The Case Against Lone She Wolf
On Nov. 14th, 2008, gehayi reported that lone_she_wolf plagiarized an outgoing message that Gehayi had created for her Harry Dresden role playing journal. See this original post.
In Gehayi's original post she stated that when she saw Lone She Wolf's story Thing Found On Harry's Answering Machine, there wasn't the following general disclaimer: The outgoing message I'm about to describe was based on something I read once and thought was funny. I can't recall if it was actually from The Dresden Files novels or a fan fiction, but it stuck with me. So the outgoing message from Harry was not originally my idea but a variation on something I read.
Gehayi says that disclaimer started showing up after she contacted Lone She Wolf. As I looked through the links, there were stories with the disclaimer and stories without. At that time I didn't realize that there were two stories, as the format was so similar.
Given the disclaimer wasn't everywhere and that the disclaimer did not name Gehayi by name, I green lighted the case.
It turned out that the caps (1 and 2) that Gehayi sent to me directly were both from Part 2. I don't think Gehayi realized there was a part 1 and a part 2 when she sent them to me.
It was only as I began looking at the case, I realized that all the places that Part 1 was posted had the disclaimer and that Part 2 did not. (Both share the outgoing message, but have different content of what was left in reply.)
And this is where the case started to become more complex.
Lone She Wolf was very prompt in replying to my inquiry. Among many things she directly stated: "It's true the disclaimer was not in Part 2 (a mistake) but yes, it certainly was in Part 1." She also explained that not adding the disclaimer in part 2 was an oversight.
She then provided a variety of ideas for how to prove that she had had the disclaimer on part 1, including giving me access to the internal part of her fanfiction.net account via her password as well as making note of the way edits are noted on The Blue Whale Pub.
So I went in.
This is a shot of her document manager. For comparison, here is a shot of my document manager.
If you look at number 12 on her list, it says "Things found on Harry's answering Machine" and the life is at -6 days. (FFN give you a 60 day life of a word document, and for reasons I don't quite follow goes into negative numbers instead of removing it. This particular document was in her document manager for 66 days at the time I took the screen cap.)
I then went into the documents. If you look at this cap, it shows the disclaimer. The way the document manager works, if LSW had added this after the fact, it would have changed how the document looked in the document manager. For example, compare this to the previous cap from my document manager. You'll see that the first story, A Maid's Tale changes word count and length of 'life' after I go in and add new words to the bottom of the document.
If you follow these screencaps of Harry's Answering Machine on The Blue Whale Pub, you will see that in cap 10 LSW edited a comment, which shows a date stamp similar to what shows up on Livejournal comment changes. If you go back to cap 1, you'll see the disclaimer, if you go to cap 4, you'll see there is no edit date stamp, which helps to affirm that indeed, the disclaimer was always there. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
After I capped them, LSW then went back and edited the post to remove the outgoing message. If you look at cap 3, you'll see that there is now an edit date stamp to the main body of the post. (1, 2, 3)
Once I've made caps, LSW has been making a point of going in and removing the outgoing message and editing the disclaimer. On FFN she's reposted a version of her story, which now has parts 1 and 2 back to back but without the outgoing message. (1) In it she has the following apology: Originally I had published this in two parts with a an out going message on Harry's machine very similar to one I had read a long time ago but I could not recall where I had read it. Recently the writer of that original out going message came to me and made it very clear that they did not want me to use their out going Harry Dresden phone message or one very similar to it. It's a shame because though I could not remember them to begin with the away notice had been a considerably humourous one. I had never meant disrespect. I certainly did not want credit for what is not mine. I had just liked it very much and I apologize. I had even mistakenly started to think that perhaps the away notice I was recalling was something mentioned in the original novels but apparently I was mistaken. Unfortunately the original writer of that away notice made their opinion known in a very rude means that involved the harsh accusation of plagiarism, which is the worst thing a writer can say to another writer.
The following are links to how it now appears in various places.
Part 1: The Blue Whale Pub, Scifi, Live Journal
Part 2: Scifi, Live Journal
Parts 1 and 2: My Space
Everything I've been able to document shows that in all the places where LSW posted part 1, she had a disclaimer about the outgoing message. She didn't have on part 2. However, given both the disclaimer on part 1 and her prompt and thorough willingness to assist in this matter, I believe it was an oversight, not intent to pass it off as her own. Though, via sloppiness, the lack of notation technically led to plagiarism.
I also believe that Lone She Wolf genuinely didn't remember where she originally read the outgoing message at the time that she had the idea for the story and that she made a good faith effort to not take credit for the outgoing message even if unable to provide proper credit to the source of it.
I also do not think Gehayi was lying when she said the disclaimer wasn't there (for the part 1 versions). Mostly likely she either saw some of the part 2 ones first, and/or the disclaimer didn't register as being there in the midst of adrenaline pouring through her system upon seeing her own words in someone else's fic.
Given the full context, I am not finding Lone She Wolf responsible for plagiarism. And while I do not foresee anything similar to the lack of documentation with the Part 2 story, in an effort to be consistent, I will be adding her name to the watch list.
