I know it's the sincerest form of flattery, but...

[viridian]

I'd like to thank Pyrodaemon and Telas of the Organization on ff.net for the heads up.

Would y'all say this steps beyond the bounds of fair usage?

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4756137/2/N ... Chronicles

[Phht]

I'd need to read through it a couple more times to spot everything, but there's definitely some copied stuff there.

For instance, copied spots in bold (with similarly bolded copy of applicable T8 section after):

Spoiler: show

“That knowledge will prove very useful when or if you fight together as a team. You will know how your teammates will react and be able to move with them smoothly to counter any threats. Even though we are separate teams, it doesn’t mean we can’t fight together like a well oil machine. Much more effective than just the sum of other members. We call this synergy.”

Hinata nodded slowly. She vaguely remembered something about that concept from lessons at the academy last year. Kiba frowned thoughtfully and snorted in dismay; Shino said nothing but pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

With that Anko sent them to work. We’ll start with just taijutsu today. No other techniques for right now. Just hand to hand only. Hinata, why don’t you and Naruto start? Light contact only if you don’t mind.”

Hinata was a little nervous about sparring with Naruto first thing, but tried to control her reactions. Sensei and Anko was right, she needed to know her teammates as well as she knew herself.

Naruto moved over and got into a stance. Hinata activated her Byakugan so she could see his Tenketsu points, but she didn’t push any chakra out of her palms as she struck. This way she could tell if she struck true, which wasn’t as often as she liked, but didn’t disable her teammate.

Naruto jolted back slightly on his heels when her palm slipped around his block and struck him flat on the chest. He smiled ruefully at her and shook his head. Her stomach gave an odd wobble as he dropped back into a ready stance. Naruto didn’t seem to be upset that she’d scored on him. In fact, his look was almost… approving.

Kurenai smiled, perhaps a little grimly. “That knowledge will prove very useful when you fight together as a team. You will know how your teammates will react and be able to move with them smoothly to counter any threats. A well-trained shinobi team can move together like a well-oiled machine, and becomes much more effective than just the sum of its members. We call this extra bonus ‘synergy’.”

Hinata nodded slowly. She vaguely remembered something about that concept from lessons at the academy last year. Naruto frowned thoughtfully but didn’t say anything.

With that, Kurenai put them to work. “We’ll start with just taijutsu today. No other techniques for right now. Just hand to hand. Hinata, why don’t you and Naruto start? Light contact only.”

Hinata was a little nervous about sparring with Naruto first thing, but tried to control her reactions. Sensei was right, she needed to know her teammates as well as she knew herself.

Naruto moved a little stiffly at first, perhaps because of his new clothes. Hinata activated her Byakugan so she could see his Tenketsu points, but she didn’t push any chakra out of her palms as she struck. This way she could tell if she struck true, which wasn’t as often as she liked, but didn’t disable her teammate.

Naruto jolted back on his heels when her palm slipped around his block and struck him flat on the chest. He smiled ruefully at her and shook his head. Her stomach gave an odd wobble as he dropped back into a ready stance. Naruto didn’t seem to be upset that she’d scored on him. In fact, his look was almost… approving.

There's likely more in there, but I figured that was plenty. Yeah, I'd call it beyond fair use. The author didn't even make a mention of "borrowing" sections of Team 8. Plus, Anko saying "if you don't mind" to green genin? Pssh!

[serbii]

*raises eyebrow*
Someone's been lazy.
Yeah I think that's beyond fair use, you're within your rights to complain to ff.net I think, or at very least have words to the author.

[Psalm Of Fire]

Heh heh, wow, that is lazy.

[Tempest Kitsune]

More like disrespectful. I've borrowed characters and such from several sources, including webcomics, and I've ALWAYS asked permission first, and cited the sources; or given due credit to something that heavly inspired a certain portion of a chapter. To do any less crosses over from merely "borrowing" to outright "stealing".

[Darkandus]

I'd be having words with the thief If I were you.

[Larrylansday]

Yea I'd say that it goes beyond the Fair use... Hell... I'd just lynch the thief, but I guess that isn't acceptable in today's society.

-Larry

[unknown547]

While it is flattering that someone found your work good enough to steal for their own fame, it's a kind of laziness that needs to be stamped out. If someone's going to post something they should have to do the work to make it good enough to merit popularity themselves. They should feel shame for what they've done, or at the very least get some form of punishment for claiming someones hard work for their own selfish reasons.

[Togusa]

The NaruHina spar with the "gotcha" soft touch was most blatant indeed.

But the storytelling is not up to par. It seems a little too rushed for my liking.

Unless it's very well done, I don't use to like fics like that, where Naruto get really good really fast, or he finds an out-of-the-blue teacher that makes him so.

[Psalm Of Fire]

Wow, this thread is attracting all kinds of lurkers. Hey Y'all!

[unknown141]

The reason I even mentioned it to Viridian was because I know of at least two other authors who have complained about the story taking passages directly from their own story. Which is sad because that's three authors and only (at the time) two chapters. I can't begin to imagine what the rest of the story would be like.

[Psalm Of Fire]

That's pretty disgusting. Thanks for saying something.

[unknown547]

Seriously, thanks. This stuff has to stop. I don't know what I'd do if I found out someone was stealing my writing.

[Kitty-Chan]

People who pull $&!# like that should be filleted & pureed.

[unknown406]

They better run once Ed catches wind of this...

[lucifer10]

The guy is removing some of the posts of people who haven't logged in and have told him that he copied from Team 8. About a month ago there was at least 38 reviews, now there are only 37. I seriously hope that justice finds this "Dark Spidey" and gives him what he has coming. Is there any way that this guy can get reported?

[Tempest Kitsune]

Yeah, if you go to the "Add to Favorite" dropdown list, there's an option that says "Report Possible Abuse". Shall we spam?

[lucifer10]

Yess... yes we shall

[Kitsune_Akatsuki]

What should we put? I did this, and just submitted it on accident(I was gonna get you guy to approve it):

This has very large quantities of stolen text, and as an example, one story they stole from is Team 8. I can not recall the other but there are other thefts being commited by this writer in this FanFiction. Please make the appropriate response

Erm....Will that work?

[Tempest Kitsune]

Concise and not demanding. I'd say that works very well.

[Kitsune_Akatsuki]

Oh, thats a relief.

[lucifer10]

That sounds appropriate to me. I copied some of the text that he stole and sent in a copy of the authorlord's work for comparison.

[Phht]

It's still up a month after many people started reporting it for plagiarism?

[Kitty-Chan]

Why is it that many fanfics get taken down off FFN simply because the person who reported it didn't like the story, but when someone is actually breaking the rules, they don't do anything?

[Zerrat]

Because the Pit is one of the most poorly moderated submission sites... ever.

(okay, maybe an exaggeration... it's still poorly moderated. Heck, I'D do it if they'd let me)