General Complaints/Inquires/Requests Thread - Page 27

My question is why the discrimination?

Hello,

Originally posted by: lazyleaves

This incident happened while I was away for two weeks and the action or rather the NO ACTION have shocked me to no end.


The author Gargee posted the story The Unwanted Wife which is inspired by the book of the same name by Natasha Anders. I really didn't know copying almost word by word doesn't fall under plagiarism!


The said author posted the prologue on 15th May at 1:58 p.m. (IST) without any credit to the original author. After a reader pointed this fact out she made a post that she should have informed the readers about the same on 17th May at 1:59 p.m. (IST) and edited the main post later on as well i.e. on 17th May 3.35 p.m.


A portion from the original story


Chapter One
Theresa fell back onto the mattress, her body slick with perspiration and limp with pleasure. Spasms of her powerful release still violently racked her slender frame. Alessandro had disentangled, detached and distanced himself from her within seconds of their mutual orgasm and lay on his back beside her, his breathing heavy and ragged. Theresa turned on her side to lovingly trace his harsh profile with her eyes, yearning to touch and caress the smooth, silky and slightly tanned skin but knowing from experience that her touch would be rebuffed. His words, the ones that were always wrenched from him during his climax, still hovered in the air between them and they still, after all these months, hurt more than they should have. "Give me a son, Theresa'"
With those five words, he inevitably killed the afterglow, destroyed the intimacy of the moment and relegated the act into nothing more than a biological imperative. After eighteen months of the same, Theresa had finally realized that it would never change. It wasn't an abrupt realization, rather it was one that had been growing steadily since the very first time he'd said the words. But Theresa had her own five words! They were words that had been on the tip of her tongue for months and should have been spoken long before now. They were words that she could no longer swallow back; no matter how much it killed her to say them. She sat up, naked, her body still trembling and drew her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs, pressed her cheek to her knees and watched as his breathing steadied, his own shaking was subsiding slightly. He lay spread-eagled, also magnificently nude, his eyes were shut but she knew he wasn't asleep. No, he would take a few moments to compose himself before heading for the shower, where she always imagined him frantically scrubbing her scent and touch from his bronzed skin. She could no longer contain the words and they spilled from her lips with desperate earnestness. "I want a divorce, Alessandro." He tensed, every single muscle in his body went as tight as a coiled spring, before he turned his head to meet her watchful gaze. His eyes were hooded and his upper lip curled mockingly. "But I thought you loved me, Theresa," he taunted with exquisite cruelty and Theresa lowered her eyelids, trying to mask the shaft of pain at his words. When she was sure she had her emotions under control, she once again lifted her eyes to his dark gaze. "Not anymore," she managed, hoping the lie sounded convincing. "Hmmm'" it sounded deceptively like the purr of a cat. "What happened to 'I'll love you forever, Sandro'?" "Things change," she whispered. "What things?" He rolled onto his side and propped himself up onto his elbow, resting his head on his hand. He looked so much like a Roman gladiator in repose, that her throat went dry with desire. She swallowed painfully. "F.feelings change'" she stuttered haltingly. Again that husky purr of agreement but Theresa wasn't fooled by his relaxed posture; he was as tense as a coiled snake. "I.I've changed'"


A portion from 'her story'

She fell back against the soft cotton sheets, her chest heaving, her skin slick with perspiration, as her body still shook and trembled with the spasms from her powerful release. Her heart beat a shattering tattoo against her ribcage even as she heard those thrice damned words whispered hoarsely in her ear.

"Give me a son, Khushi'"

Tears of humiliation burned behind her lids, a desperate flush breaking out on her skin as those despised words rang over and over again in her ears, even after her husband had moved away from her. She lay there, still, as he entered the bathroom- probably showering, rubbing away her essence off of his skin. What had she done to deserve this? At first, she had hoped- prayed- that it would change' that those five words would eventually stop' that he would grow to love her' But after almost two years of the same, she had finally realized that it would never change.

And as she heard him turn off the shower and come back into the room, and slip beneath the covers that still barely covered her, her own five words, a desperate plea that had been forming inside of her mind, her heart, bubbled out.

"I want a divorce, Arnavji."

...

She felt him tense beside her, and closed her eyes tightly. She was going to do this. She had to do this. She couldn't live like this anymore! She was 22 for God's sake! And she had lived like this enough for two whole lifetimes. Well, no more. Enough was enough.

She swallowed the swell of fear and surged ahead. Turning her naked body towards him, she braced her head on the heel of her palm, rising on her elbow to look down at him.

"I said I want a divorce, Arnavji."

She felt him turn then. Her big, beautiful husband. Mirroring her position, he rose above her now, his expressionless eyes scrutinizing her for long moments, before his mouth upturned in that ruthless, cruel smile he seemed to reserve only for her. His honey-brown eyes mocked her as they ran along her curves, his sweeping brows rising on his high forehead as he noted the involuntary shiver that ran through her, in reaction to them.

"Oh, but Khushi' you loved me!" he said, his deep husky voice setting tremors running along her spine. Only the exquisite cruelty that he displayed- that he had displayed time and again throughout their miserable marriage- kept her grounded, and she stiffened.

Sitting up, she turned her head away. Drawing her knees to her chest, she barely resisted keeping her head down on them and crying to her heart's fulfillment. No. No, she wouldn't give him that satisfaction. The time that he had made her cry and beg, when she had done nothing wrong, was long past. She was done taking everything he dished out from his self righteous ass sitting down. Khushi Gupta Raizada was done being a doormat.

And so, she lifted her chin- and brought back that girl that had fought for what was right, even if it meant being the one being left behind- being talked about, being trashed. The one, who had fought for the underdog. The one who, despite everything had cheerfully gone about her life. The stubborn girl she had once been. The one she had buried deep inside when she had realized that she had jumped from the frying pan into the fire when she had gotten married.

