a simple question

[EvenSeland]

first of i would like to say that i am new to these forums, so i am not entirely sure if this is the right place to ask my question.

ok on to my qestion: I have recently kinda been getting ideas for stories, but i am not sure if the concept is good enought. in fact im not even sure if Ihave a wide enough vocabulary to write interesting stories. but i decided to give it a go, so will i be able to post a part of my story on these forums, to then recieve constructive critisism, without the risk of my story getting stolen?

[zoolane]

first of i would like to say that i am new to these forums, so i am not entirely sure if this is the right place to ask my question.

ok on to my qestion: I have recently kinda been getting ideas for stories, but i am not sure if the concept is good enought. in fact im not even sure if Ihave a wide enough vocabulary to write interesting stories. but i decided to give it a go, so will i be able to post a part of my story on these forums, to then recieve constructive critisism, without the risk of my story getting stolen?

Everything on here is your and public view. If you want to to safeguard your writing you need to purchase copy right.

[hillwalker]

If you don't want your work copied and pasted onto other sites don't post your final drafts on here - just work in progress so you can get feedback.

This site is a great way to get feedback on how good (or bad) a writer you are. But if you are looking to get any work published, or to enter it into external competitions, it's not a good idea to post the same work on the world wide web beforehand. Unfortunately I have recently learned this to my cost.

H

[MystyrMystyry]

More information please Mr Hillwalker?

[hillwalker]

About a month ago I tried googling one or two opening lines from poems I had posted on here to check they hadn't been copied and posted elsewhere on the web.

I finished up checking every single one and found about 80% had been reposted (mostly on Chinese sites) together with other LitNetters' responses in most cases. It's not just a single site that's to blame - I came across about 4 different ones (although rechecking today they seem to have disappeared temporarily).

It brings up two issues - firstly, once you post anything on here you lose control of what use is made of it by less scrupulous internet users. The same could be said of anything you post anywhere on the web (and indeed to a lesser extent of anything you put into print come to that). But it's so much easier to 'copy/paste' everything already on the internet...

Secondly, many publishers are reluctant to consider material already in circulation - and most competitions state they will not permit entries that have already been electronically published in a blog or on any web site.

My advice - only post draft material you expect to radically change at a later date, or finished material you have no intention of using elsewhere.

H

[zoolane]

I wondered why I have see your pieces on here for while.

[MystyrMystyry]

Ri-ight...

What's this Boardreader site that I occasionally get? That's not a surreptitious way for others to circumvent potential copyright infringement, is it?

I think most writers are fairly safe though - I mean if you need to plagiarise surely there's something missing in the plagiarist and a suddenly finished product would stick out like a sore thumb (unless they've produced absolutely nothing of their own to compare of course)

Tricky.

I guess I've always assumed that writers want to express and prove themselves to themselves first and foremost, not try to capitalise on others' stolen work (as difficult as that can be with original work anyway).

But how much can one claim as one's own even if it is entirely one's own - the idea, plot, words used - everything down to the last inverted cliche has virtually been done before elsewhere.

Maybe just don't worry about it, especially in this crazy internet future teetering on the brink of global collapse - just be thankful for any readership at all, and try to be flattered the thieves have selected us instead of the latest DivX encoded Avatar

Thorny issue - go with the Kindle ebook business model and you may as well expect wholesale piracy anyway.

A few weeks ago I was quite excited about a bunch of software synthesisers I'd downloaded - and while using them had the realisation that the geniuses who designed them will never get a fair award for their work, not the least reason being that a quick Gogle will fetch a free bonanza pack of a thousand cracked instruments (or games, or music, or whatever).

The democritisation of all this knowledge has allowed everyone to thieve like never before - and why not? They've paid for their internet connection, surely everything the internet has to offer is now theirs for the taking?

What was the reason Britain had television licences for so long, other than just money? Was it to pay for quality programming - or any programming at all? Because you can count the stand out productions easily vs Steptoe and Son, Randall and Hopkirk (diseased), etc etc. (Or were they independent?)

Anyone?

[cafolini]

I reduced all of that to a single question. What is plagiarism? Actually, generic ideas cannot be protected. The only plagiarism that could occur is the copy of an application of the ideas. You can't copyright but your application of them. Hence plagiarism, once a propaganda machine empire, is no longer worth considering.
Regarding originality, it is a misnomer since sharing is inevitable and since evolution of thought does not occur in vaccuo. Lots of ideas have to be borrowed from many many sources before a work of today can be appropriate to these days.

[hillwalker]

Plagiarism is copying someone else's work and passing it off as your own.

But plagiarism is not the issue here - it's hi-jacking a writer's work and spreading it across other sites that the original poster have no control over. Admittedly the same applies once a work is in print - the writer has no control over who buys their books or indeed what eventual use they are put to. I'm not sure that e-books are more vulnerable than printed ones because as far as I can tell you can't actually copy Kindle text with the single click of a mouse...

But the fundamental problem is that anyone looking to get published (either e-books or paper) needs to be aware that once your work is on here it stands little chance of ever getting into print. Why should a publisher go to the expense of printing and marketing something that's already freely available on the internet?

And, yes, zoo. That's why I no longer post my work on here.

H

[zoolane]

It's great shame that people can not have own ideas or create something which of own and not steal other people writing. I miss your stories and poems.

[cafolini]

Hillwalker. That's ridiculous. If you have what it takes, no one can steal it from you. For the little that they could steal, you will have so much more by the ton. If you worry about them stealing from you, you'll never get published. While if you have something to offer, you will overwhelm all marketting and they'll come to talk to you. Cynicism to that extent never worked any miracles.

[zoolane]

:nonod:I am sure going lose few more friends from people steal from here.

[hillwalker]

Hillwalker. That's ridiculous. If you have what it takes, no one can steal it from you.

I'm not so concerned about people copying my poems for their own personal use (which of course they can do as easily from here as from the printed page).

But when someone copies most of the stuff I've posted on here and sticks it on other sites, implying I'm a willing party, leaves a rather nasty taste in the mouth.

Had they approached me first and asked my permission at least I would have had some control - which is why I'll consider much more carefully what I choose to share on here in future.

H

[MystyrMystyry]

I became suddenly curious about what happens blog wise, and I'm pleased to report that blogs here are invisible in google searches.

Therefore though the publishing powers may be risk averse to 'previously published' works, what they don't know won't hurt them - might want to give them a different non de plume however, just in case a potential publisher wanders into the site and does a bit of sniffing around.

Another discovery that a unique phrase search doesn't trigger the BoardReader results, so it could be just a matter of changing the title.

[cl154576]

I became suddenly curious about what happens blog wise, and I'm pleased to report that blogs here are invisible in google searches.

There's a special Google Blog Search (http://www.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en) for that. I have never tried it though so I do not know if your blogs would show up.

[zoolane]

There's a special Google Blog Search (http://www.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en) for that. I have never tried it though so I do not know if your blogs would show up.

Yes it works I found myself.

[cl154576]

Google has its own blog system, Blogger (http://www.blogspot.com/). If you join on there they have an option to make your blog private (so that only people who are logged in and have your permission can see it) and another option to remove your blog from search results.

[xtianfriborg13]

I suggest you just post stuff you want to improve on, especially the ones you're skeptical of. Don't post everything in here because you will never be sure if people are copying your works or not.