaptation" in fact falls clearly within this definition.
Because Angel_Baby1's work was deliberately copied without any credit or acknowledgement, ArjetLuna will be added to the list of known plagiarists.
ArjetLuna's story had been removed before this incident was reported to us, but screencaps were provided in the original report (and additional ones by email). Reviewing this evidence, it was very obvious that this story lifted multiple passages from Angel Baby1's work, including her very unique author's note, without any credit whatsoever. The original report with this correspondence is here.
When I contacted ArjetLuna, I received the following response:
I understand the charges and what plagiarism is, and yes, the story Fame was a nearly direct copy of AngelBaby1's "Atlas." It was on purpose. I was doing an adaption of her story into another section and genre.
What got lost in translation was that I sent several messages to AngelBaby1 asking for permission to use the story. When AngelBaby1 didn't respond for several months, I sent a message telling the author that I was going ahead with the adaption but if there were ever any objections that I would remove the story because, yes, it is a copy and no, I am not the original author.
What I didn't expect was an outright accusation of theft and blasts from fans that I was a horrible person and should be ashamed. I am not ashamed of what I did, the story is amazing and I was simply trying to share it with a wider audience, but because I didn't have permission, I wasn't going to proclaim the story an adaption until I was finished. It was why I changed as little as possible (including the Author's Notes). As soon as I was aware that AngelBaby1 objected I removed the story and have no plans to post it anywhere else. I removed my other stories because of continued harassment from AngelBaby1 fans.
I don't blame AngelBaby1 for this. The author has a right to be upset, especially if they didn't get my messages. I should have waited until I had completed the adaption and given credit at the beginning instead of the end like I'd planned. I should have waited until I received a response from AngelBaby1 before posting at all. I should have done a lot of things. I'm sorry this situation turned out the way it did; remorse and bad feelings are not what I was hoping for by adapting a wonderful story from syfy film into dramatic television.
Thank you for your diligence and give my continued apologies to the readers.
I've responded with an explanation of what plagiarism is and why what ArjetLuna calls an "adaptation" in fact falls clearly within this definition.
Because Angel_Baby1's work was deliberately copied without any credit or acknowledgement, ArjetLuna will be added to the list of known plagiarists.