It was not her lot in life to bend over backwards to please anyone. She was not going to beg for scraps anymore- because she had finally realized that she deserved a banquet. And she was damned well going to get one. And the first step to that was change.

"Things change, Arnavji' Feelings change. I don't love you anymore."

So I have a few questions based on my observations in the past year on this forum and this thread ->

IMP: Severe Penalty for Plagiarizing!

1) Why hasn't the thread been closed for 3 days and her WL raised by 20% (even if this was done we won't know about it of course)? and Why isn't the plagiarised content removed?

Reference:

Plagiarizing a PORTION/ PARAGRAPH: The member will get an immediate raise in warning level by 20%, along with a three day closure of their fan fiction with a notice of plagiarism with the plagiarized content removed! Each individual offense will be considered as a separate instance!



2) The portion that I posted above was a HUGE instance of the amount of plagiarism that has happened. So why hasn't her thread closed for 1-2 weeks along with the temporary ban of the author for the said period as well?

Reference: However, for three or more instances (i.e. 3 or more FFs) of Plagiarizing a PORTION/ PARAGRAPH, the plagiarizer will get an immediate raise in warning level by 20%, and a notice of plagiarism will be left on the respective FFs with the plagiarized content removed and each FF will be closed for 1 - 2 weeks. Two days after the notice of plagiarism, the offender will be temporarily banned for 1 - 2 weeks (depending on the extent of plagiarism).


3) In my eyes the author has merely EDITED the chapters of the original work and this falls in the category of 'Plagiarising the Entire content' So why hasn't the thread not trashed yet?

Reference: Plagiarizing the ENTIRE CONTENT: The thread will be locked immediately with a notice of plagiarism and the plagiarizer will get an immediate raise in warning level by 20%, Two days after the notice of plagiarism, the offender will be temporarily banned for 1 - 2 weeks (depending on the extent of plagiarism). Shortly after the entire FF will be trashed. Each individual offense of this nature will be considered as a separate instance.


4) Why this discrepancy? I have seen in the past year how plagiarism has been treated with on this forum with fights happening on the thread, defending the original author, defaming the one who copied by calling them names (although this is not something that I approve of), threads are created, PMs are exchanged, note is put up, the thread is closed, the link to the original work is posted. Why not for this story?


5) Where are those members who get their swords out even if 5 words in a row are copied and make threads fighting against the same issue? This is clearly more than 5 words like I have proved.


Like one of my friends pointed out that if something similar or rather the same thing had been done by a lesser known author or a newbie that member would have been shredded to pieces (virtually!)

I WANT answers AND actions!!!

^Like Ridz has pointed out that threads had been trashed for something lesser than this. Other authors who have plagiarized portions of some story and later claimed that their story will be different later on were still punished. So I dont know why she should be an exception. Also the plagiarized content must be removed. If she does so she would have to remove the whole of prologue and chapter one and in order to continue with the story (on a different thread) she would have to rewrite it in her OWN words

I actually dont understand this 'rewrite it in her own words' business. Even then it would be an adaptation or at least be taking inspiration from some other work and in that sense acknowledgement of the same would still be required.

Originally posted by: lazyleaves

^Like Ridz has pointed out that threads had been trashed for something lesser than this. Other authors who have plagiarized portions of some story and later claimed that their story will be different later on were still punished. So I dont know why she should be an exception. Also the plagiarized content must be removed. If she does so she would have to remove the whole of prologue and chapter one and in order to continue with the story (on a different thread) she would have to rewrite it in her OWN words

Originally posted by: AngelTeen

I actually dont understand this 'rewrite it in her own words' business. Even then it would be an adaptation or at least be taking inspiration from some other work and in that sense acknowledgement of the same would still be required.

Originally posted by: Krani

I know, but I think the recent rule that was passed by the DT - and for this same rule I stopped Parineeta - was that we cannot base anything off a book, TV show, movie etc.

The fact that she is borrowing some of the concept and taking it in her own way is inspiration, but I think the plagiarism label comes from the fact that her first two chapters are the same, and not appropriate credit has been given.

~K

Referring to the accusation against Gargee--

Originally posted by: Semanti

Referring to the accusation against Gargee--

Gargee claims that it is inspired by the book.

However, it looks more like an adaptation to me. But I can't make the claim based on ONE chapter.

Maybe this is the ONLY bit which is so very similar. Maybe not.

Gargee ought to have undoubtedly credited the original author. But I must point out that this is a FAN FICTION forum. EVERYTHING is "inspired". And there are a million and one "inspired" pieces that draw HEAVILY from P&P, random M&B's and various other novels AND movies out there. I haven't read everything but I HAVE seen them.

I think it's the terminology that has become an issue here. And only Gargee can resolve that as the author. So is it an adaptation with Arnav and Khushi (in which case, there are BOUND to be similar scenes and dialogues)? Or is it an inspired story (where this one scene-- being a crucial scene, is almost identical but the story will follow slightly differently)?

I think Gargee should be allowed a fair chance to defend herself and her story because let's face it, given the immense popularity of SoG, she is obviously NOT looking for a quick fix of fame. (I'm with Vee here)

Would you call Maqbool a 'plagiarized piece'? Would you say She's The Man 'plagiarized' The Twelfth Night?

I have seen that plagiarism is a sensitive issue here and it ought to be. But I also think that when the author's intent is unclear, like it is here, she should be given a fair chance to defend herself and her story.

Her real offense was not crediting the original right away and that should have merited a warning from the DT (which it did). Beyond that, I don't see how we can judge the story (or ask for extreme measures to be taken) without reading the rest of it or even talking to Gargee about it.