Why is this such a hard concept for people?

[alisanne]

You know, I'm getting tired of this sort of thing.
A few months ago I was alerted about someone who took it upon themsleves to keep a list of HP fics that they were distributing for the pleasure of their "friends" in PDF format. The stories were not theirs to distribute, of course, but since when did that stop anyone? Anyway, everyone was up in arms and the person slunk away.
Well, it's apparently happening again HERE. *eyeroll*
This time the fics are listed by title and not author, and you have to join a yahoo group to have access to the distribution list. Also, note the cover page art.
I recognize several pieces by authors who I know, like sansa1970, dementordelta, calanthe_fics and kit (on LJ kit84) to name a few, and I recognized at least one of my stories there.
*sigh*
Is this so hard to understand? I know I can't control who has "copies" of my stories. Hell, who can? But why set up a list for distribution with no acknowledgement of the author, no way to check that the people who are accessing the fics are of age, no warnings, bla bla bla. How many time have we got to say it? It's fecking rude. Don't do it! GAH!
/rant.

All right. I guess I'll start by commenting and asking that she not distribute any of my stories that are on her list. And I suppose I need to notify ppl of this. Again. You know, this is why I can't get more porn written. Shit like this. Grrrr.

Edit: Apparently it was a misunderstanding and the list maker is taking steps to disband the distribution list. I think the overwhelming response of fandom may have had something to do with that. *sigh* I hate that we came down so hard on her, but really, it had to be made clear how strongly we feel on this.

Comments

[snapelike.insanejournal.com]

One of the times where the abuse button on LJ is actually useful. Her username is pureimmortal.

Maybe Yahoo has one too?

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess I'll give her a chance to respond to my request to remove my fics from her list before I report her.
Plus, I suspect LJ abuse is a bit overwhelmed at the moment. ;) It'll prolly take them 3 months to get to this. *eyeroll*

[snapelike.insanejournal.com]

They may... *grins* At least that'll teach them.

As I see it, she's there were 'benefit of doubt' has lost its meaning...

(And she's now banned from daily_deviant, just in case.)

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

Hahahaha. I have no qualms sending the abuse team work if I need to. ;)

Excellent idea about DD!
And I think I saw PP on her list, so maybe Femme needs to know....

[snapelike.insanejournal.com]

She's into familyfuncest too, so heads up to Eey as well.

I really can't understand it can be so hard to get that it is really bad form to redistribute like this. One should have thought she got it the first time, but no.

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

*sigh*
Apparently common sense isn't. *eyeroll*
Will poke Eey.

[lackofmendacity.insanejournal.com]

I agree it's terribly rude of her, and the fact the she didn't even mention the respective authors makes it much worse.

As sorry as I am to believe this, I don't think she'll stop doing this regardless of criticism. She'll probably just be a bit more discreet about it. *sighs*

(By the way, I recall you mentioning that you preferred having comments all in one place. I'm not sure if it's deliberate on your part, but you haven't blocked comments over on lj for this post.)

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

*sigh* I suspect you're right, but I guess I'll give her a chance to respond first.
And I bet there of more of this underground than any of us know, but this sort of blantant thing deserves to b eoutted and stopped, IMO.

And yes, I deliberately left the comments enabled at LJ for this topic. ;)

[faynia.insanejournal.com]

That's blink inducing. I remember the first time it happened and how quickly everyone pounced on the person, but this is nuts.

I'm reeling from the fact that a few of my fics were listed period, and not just because the person didn't ask for permission. o.0



God, it's getting late I posted off someone elses comment randomly urgh.

[snapelike.insanejournal.com]

Also, how hard can it be to ask for permission? There are so many fics out there, that she could get tonnes of them, if only she cared to ask...

[magic_helmet.insanejournal.com]

I think she's just young and thinks she's doing a favor.

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

Exactly! I have never once said no if someone's asked me if they can link, rec, translate any of my fics. It's just nice to be ASKED. Grrr.

[maabandmorgana.insanejournal.com]

is it really THAT hard for ppl to manage an "a href" link? the page would have looked the same, but readers would go to the author's posting not some second source! grrr.

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

I just don't get why it's so hard to understand why this is a problem, you know? And for someone who managed to set up a yahoo group with (probably) purloined cover art? Not difficult at all I'd imagine.

[inamac.insanejournal.com]

Oh god! It's the "what's yours is mine, and what's mine' my own" culture. Thirty years ago that sort of activity split at least two fandoms right down the middle - and stopped a lot of writers publishing at all, so it's not entirely an internet problem - just a lot harder to stop these copyright violators. Such a pity crucio doesn't actually work.

Much sympathy.

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much the 'tude. *sigh*
And we are all on shaky ground here, I recognize that, since we are playing in someone else's sandbox, but PEOPLE... have some damn common sense and basic courtesy. Someone writes something, they like to hear that people like it, what they thought. She's stealing the one "reward" fanfic writers get. Reviews. I guess that's just too hard a concept for some to grasp if they are not actually the one producing the fic.

[gertrude13.insanejournal.com]

Unbelieveable! And she probably is convinced that she's doing a good thing. And to think of all the time and effort she must have wasted on this - and it did not cross her mind to ask the authors? How stupid can you be?

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I dunno how that little detail slipped her mind. *sigh*
And, yes, apparently the idea that redistributing is not the same as listing is beyond her.

