Help stop the plagiarism of stories here on Asianfanfics! Please be more vigilant about these things since although fanfiction may seem like a small, meaningless matter, plagiarism is very much a big offense. Learn more about this and how to handle it properly by viewing this thread.

[ DISCLAIMER ] In no way does this thread nor I condone any form of bashing / cyber bullying either.
1. In the event of ALL forms of plagiarism, please make sure to handle it RESPECTFULLY and KINDLY.
2. NEVER say harsh words or insults to anybody who has been caught plagiarizing. Ask them about it or inform them politely, otherwise do not go about contact ing the plagiarizer yourselves.
3. Yes, the plagiarizer is doing something wrong, but they have their reasons. Let's not add up on the negativity and instead help them see the mistakes themselves! Most of the time, they will understand. It's only when they refuse to cooperate that reports should be made accordingly.
4. Once again, DO NOT bash anybody you catch plagiarizing! That is not the point of this thread at all. I really just wish people would be more mindful of plagiarizing works and how it's practically stealing another person's hardwork.
5. I really just hate that aspect of the original author not getting credit or experiencing problems due to plagiarism. Many authors here has been plagiarized so much that they've taken to locking their stories or taking them down, which could be hopefully helped by people being more aware of plagiarism.

(An old thread related to plagiarism is also found here on Asianfanfics, but it hasn't been active in a long time and also had a few problems with the way things went on. It's been years, so there are more stories now and more chances of plagiarism. Hopefully people are still willing to help stop plagiarism and also that people are more mature when dealing with these sort of things. I do believe the rules of AFF regarding plagiarism is a lot more strict now, too, so let's keep the community running well. I've added bits here to help not spam the moderators with reports, too!)

I will be focusing only on plagiarism regarding stories for now.
 

" Plagiarized content: note that simply changing the names of the characters of someone else's story for your pairing is not an "adaptation" but is considered plagiarism. Content with word-for-word snippets of other published works that is reported by the community will be removed unless granted explicit permission by the original author. "

       Asianfanfics Content Guidelines. This is also seen at the bottom of every story page when you're writing one! Hard to miss!

This issue has come to my attention quite some time ago. Plagiarism started out with just authors copying other people's fanfiction- completely and with no changes whatsoever- and claiming it as theirs. There are also cases where a fanfiction is re-posted without permission from the author (in this case, from another website onto AFF- e.g. Fanfiction.net, Wattpad, Archiveofourown) or even translated without permission. However recently, it has been stressed by Asianfanfics that adaptations that are merely changing the character names and posting the story counts as plagiarism, unless of course given permission by the author. Many cases do not have permission, though, even if they give due credit in their descriptions. I have seen far too many cases of this happening to people I know and also certain novels and such, even with other forms of fanfiction!

I understand in many cases of such plagiarism and adaptations, it's because the fandom lacks stories or wants their own versions for well-loved stories to share with others. While the essence behind doing so is in good faith and for good reason, if you look at it, please be aware that it's still an offense to the original author! If one really does enjoy the story, you could share the original one. In some cases, maybe even ask the author for permission first in case they actually allow one to do so, when it comes to other fanfictions. When it comes to actual novels and books being plagiarized, it's an even bigger offense since it's outside of the haven of the Internet and plagiarizers may face actual consequences. Maybe even Asianfanfics if the case gets big enough! 

1. Again, one could always ask permission first! Always ask permission because you'll never know when proper permission could be granted and make things better for everybody.
2. As much as possible, refrain from doing character-name-change-adaptations of actual published novels the most. Report these immediately! This is a copyright offense. Please DO NOT ALLOW this sort of thing, too, if you are aware of it being done! I understand you would want to ignore the fact that it's plagiarism just so you could read the story featuring the characters you want, but again, this is unfair to the original author.
3. If you want to provide more material for your fandom, you could always try writing your own story instead! If you like the way another story went, you could use it as INSPIRATION (and even credit it for giving you IDEAS you could work with!) rather than outright copying the whole story word per word, as well as the whole plot.
4. Posting a plagiarized story also has the following risks: 
a. It'll eventually be reported and taken down, thus any work you put into it (changing the names, posting it, etc.) will be for nothing.
b. For readers reading a plagiarized work, once it's reported you'll never know what happens. You'll be left hanging.
c. Lots of law stuff you really, really, really don't want to get into.

Many of you may say it's best that we all just mind our own business, let fanfiction remind something fun and not so serious, but I guess it's a personal thing of mine that I really can't stand such things. I do not mean to rid fandoms of good fanfiction, but there are other ways to achieve this than by copying an entire story. It's also rude to the original author if they explicitly state not to copy or re-distribute any of their work. Especially for other fanfiction writers, who do all of this essentially for free, only for it to end up stolen or copied without their consent or credit, cancelling them of the effort they gave into it since it'll fall into hands of people who do not deserve the praise. Please do not thank people who do "adaptations" if you know it's plagiarized. It is not a shame if they never finish posting the plagiarized story since it is not their hardwork to begin with.