jamescfm wrote:The plagiarised posts were removed as soon as it was brought to our attention that their existence on the Forum might cause problems.
This statement does not instil confidence.
I would like to request, for the second time now, that the Moderators invite Wouter Lievens, the game owner, to come to this thread and communicate to his community about his position in relation to Particracy Classic and the plagiarsm issues. He does hold ultimate authority over and responsibility for this forum and this game, and it would probably be helpful to hear from him on an issue as important as this. Frankly, I would find it surprising if he would not want to do this, given how it has the potential to affect him, reputationally and otherwise. Or perhaps I am mistaken? I do not know.
James, I have a lot of respect for you personally, and frankly I have more confidence in you on this issue than I do in either of your two co-Moderators. However, I do fear that, along with some others here, you have been seeing plagiarism in Particracy entirely through the lens of how it impacts us internally in immediate terms, and not considering the broader implications involved. If you will forgive the phrase, it feels to me like you have been seeing no further than the end of your nose.
As a creative writer yourself (and a damned good one), and as a sort of group leader of creative writers on this forum (and a deservedly well-respected one), I had hoped - and to be honest, presumed - that you would have enough respect for the rights of authors in relation to their written output that you would have immediately recognised the importance of removing plagiarised material from this forum. I am honestly left confused and disappointed that it was apparently only after you were told about the risk of certain inconveniences like legal action etc. that you became bothered enough to agree the material needed to be removed.
I have never expected the managers of this game to be "experts" in any sense (although admittedly, it surprises me they were not at least a little more clued up on plagiarism, since this is a project involving creative writing). However, I did genuinely assume they would have an intuitive appreciation for what writing means to its authors. That is, after all, a large part of why all of us RP news post writers are here...