fuck them

[frameofmind6]

So apparently songfics are illegal on ff.net now. Actually, according to the admin, they always have been, but I beg to differ. Their guidelines outlaw plagiarism -- not necessarily any and all use of outside material. Despite what they seem to think, it is not plagiarism to simply quote another's work, especially if you're not making a profit. Maybe I'm missing something here, but both of my parents are lawyers, and I just did a big-ass research paper this year in which we payed more attention to avoiding plagiarsm than we did to the papers themselves, so I think I know a little bit about the laws regarding this, and I'm pretty sure that the songfics I've read (and written) do not fall into this category. This little decree of theirs pissed me off so much I wrote them a nice, respectful, businesslike little email. It probably won't change anything, but at least I put it out there. At this point, I've pretty much given up on staying between the lines with them. All I can hope for is that they won't get around to targeting me for any of these lame-ass rules, the way they have to people like Rozefire and Sarinileni. I'm pretty much past caring what they think at this point, and I've made peace with the fact that I may wake up one morning to find my account and all my reviews gone.

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

I am a patron of FanFiction.net, and I have just noticed a recent announcement on the main page that reads as follows:

 

"In addition, FanFiction.Net would like to address a growing problem. For whatever reason, some writers feel it's okay to copy-n-paste musical lyrics they have not written into their fiction. If you did not write it, do not post it. This has always been our policy. Please remove these entries immediately to avoid account closure."

 

Upon seeing this, I also went and re-read the FanFiction.net rules and guidelines, because I had not remembered seeing any references that would seem to ban songfics, and I found the following under "actions not allowed":

 

"Copying from a previously published work without approval aka plagiarism."

 

Now, I am not an expert, but I do have some experience with regulations having to do with plagiarism and such through school, and through several relations of mine who are certified attorneys, and as I understand it, it is not considered plagiarism to quote another's work without express permission if proper credit is given, and the author does not stand to profit from the work in which the information is quoted. Nowhere on this site have I ever come across a fic in which the author claimed lyrics written by someone else as their own work, and I highly doubt that anyone has found any way of gaining profit from their work on the site either. Granted, the credit given is usually relatively informal (e.g. "I don't own the lyrics to [blank]; they belong to [so and so]."), but it is credit nonetheless.

 

If you are concerned about lawsuits, perhaps it would be more fair and generous to your users to ask that they give more detailed credit, in proper bibliographic format, rather than banning the use of lyrics altogether. Of course, it is your prerogative to ban this practice completely if you so choose, and all I can do is urge you to reconsider. However, if you do intend to ban it entirely, it might be wise to amend your guidelines such that it is clear that you do not allow any previously published material of any kind to appear in fics, despite the fact that it may be used in a manner that is not actually plagiarism. You should also specify whether or not this rule applies to previously published work that is not under copyright (i.e. in the public domain), such as Shakespeare. To simply disallow plagiarism is clearly not specific enough if this is what you wish to accomplish.

 

Thank you very much for your time, and I mean no offence, but once again I entreat you to recognize the effect you have on a great many people, take a good look at your site's motto, and try to cut us all a little slack.

 

Sincerely,

Jessica