Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Things that make you go Hmmm...or, WTF?

***I want to emphasize that this is just my opinion and is in no way a reflection of the others that contribute to this blog. This was solely done because I thought this fuckery needed to be addressed. If you have a comment, please direct it to me, IdreamofEddy***

Okay, so it's no secret by now that tby789 has pulled The Office off of FFn. Here's what replaced the content:

Due to an opportunity that has been presented in light of recent, unanticipated media developments, I have made the difficult decision to remove The Office from my account.

I’m thrilled by the amazing response I’ve had to this story, and have enjoyed being part of a vibrant fellowship of readers and writers; something I want to continue very much. When I discovered fan fiction last year, it was as though a whole new world opened up to me, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

The Fandom Gives Back fundraising effort for Alex’s Lemonade Stand will continue on until Friday, November 20 at 12 midnight. I’m pleased to be part of such a worthwhile endeavor, and absolutely bursting with pride at all we’ve accomplished already. This will be our lasting legacy in the fandom, above and beyond our writing and even the personal connections we’ve made.

My hope is that you will understand my decision, but ultimately my priority is to myself and my family- something I think everyone can understand. My intention is to remain in the fandom; I will be posting the epilogue on November 18th, as well as an outtake on the 28th, but only here on my site www . tby789 . com. I will continue to tweet via tby789.

My expectation is that I will be treated with respect, personally and with regards to my copyrighted fiction. I have truly loved being part of a community where women so enthusiastically encourage each other, explore their creativity and reach for the stars, and that is what I choose to emphasize at this turning point.

With love,
Christina


Wow! We can copyright our stories, even with the characters that Stephenie Meyer created?! Here's what I found on FFn's TOS:

D. In connection with User Submissions, you further agree that you will not submit material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner and the necessary consents from any individuals whose personally identifiable information is contained in such material to post the material and to grant FanFiction.Net all of the license rights granted herein.

Okay, so that means that an author has to have expressed consent from the owner of such rights, correct? I mean, if tby789 says her story is "copyrighted", is it copyrighted as it was given to us? So, Stephenie Meyer gave her permission to use her characters' names? Wow! That's great!! (...googling SM's phone number...Shit. She's at the NM premiere...)

I could certainly understand her pulling the story in light of all the media attention that The Fandom Gives Back is receiving; ninapolitan has pulled all but one fanfic; and, LolaShoes left this note on Let Your Light Shine (I was reading it after Tina recommended it, and when I went to the next chapter, well...):

I wanted to post a slightly more informative author's note because I've received numerous PMs and emails.

I am not pulling the stories for good. This hiatus is going to be temporary. I've had a few people ask me why I've pulled a completed story, even if only for a few weeks. (1) I've wanted to beta this for awhile and it will be easier if I pull it as a full story and work on it over the next month. (2) More importantly, we have the Fandom Gives Back fundraiser going on this week and I don't want the content of these stories to at all distract from the message of the fundraiser, which is support for Childhood Cancer research and advocacy. It's very important to me that everyone knows that I love these stories and am very proud of them, and the fact that they are M rated is something that I don't want to distract in any way from our charity efforts.

Please PM me if you were in the middle of reading these stories. I won't make you wait until January 1, 2010 to finish.

Thanks for your understanding. When it re-posts it will be completely edited and updated. Yay!

xoxo

Lola

Okay...So, I can see how that might be beneficial and advisable to promote The Fandom Gives Back. They, or maybe we, don't neccessarily want to say that some of the things that are being offered up for auction or sale are of an adult nature, right? I mean, how many bidders out there are buying a one shot that's rated K+? Or, who's gonna win those delicious little goodie baskets that Twigasm Podcast is offering? Sparkly Peens, ass beads, etc, etc. Anyways, my point is this: I can see that as the chairpersons for this event, and that they themselves are representing us, they would want to do so in a positive manner. We're raising money for kids here; it's probably best we do it without letting the rest of the world know that some of the things we are offering are NOT for kids.

Or is it? I'm pretty proud to write a smut-filled one shot for an adult that wants to make a donation to this charity.

After all that, I saw this being tweeted on Twitter: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/vakq.

So, I figure the girls are doing damage control. But, damage control for what?

I've read tby789's post a few times, and in her post she clearly states that an opportunity has made itself known, one that she cannot pass up. Okay, so what? She was offered a publishing contract? For that story? Really? That's great! All she has to do is change the names and she can publish a romance novel, right?

I don't want to get started on the issue that perhaps the chairpersons of this event are receiving perks. I've come to expect this happens a lot with the individuals who put this type of thing together, and maybe they should for all their hard work. They deserve it. But, I do want to address the fact that the fans - us - we, who were reading her story, gave her a push in the only direction she could go with that wonderful story, and that was up. And now, to see that the attention received from The Fandom Gives Back campaign has perhaps influenced that even more, the author of The Office is going to reap the benefit. Well. Good for her. We made that happen.