[kit.insanejournal.com]

Thanks for this love, Jynxie gave me the heads up this morning to check too *snuggles you both* ♥ ♥

Hehe, thought you might be interested to read my comment to her…it’s a wee bit ranty. I think I’m taking all my aggro on the nearest source. On the plus side…I have the sudden urge to immerse myself in fandom today. I don’t get it. I fail at hiatus’s :p YAY!

Ohhh yeah, gas poisoning – I left the gas grill on over night and all day while I was out. Uh-huh. Yeah. I gave myself a headache.

x-posted onto your LJ just because...

Kit’s rant of doom
In a state of possible gas poisoning, serious sleep deprivation, stress, and general all round can’t be arsed-ness, I find myself slightly less bothered that you’re distributing fics.

Although technically there is nothing to stop people from just c&p’ing a fic and storing it on their hard-drive even maybe circulating to a friend or two if they are unable to read online – you’ve gone at least three beyond that.

Did it never occur to you that perhaps you should/could ask/tell the author? I know a hell of a lot of people would have been placated by that, or at least open to the idea of what you’re doing if you’d told them. I mean…is it so damn difficult to leave a note for an author saying ‘this is what I’m doing, how I’m doing it and I’d really like to have your approval’. You could have had a generic blurby thing. Post it to the author. Job done. I mean, you’re obviously going to their website or archive profile to get the damn story in the first place!

But for me, that’s a minor point. I’m absolutely fuming that you’ve had the gall to post the stories, and give them out without a mention of the authors name, summery, ANY warnings or ratings. Yes they may be on the copy you give out. Maybe that’s what writers should do now, post the warnings and ratings under the cut? How fucking well do you think that would go down?

Dude, seriously, we put up ratings and warnings to cover our own arses – to stop idiots clicking, reading and then complaining that they didn’t like the inclusion of XYZ. To give people an idea of what they’re going to get. You, however, seem to think you’re excluded from this for some unknown reason – which I’d really like to hear btw.

Since this is more or less a rec list, if you notice fics that you enjoy, aren’t you going to think, ‘well, hey, I might like the rest of this list too,’. So you’ll always get some idiot that’ll blindly read, then get angry/upset because they didn’t like it. We post warnings and ratings for a fucking reason. I think it’s VERY irresponsible to not include them. We’d get bitch-slapped by most of fandom for not including the ‘important’ stuff, I really don’t see why you should be exempt from the very basic (if unwritten) rules of netiquette in fandom

As a side point, I’d really appreciate if you could take ‘Finding Harry’ off of your list. I don’t want any of my fic’s connected to you in anyway. That is, if it is my Finding Harry and not someone else’s – I can’t actually tell you see, what with there not being any summery or authors name.

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

You are having a rough time of it, aren't you? *cuddles* Come stay with meeee. I promise it'll be better. FD says she may come in October... *tempts*

*admires rant*
That is a work of art, m'love! I dunno if it'll work to make her see reason, but I bet it was nice to get it out. :*

[jaddziadax.insanejournal.com]

similar stuff goes around the fanvidding community... I donno how many times in the last year I've heard people complain about being ripped off... apparently the latest scandal made it Arabic TV (like an actual TV station ripped off some AMVs to promote a show)I found it ironic more than anything...

Granted I don't think that most fanvideos take all that much imagination considering you're just playing with other people's footage, but sometimes some really neat imaginative effects work goes into the creation of those things.. and it can be compared to the amount of work that goes into a fanfic...

Most of the "top players" of the fanvid community find it more humerus when they get ripped off (mostly because their work is easily recognizable, that no one unless they don't know better will think that the ripoff artist actually made it... not to mention their fans/friends are pretty hardcore about making sure people know who the REAL creator is)

best I can say is take it as a compliment... its a shame its happening but hey, you're good enough to rec XD (so go ahead and let it blow up your ego XD) but I can understand how annoying it is when people don't ask permission (http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=8361D06EFA72CDB2)

[jaddziadax.insanejournal.com]

ah! crap! incase that other link doesn't work (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8361D06EFA72CDB2)!

[celandineb.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I joined the Yahoo group to see if perhaps the db there had links or even author names, but no, it's also just a list of titles. *rolls eyes*

I asked for no distribution, and I emailed Resonant because I saw her classic "Transfigurations" on there.

This kid probably meant well, but apparently is clueless about fandom propriety -- and we DO have etiquette and ethics around here.

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

Yes, I suppose she did mean well, and I imagine that she's a bit shell-shocked from the 4 pages of comments she has in her LJ today, but she's got to realize she's stirred up a hornet's nest here.
I only hope she's reasonable about this and removes ppl's fics from this ill-conceived list and finds another way to participate in fandom.

[celandineb.insanejournal.com]

As of now, the list is gone and she's saying fics will not be distributed...

If she'd given authors' names, and links to places where the fics could be read, of course, no one would have batted an eye. I don't think any author objects to being recommended, but no one likes having their work effectively stolen (given that it wasn't clear that these fics, if distributed, would have author names and other info attached).

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

And the comments, if any, would have gone back to the distributer, not the author, so yeh, not pretty all around. *sigh*
She seems to have had good intentions, but OMG she's just been introduced to fandom in a big way. :/