I realize that this matter has been stressful for both parties as well as the friends of both parties. I'm not sure that this outcome will be fully pleasing to anyone, but I do hope it brings closure to the matter.
In Gehayi's original post she stated that when she saw Lone She Wolf's story Thing Found On Harry's Answering Machine, there wasn't the following general disclaimer: The outgoing message I'm about to describe was based on something I read once and thought was funny. I can't recall if it was actually from The Dresden Files novels or a fan fiction, but it stuck with me. So the outgoing message from Harry was not originally my idea but a variation on something I read.
Gehayi says that disclaimer started showing up after she contacted Lone She Wolf. As I looked through the links, there were stories with the disclaimer and stories without. At that time I didn't realize that there were two stories, as the format was so similar.
Given the disclaimer wasn't everywhere and that the disclaimer did not name Gehayi by name, I green lighted the case.
It turned out that the caps (1 and 2) that Gehayi sent to me directly were both from Part 2. I don't think Gehayi realized there was a part 1 and a part 2 when she sent them to me.
It was only as I began looking at the case, I realized that all the places that Part 1 was posted had the disclaimer and that Part 2 did not. (Both share the outgoing message, but have different content of what was left in reply.)
And this is where the case started to become more complex.
Lone She Wolf was very prompt in replying to my inquiry. Among many things she directly stated: "It's true the disclaimer was not in Part 2 (a mistake) but yes, it certainly was in Part 1." She also explained that not adding the disclaimer in part 2 was an oversight.
She then provided a variety of ideas for how to prove that she had had the disclaimer on part 1, including giving me access to the internal part of her fanfiction.net account via her password as well as making note of the way edits are noted on The Blue Whale Pub.
So I went in.
This is a shot of her document manager. For comparison, here is a shot of my document manager.
If you look at number 12 on her list, it says "Things found on Harry's answering Machine" and the life is at -6 days. (FFN give you a 60 day life of a word document, and for reasons I don't quite follow goes into negative numbers instead of removing it. This particular document was in her document manager for 66 days at the time I took the screen cap.)
I then went into the documents. If you look at this cap, it shows the disclaimer. The way the document manager works, if LSW had added this after the fact, it would have changed how the document looked in the document manager. For example, compare this to the previous cap from my document manager. You'll see that the first story, A Maid's Tale changes word count and length of 'life' after I go in and add new words to the bottom of the document.
If you follow these screencaps of Harry's Answering Machine on The Blue Whale Pub, you will see that in cap 10 LSW edited a comment, which shows a date stamp similar to what shows up on Livejournal comment changes. If you go back to cap 1, you'll see the disclaimer, if you go to cap 4, you'll see there is no edit date stamp, which helps to affirm that indeed, the disclaimer was always there. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
After I capped them, LSW then went back and edited the post to remove the outgoing message. If you look at cap 3, you'll see that there is now an edit date stamp to the main body of the post. (1, 2, 3)
Once I've made caps, LSW has been making a point of going in and removing the outgoing message and editing the disclaimer. On FFN she's reposted a version of her story, which now has parts 1 and 2 back to back but without the outgoing message. (1) In it she has the following apology: Originally I had published this in two parts with a an out going message on Harry's machine very similar to one I had read a long time ago but I could not recall where I had read it. Recently the writer of that original out going message came to me and made it very clear that they did not want me to use their out going Harry Dresden phone message or one very similar to it. It's a shame because though I could not remember them to begin with the away notice had been a considerably humourous one. I had never meant disrespect. I certainly did not want credit for what is not mine. I had just liked it very much and I apologize. I had even mistakenly started to think that perhaps the away notice I was recalling was something mentioned in the original novels but apparently I was mistaken. Unfortunately the original writer of that away notice made their opinion known in a very rude means that involved the harsh accusation of plagiarism, which is the worst thing a writer can say to another writer.
The following are links to how it now appears in various places.
Part 1: The Blue Whale Pub, Scifi, Live Journal
Part 2: Scifi, Live Journal
Parts 1 and 2: My Space
Everything I've been able to document shows that in all the places where LSW posted part 1, she had a disclaimer about the outgoing message. She didn't have on part 2. However, given both the disclaimer on part 1 and her prompt and thorough willingness to assist in this matter, I believe it was an oversight, not intent to pass it off as her own. Though, via sloppiness, the lack of notation technically led to plagiarism.
I also believe that Lone She Wolf genuinely didn't remember where she originally read the outgoing message at the time that she had the idea for the story and that she made a good faith effort to not take credit for the outgoing message even if unable to provide proper credit to the source of it.
I also do not think Gehayi was lying when she said the disclaimer wasn't there (for the part 1 versions). Mostly likely she either saw some of the part 2 ones first, and/or the disclaimer didn't register as being there in the midst of adrenaline pouring through her system upon seeing her own words in someone else's fic.
Given the full context, I am not finding Lone She Wolf responsible for plagiarism. And while I do not foresee anything similar to the lack of documentation with the Part 2 story, in an effort to be consistent, I will be adding her name to the watch list.
I realize that this matter has been stressful for both parties as well as the friends of both parties. I'm not sure that this outcome will be fully pleasing to anyone, but I do hope it brings closure to the matter.