What I don't like is this: We were the support. We were the push. We are the ones donating our time and our creativity to this campaign, and she has done the same. But, now that she's reaching for the stars, and can perhaps make a name for herself, it's what? Nice knowing you? Thanks for reading my story, now fuck off? That's what it feels like to me, and that's why you gotta wonder about those perks. I would have enjoyed the copy on FFn, and I would have bought the book.

Hmm...Maybe they should address The Fandom Gives Back with a unified statement?

Tina (JaspersDestiny) decided to pay tby789 a little visit to her site, www.tby789.com. There are currently 21 posts from fans stating how sorry they are that she has pulled her story, or stories, but that they understand (for the most part) why she has done this. One post indicates some confusion over tby789's decision. So, Tina decided to post a little comment of her own, as follows: "So, I guess I'll ask the question: What exactly do you mean by your "copyrighted fiction"? Certainly you don't mean stories like The Office? While a wonderful story, this is a Twilight, Bella/Edward fanfic. You neither own Twilight, or it's subsidiaries, nor do you own Bella or Edward. Hmmm, c'est intérréssant, n'est-ce pas? Good luck with that." Guess what Tina got back as a response? "Your comment will be visible after approval."

Maybe we who are confused sound a bit conspiracy-theorist, but...what gives?

And, aren't copyrighted fics supposed to be posted on Fictionpress, and not FanFiction.Net?

Hmm.

13 comments:

  1. WOW, so I guess a lot is happening with that. I feel a little out of the loop living all the way out in Oz but I guess theres a lot of publicity going on over seas. I havent heard anything abot it really so I'm just a little lost (-:

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  2. Hi there! I just wanted to pop in and respond. It's true that I pulled LYLS and ALE temporarily, and primarily due to FGB attention (you'll note in the A/N i mentioned that if you're in the process of reading to PM me - I've already sent the word doc to many readers who were left hanging, so please let me know if you want it).

    I understand everything you're saying, and trust me, I battled with the same questions myself because I am a complete smut lover and advocate. There is no question that what is being offered in the auction is M rated. But the dilemma I faced was this: suppose we wanted PFach or Billy Burke or whoever to tweet to support our cause and they read some of Chapter 26 of ALE where Edward has anal sex with Bella and records it on a cell phone...hm...Would he/they want to tweet a link to a blog with our pen names? The answer is simply I don't know. I'm not ashamed at ALL of my stories, and I love the smut. I just figured for a temporary measure it was the responsible thing to do because my name IS associated with this and if it somehow took any credibility away from what we were doing, I would feel horrible.

    But your point is well taken: Twigasm gift baskets with sex toys, o/s offerings of smut...it's not exactly a mystery who we're catering to. So, ultimately, I made the choice that it was best for my peace of mind to pull it for a few weeks. Not everyone agrees that it was necessary and that's okay.

    It's true that this was pushed by YOU, and THANK YOU. This effort is funded and advocated by all of us. This is not just "ours". Seriously, thank you for saying that. It has been important to me that this has belonged to EVERYONE, and just because there are three names on the blog doesn't make it ours. I understand your frustration and it's a point well taken. There are several ways to approach it and I chose a differet tack. Agree to disagree? I hope so.

    I love this blog and hope that you continue to speak your mind about anything that is going on in the community. You can be mad, frustrated, whatever with me - I understand. We're all just people trying to figure out the best way to do things. But let me reassure you of one thing: WE ARE GETTING NO PERKS. This is the only point with your post that I take major issue. We have put so much time into this effort and so far it has been MORE than worth it to see what everyone is willing to do on behalf of our joint fandom. But please stand corrected: there has been NO benefit to me other than seeing how awesome this community can be when we come together and NONE of us would accept anything of the sort.

    Sorry if this comment is disorganized. I'm getting ready for work, dressing my kid, and scarfing down some cereal but wanted to address what you wrote. I won't speak for tby789 here because that is her piece. I will say that the fact they were both taken down yesterday was a coincidence - she didn't know I was going to pull for a hiatus and I didn't know she was pulling yesterday until after it was down.

    Thanks for all you do and feel free to contact me at lolalovesshoes@gmail.com.

    xoxo
    LolaShoes

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. http://ninapolitan.livejournal.com/2310.html

    a post in regard to whether or not we're benefiting.

    Thank you.

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  5. Okay, I had to remove my last comment cause I'm dense, but can someone PLEASE explain copyrighting fan fictions?? Can we copyright plots? How do you that change the names?

