#and no one has a right to it
Anonymous asked: How to I handle a partner who I have found out is posting a long term 1x1 private roleoplay on a site as her own creation? I just accidentally found it as it’s literally word for word my replies to her and her replies to me via email, which is our preferred medium. I don’t want to say I feel violated and I like writing with her, but I’m feeling less and less inclined to want to continue. Am I wrong for how I feel?
This is, to be frank, plagiarism. Your part of the writing makes this not her own work, and she should never be posting it publicly and taking full credit for it without A.) asking you, B.) giving you credit, and C.) being sure the content is alright to distribute. If she hasn’t done any of these things, she is violating your trust, and stealing your work straight up. I would confront her about this, and stop RPing with her immediately knowing what she’d done without my consent.
You do not violate your partner’s trust like this. It’s one thing to post things with permission from ALL parties involved, and treating it like a collaborative piece, or even post logs to a private site to keep logs for your own personal use/memory, or use public-work in a new arena with credit given. It is another to claim ownership of another person’s work, from a private space, and to secretly post it without ever telling them of this breech of security. Ask permission if you want to use anyone else’s work, ever. Never claim work that is not your own, as your own, or you’re lying. This is basic kindness to others.
I would confront her by asking her why she is posting it, ask if she’d give you credit if that would help you get settled, or at least clear the air between you. If that’s not enough, I’d ask her to take it down. If it’s big enough portions of writing, you might be able to use emails from between you to demonstrate your own writing and go over her head and report it as a DMCA issue to the site itself, and ask them to take down the plagiarism. I personally would not RP with her further in any case, because that’s just a breech of trust, and you never know when she’s going to do it again. That means you’ll never be strictly comfortable playing with them, and it might sour the entire RP experience for later. But this is about you, and your comfort. If you think you can salvage it, and still can enjoy RP, by all means please try. It sucks to lose a partner you really like.
The only case this is okay without permission is within a semi-public to public forum (such as MSPARP) where logs are considered fun to share. People have an idea going into it, that it may be shared with others, or others may read it. It is a platform with a socially acceptable log-sharing background, an unspoken rule if you would that you know you may be reposted, anonymously. This gives the other player not only credit (as it is unmistakable these are written by 2 or more participants) but also functions to find a partner you may have RPed with anonymously. If anyone asks you to take it down, you should do so. It’s kind of like writing an orphaned work, or bathroom stall graffiti. You willingly do not attach your name to it, and know others will see it and spread it around.
I’m so sorry this happened to you, and I hope things work out for the best. If anyone else is considering something like this with an RP, please don’t. It is a terrible idea, and can ruin people’s confidence and security while RPing. Remember, permission is important. Without it, it’s plagiarism and lying, not to mention violating trust.
