PSA

[clocketpatch]

Several people on my flist have posted about this, but in the spirit of spreading the word:

There is a person who has, since 2011, been collecting public posts tagged "fanfic" or "fanart" from lj for their personal blog.

They are not posting links to posts. They are importing the entire post contents minus the username attached to it. They do usually link back to the original post. The main problem here isn't that they're reposting fic without permission (though that is an issue); it's that they're reposting everything tagged as fanfic – fest sign-ups, personal rants about writers block, rec posts, etc. This person is obviously not screening their content.

On the one hand, you shouldn't post anything to the internet without realizing it might be re-used and re-posted in ways you never imagined.

On the other hand… wtfbbq?

Since it seems to be an automated posting process, lost_spook has come up with the attack plan of writing posts calling them out and then tagging those posts with, you guessed it, FANFIC.

And judging by the first few posts on their blog, it's working. I wonder how long it will take them to catch on?

Comments

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm naive or something... but what could possibly be the point??? Well, other than making money from advertising, I guess. Maybe that's the entirety of the point :|

[clocketpatch]

I think advertising is probably the correct answer here. I can't see that it would be very profitable, but it would be completely effortless once you got the coding set up.

As liadtbunny has pointed out, the blog is also faking being a WordPress blog for reasons that are completely baffling. And trying to put a copyright notification on all of their stolen content. Just all around skeevy.

I hope that their in-feed is henceforth filled with complaint letters.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the signal boost...this is just...CRAZY. And it looks like they've been at it a long time. It is a sheer fluke that they were caught. Random, really.

*HUGS*

[clocketpatch]

I feel though that we might be kicking ourselves in the foot, because I'm fairly certain they're doing this for ad revenue and by signal boosting that just increases clicks to their website and thus their profit.

But still, people should know where their personal posts are going!

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

True...it might be revenue related, but enough complaints and brouhaha flooding their site - hell knows, there might be some response. I know it is spreading like wildfire through ElJay and even Tumblr is blogging about it. Eventually it will get SOMEONE's attention. Someone that blogger may not want tuned into their asshattery. One can hope, anyway.

*HUGS*

[clocketpatch]

I sent them a comment explaining how Creative Commons actually works and warning them that they have made the internet angry.

And honestly, I can think of very few things scarier than inciting an internet nerd rage storm.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

I see the comment hasn't shown up. *Is annoyed* Would have loved to have seen it, lol!! Just the phrase 'you have made the internet angry' is just...all kinds of Win. *Grins* Dunno why but the phrasing tickles me. :D

Nerd Rage...yeah, definitely scary. Hope they came armed. O_o

[clocketpatch]

Well, they didn't import my second post, so maybe I'm on the block list now?

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Ohh!! One can hope! *Crosses fingers* Now..they just need to take down your work. *Nods*

[clocketpatch]

They have put up my comment now, but they haven't responded to it yet, because they're too busy trying to stem the absolute flood of comments above it. A very nice and noble person has apparently gone through the blog and contacted everyone who has had work stolen. And they aren't happy. xD

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

I saw this!!! Is it terrible that I grinned a bit? Nevermind, it's probably terrible but I did...even laughed a little *facepalm*

*HUGS*

Hard to get and keep advertisers when the people you are ripping off of are spamming the site with 'WTF?!' and leaving negative posts.

[unsentimentalf]

I have trouble getting indignant about someone doing to us what fans do to original copyrighted material all the time. If it's taken from a public site and it's attributed then I'd be inclined just to let it go. Sauce for the goose, and all that...

[joking.livejournal.com]

Except most of the posts there don't have attribution. Check it out for yourself.

[unsentimentalf]

Fair enough. The ones I looked at did but only because they had author name in the story header.

[clocketpatch]

I'm less concerned about the fic reposting (because really, do we even have a legal leg to stand on with that?) than I am with the fact that they are also grabbing people's personal posts which have no relation to fanfic. Everyone should be careful about what they put on the internet, but still, there is courtesy. There is a post up right now where someone is talking about having a medical procedure, which I'm willing to bet they didn't think would get re-posted on someone else's website.

They also may or may not be making ad revenue off of all of this, which is incredibly skeevy.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Wait, but is that site the actual plagiarism site or just a site that mentions it? Or are they just playing innocent?

[clocketpatch]

It is a bot site which is collecting all lj posts tagged fanfic, regardless of content, and re-posting them without attribution, presumably for advertising revenue/selling on the emails of those who complain.

Hilariously, since they don't screen content, they've now got several dozen angry posts calling them out up on their homepage.

They aren't the only site that does this, but they are a site that's been caught at it. I'll bet there are several other bot sites with angry letters up right now...

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

That's... so meta!

[sevanatwonights.livejournal.com]

Oh I got a fanfic for them :P

[clocketpatch]

I saw that xD

[metapodik.livejournal.com]

"They are not posting links to posts."

But next:
"They do usually link back to the original post."

Wut?

"They are importing the entire post contents minus the username attached to it."

Only because it was LJ specific lj user="" tag, not html registered tag. I fix this now, its now not removed.