Asianfanfics Plagiarism Notification Service

Hey everyone! A few weeks ago, I published a poll to determine if there are enough authors here who would be interested in a plagiarism detection service to help protect the works of Asianfanfics authors and there was enough interest for me to work on it as a new experimental feature. I've had it in Beta release for a week or so and had help with testing from a few volunteer beta testers (thanks to all who helped in testing it!) and it's ready for a wider release.

This is still an experimental feature that requires a not-so-insignificant amount of time to maintain so I'll still need to test further if there is enough interest in this feature. If at least 100 authors use the plagiarism notification feature by the end of the month, I'll continue to support it.

I've updated the FAQ to explain the new service in detail and I'll be including it for your quick reading below. Let me know if you'll be using this feature in the comments section!

Q: What is the plagiarism notification service?

A: Our plagiarism alert service notifies you if an exact phrase from your story is found elsewhere on the web. Ideally, when you first set up your alert, only your content shows up in the results since you are the original author. You will then be alerted of new results on a regular basis so you can determine if these new results are authorized by you or not.

Q: How do I set up plagiarism notifications for my stories?

A: Go to your story's foreword page and search for the "Set plagiarism alert" link in the header of your story or the "Set Plagiarism Alert" button in the sidebar. Once there, follow the instructions for obtaining a Google search API key for you to save in your account. You can use your own Google/Gmail account to obtain your search API key but you can also create a separate Google account just for this purpose. Once you have saved your API key, you can copy and paste a phrase from your foreword into the "Set an Alert for this Search Phrase" text box then activate it by pressing the "Alert me if this phrase shows up on the web" button. You will then be automatically alerted in our notification section if this phrase shows up on the web after your initial set up. If you are alerted of new results and the content is yours, then you can freely ignore them. Otherwise, you can reach out to the sites in your search results to let them know. You can also repeat this process with each of your chapters by clicking on their respective "Set plagiarism alert" links.

Q: Any tips for what search phrase from my story to use?

A: Ensure that you copy and paste a word-for-word phrase from your foreword or chapter to ensure accurate results. Try to use a phrase unique only to your story so that only your content shows up in your search results. Try not to include character names in your chosen phrase since many plagiarizers change the names but keep everything else the same. If you set up your alert and you get zero results, you may not have set it up properly since you should at least be seeing results for your own content.

Q: What are the limits of the plagiarism notification service?

A: All story foreword plagiarism alerts are free to set up. However, subsequent chapters must be activated with karma points to prevent abuse and ensure server capacity for the service. On the other hand, most plagiarized content are straight copies and you probably only need a few well-chosen phrases to catch them in the first place. 

Your Google search API key is used to search for the exact phrases you choose but is limited to only 100 search phrases. That is their limit, not ours. 

Your story and activated chapters should not be in draft status so that they are reachable by search engines (ie. Google search). The service will be unreliable for you otherwise since the plagiarism notification service is reliant on public search engines.

Comments

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Kiwi-C
#1
Hello!
I realize that this might be an old blog post, but I don't know where else to ask
I'm trying to set up a chapter plagiarism alert, and it won't let me. The foreword one works (Yay!), but I'd also like one in my chapter for my stories. It took my karma points but still gives me an error no matter how I've changed my sentence. The 'requests' as processed by the api goes through (it shows up in google), so I don't know how else to troubleshoot. Any tips? Thanks in advance!
Ai_Akizuki
#2
This feature is like one of the best in AFF istg
thelovelylam #3
oh wow, thank you so much!
Moe-Kun
#4
I'm confused af. Idk what to do, honestly. I need help :/
dream_keeper88
#5
Wow! Thank you ^-^
myownlilbubble
#6
Thanks alot Nichiren!!!!!!
Magical_Girl #7
Wow thanks a lot!!
haaitje
#8
Great work! I thnk anyone would love this.
Armita_kpop
#9
you are my rolemodel i swear. ilysm
keilene #10
Great idea! I'm so glad you are making this happen!
informantxgirl
#11
This is awesome, thank you so much. We really appreciate all of your effort and ongoing commitment to this site. It must be a pain, but please know, we are all really grateful. Please have a nice day!
pirili
#12
Tried it just now but I cant get my API key. I touch the button and nothing... >.<
RDeeDee
#13
Wow! This is a great a idea for all the authors! Thank you! :)