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  6. My response to Lola:

    Lola: Thank you so much for reading this post and believe me when I say that I do agree with your decision to pull your stories because of the attention that both The Fandom Gives Back and you ladies are receiving for putting it all together. And, perhaps if the roles were reversed, I would have come to the decision to do the same on a temporary basis only, as you are doing. I completely agree with your decision to do this because I, too, would not want the negative attention that could be received while promoting this great cause, and I don't want anything to take away from it. I admire the honesty of the statement you posted and I just have to say, "thank you".

    On the "perks" issue, I want you to know how I feel about this. It happens, I've seen it personally, and outside of this fandom, it's even happened to me. I look at it like this: you and the other chairpersons have worked hard to put this together, and I DO believe you DO deserve some type of recognition - and even some perks - whether it be an early showing of New Moon, autographed memoribillia, etc, etc. My issue is that if these types of things are received, perhaps it's just best to keep those sorts of things amongst yourselves, So when I read, and others read, that tby789 has pulled her story "Due to an opportunity that has been presented in light of recent, unanticipated media developments"...things like this don't occur. It's raised some serious questions, most of which won't be spoken out loud.

    And yes, I would really like to finish Let Your Light Shine. Tina, who is on this blog, recommended you as an author and I just started reading from the bottom up. I love it. I was on chapter 5. But, if you are too busy, as I am sure that you are, I will wait patiently for the reposting.

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  7. First off, I must say that I love this blog. You guys are great.

    As to the copyright BS, well, she is not the first to say her stuff is copyrighted. I read a different story a few weeks ago, where the author claimed her work was copyrighted as well.

    FF is not a place for copyrighted work. It is a site designed for people that enjoy writing and creating a different set of scenarios based off of published works. We share our stories with the FF community for enjoyment, at least I do.

    Thank you to you all for calling out authors that somehow misunderstand copyright laws and what contitutes original works of literature.

    Take care!

    PJJ0930

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  8. I do know other people have said things, but most have been said out of jealousy (in my opinion). I haven't read any other blog posts just what people have said on twitter.

    I love the fandom gives back and Tina you know how shocked I was at last nights rumors. I made that clear in the meeting last night. I was ready to cry.

    Like I posted on Lj I think a lot of things could have been avoided with a simpler explanation.

    I got an email that says you can copyright the plot and many ff authors do. I have never heard of it, but it came from a reliable source.

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  9. MaitresseSaint:

    For the human fics, sure you can. I think it would be awfully difficult to copyright a plot using SM's vampires with their traits. But this is Fanfiction. The story that was pulled and posted was on Fanfiction and Twilighted, not Wordpress, or Amazon's publishing site..and the one that Lillie Cullen uses..the story was posted to us, as a Twilight fanfiction story, with it's characters. I understand now that is was each individual that made the decision to pull their stories, but I think that those that are interested in possibly a future publishing of a story should keep those to the sites devoted for such a thing, and I think FF TOS should tweek their terms of service. Fanfiction was developed to pretty much pay homage to great books, movies, etc. It shouldn't be used as a way to publicize a story that you might consider publishing in the future. That's just my opinion. Whether others share it, who knows.

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  10. I completely agree Kay. I would not copyright my story, but I did want to understand it. I use ffn as a hobby, something that is fun for me and gives me a break from RL. I don't think people should use it to publicize a story and if they do copyright they should use the appropriate sites. Last night was the first time I had heard of anyone copyrighting anything on ffn.

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  11. I just wanted to address one thing here because it is bothering me.

    You have been outspoken with your disagreement as to Christina's work being "copyrighted".

    It IS copyrighted. Automatically upon her first posting it on the internet... upon her first producing the words and story of the wonderful BB and his love.

    It is considered second-generation, derivative work and is ABSOLUTELY COPYRIGHTED to TBY789.

    Technically, ALL TWILIGHT FANFICTION is a copyright violation to the NON-PUBLIC DOMAIN, copyrighted material of Stephenie Meyer (disclamer or not)... however, she let's us do it, so that's WIN.

    It all gets a little murky when it comes to fan fiction, but derivitave works are 100% copyrightable to the author of such work. You should read up on it. It's tedious, but it comes down to this: All fan-fiction authors' works of fiction/poetry/etc. are automatically copyrighted.

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  12. I also wanted to point out to the anonymous poster, "PJJ0930", above....

    FFN TOS aside, if it is a fixated and redistributable work (that includes derivitave works of fan-fiction), it is AUTOMATICALLY copyrighted, whether the author expresses it so or not.

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  13. To the blog authors, I never mentioned this blog specifically. In fact I refused to mention where the quotes came from. Our intention was to be all encompassing by generically naming communities, blogs etc. I simply added the link here, and to other communities as well, that had questions regarding the message.

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