I believe I should post my communication with Tridentwatch today as it concerns us all...and our resolve against plagarism.

Original Email
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The following message was sent to you via the Dark Lord Potter Forums Contact Us form by tridentwatch.

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Hi,
I have been banned from the forum by the administrator for trying to copy another person's work. I wanted to know if it is possible to unban me if I deleted the work which I coppied. The link of the copied work is: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2926123/1/

Please reply at your earliest possible convenience.

My Response
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Tridentwatch,

We have a 0% tolerance policy regarding plagiarism. Taking small pieces with credits and with author permission is okay, however you stole the work posted and thus you have no second chance. You will remain permabanned. Read the rules I have posted and highlighted below for your perusal.

Definition

Plagiarism is stealing the ideas and thoughts of another author and representing them as one's own. An example of this is taking a portion of someone else's story and putting it into your own story without getting permission from and without giving credit to the original author. Using sections of a story in which the original portions have undergone minor changes (wording, characters, etc.) but are still reasonably recognizable also qualifies as plagiarism. Plagiarism is wrong and is one of the worst offenses in the writing community because it is the *theft* of another person's creative efforts.
(Slightly modified form of http://www.skeeter63.org/~tslibrary/misc/plagiarism.htm)

Plagiarism - The Rules

1) Any fic that is proven to be copied word for word from ANY other written source, even with it being credited, will instantly be deleted and the writer banned from the board. This includes fictional, published works and fics written by other fan-writers in any fandom.

2) Any fic proven to be copied scene by scene from any other written source or any movie will instantly be deleted and the writer banned from the board.

3) If there is any doubt, the Board Administration will err on the side of caution. Fan Fiction in and of itself is copywrite infringement. Rather than taking the chance of being sued and having the board shutdown, we would prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

In the end, not only is plagiarism a betrayal of the writers from which the words and ideas are stolen, it is also a betrayal of your readers. We feel that it is wrong to claim someone else’s work as your own, particularly since so many of us are writers here as well as readers. We pour our blood, sweat and tears into our fics and feel that we should be guaranteed the knowledge that all other writers on this board are doing the same.

Finally, from this point on, there will be no second chances. This will remain posted here and on every board at Darklordpotter. If you choose not to have read it, that will not be an excuse. Every single user is now held accountable for their actions regarding this very important issue.

If you plagiarize, you will be banned. End of story.

Lord Ravenclaw
DLP Forum Administration

 

Thing is, the story was the final nail in the coffin. He did other things that sealed his fate and he was close to being banned without this shit happening anyway, so yeah.

 

-sighs-
Gestapo.

In this case, they might've.