General Complaints/Inquires/Requests Thread - Page 44

Read the previous pages, those on which were discussed what should be considered as plagiarism and what not.

From what my little brain understands I think that taking a scene from the show, doesn't fall into plagiarism. Because if I'm not mistaken all the readers, or at least most of the readers who read the stories about Arshi, Asya and other couples, have already seen the show, and they know what had happened in the series, so they already know that, that particular scene directly comes from the show.

I think plagiarism falls when we make pass a scene that few people know as ours, for example, recently I read a story in which there was a scene taken from a movie, even if the author would have not said from which film that scene belongs, I knew that the scene belonged to a movie because I had seen it, and I think it is not a plagiarism first because that film is really famous and second because the author give the credit to the film, so all the readers know that that scene belongs to a film.

I think it is difficult for films and TV series fall under plagiarism, because in some way you know them, you have seen some scenes, and mostly the scenes that people see and the authors use are the important ones, so I don't think they would be plagiarized so easily, while I think books are easy to plagiarize because not all people read and not all the books are known on an international level so I think we should be more careful when it comes to books, because it is easy to adapt(a manner of speaking) a very less known book and post it here.

So I think those who gave a proper credit to the original Author of the book, or film, at the start of the story should post it on here but on the condition that the story should be written with his/her own words, if a person declare after such a long time that the story was inspirited or adapted from a book he/she should stop posting it here, kyon ki my mom's say if you say the things as they are from the start then you are okay but if you say later when someone pointed it out then "tumare maan mein khot hai" that's it.

And with this I have finished I hope you guys understand what I wanted to say, why when I need to use my mother tongue I can't arghh!!

Originally posted by: shona-li

Hi Lazyleaves,

May I just humbly contribute to the discussion on plagiarism in this instance? I believe that plagiarism is a serious offence and personally I'm vehemently against it as the next person fighting the cause. I understand and empathize with the sentiment as I am a FF author too, and would not wish on any author to not receive credit for their own hard work. However with such a serious issue at hand, I believe it deserves to be treated and analysed with the utmost vigor and inspection.

I have highlighted the concerns you have with the piece to line out the areas where which I would like to respectfully disagree and discuss.

As I have done with your comment, I highlighted the words that Gargee used from the original text to demonstrate visually the amount of content the author has copied word for word.

First of all, thank you for providing us the section in which this 'plagiarized' piece is derived from. It gives us an objective means of comparison for the claims by which this accusation is made.

As you can see, the claim that Gargee has copied word for word isn't true. I have to point that out because it is an unfair accusation to make. Where I would agree is exactly identical is the concept and scenario. They are almost exactly one and the same. Yet this is an argument forparaphasing, not plagiarism.

So here is where we need to discuss the boundaries.

When a story is inspired by another story, is it fair to expect the concept to be the same? After all this is fanfiction. It is not intended to be a published work. Had it been so, the response would be completely validated. But, I reiterate, it is a fanfic. So concept-wise, I would argue the author was completely in her limits to borrow the concept and use it.

As far as inspiration goes, paraphasing is a shade away from plagiarism. The scene in question is the exact same scene as in the book, substituted with different characters. However, the boundaries of how much an author wishes to deviate from the original plot has not been set for I-F with regards to plagiarism. Here are a few things I would consider before I make this a black & white plagiarism case:

• Is the scene used an important scene in the story the author is inspired by?

If so, wouldn't it make sense for the author to make minimal changes to the interaction in that sequence than bring about a completely different scene? If he/she isn't allowed to adapt that scene, that would be moving away from adapting the plot and injecting one's own creativity. In that case it wouldn't be an adaptation at all! Adaptations borrow key sequences, and if this is a key sequence, an argument can be made for its fair use. (e.g. we do this all the time for our favourite ARHI scenes and one-liners from the TV series, it is EVERYWHERE in this forum. If we can borrow them for our fanfics, why can't Gargee borrow this for hers?)

• Are the words used key words, or entire chunks of the original work?

Here I would disagree Gargee copied word for word. The words she used were related to the key interactions the characters had in that sequence. She has to her best ability paraphrased the scenario, leaving the copied words to what I would argue is a 5-8% portion of the entire post. As I've mentioned in the previous point, we borrow phrases and words from our beloved ipk tv series all the time. I see no difference in this instance either.

So from where I am standing, the only argument you can make for plagiarism are the following:

1. The author failed to credit the original author and her work.
2. The level of paraphasing permitted with regards to the original work.

Now I cannot comment on point (1) as I hardly remember if she did when she made the post. You and other readers will probably be the best judge for that. As for point (2), that is a contentious point as no rules have been clearly lineated for it.

So as you can see from your argument, you have equated her EDITED work as PLAGIARISM of content in a portion/paragraph and even entire content.

I must disagree. Paraphrasing isn't plagiarism. If there is anything blatant about Gargee's work, it the amount of paraphrasing done.

If you seek action and discourse for this, new rules will have to be introduced to set limits on the amount of paraphrasing permissible on these forums. And quite honestly, while I see a case for that in this instance, you won't have many fans for that regulation. First off, it's hard to put a percentage to how much a work has been paraphrased just by looking at it. In this instance, I'm inclined to agree the paraphrasing is above the 80% mark. Yet, I'm sure this rule would stifle creativity and make many forum users wary of writing future inspired work. I would also expect this rule to be fair and be applied to ipkknd scenes and dialogue, which would quite effectively rid the forum of most of it's fanfics.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be explored as an option, but you need a very clear vision and rule for paraphrasing if you would like to seek recourse for Gargee's work.

I cannot reiterate enough that this is an objective argument I'm making for the issue. It in no way makes me anti-plagiarism if I present an unpopular view. I believe I can both support anti-plagiarism and evaluate the validity of an action taken against another author. This is besides personal opinions and beliefs. It's about just actions taken.

Now I'm in no way taking sides for the author. All sides of an argument should be presented fairly. Being accused of plagiarism is no small matter - it is a stain against the integrity of another author and the originality of their work. This is why I am adamantly playing the devil's advocate. This argument has to be presented and considered before making any decisions against the author.

If action is unfairly taken, I would place the blame solely on the administrators for failure to clearly outline the rules for plagiarism AND paraphrasing. Because to me this is a black and white case of paraphrasing, not plagiarism.

PS: I am happy to invite anyone to respectfully disagree. This is an important issue that needs to be explored. Administrators, I appeal for you to consider this case in point.