Continuations by people other than the original author/creator aren't worth getting worked up about.

[RocketGrunt]

If I craved more popularity, I could always just write in the more popular categories. I wouldn't need somebody who lacked the creativity to imagine their own characters to write a half assed Ranger Ramona sequel or The Gold Dollar Girls Collect Social Security.

In the hypothetical situation where you have inspired a fan, someone already writes a Ranger Ramona sequel. That is a thing that happened, the horse has left the barn. Nothing you can do will prevent that from having happened.

The only thing you can do is decide whether they post it as a Ranger Ramona sequel and give credit to you, or change the names to Ranger Rachel and pretend you had nothing to do with it. That's it. That's your only choice.

Someone was inspired by your work and wrote something based on that inspiration. Do you want to be given credit for that inspiration? Or do you want them to publicly pretend you never existed and pass off work inspired by you as wholly original?

 

[calmlikeabomb]

I wrote and posted that story for you (it got approved instantaneously):

Impotent Men Fucked in the Ass by Puritanical Sanctimonious Big Cox

Just checking, when you say Big Cox, do you mean Brian Cox the physicist, or the actor?

Either is fine, I just want to know before hand.

And thank you so much for taking the time to describe (very accurately) my sexual desires. The Rick-roll marathon is ongoing, but once it is done, I will be sure to open your link!

 

[calmlikeabomb]

In the hypothetical situation where you have inspired a fan, someone already writes a Ranger Ramona sequel. That is a thing that happened, the horse has left the barn. Nothing you can do will prevent that from having happened.

The only thing you can do is decide whether they post it as a Ranger Ramona sequel and give credit to you, or change the names to Ranger Rachel and pretend you had nothing to do with it. That's it. That's your only choice.

Someone was inspired by your work and wrote something based on that inspiration. Do you want to be given credit for that inspiration? Or do you want them to publicly pretend you never existed and pass off work inspired by you as wholly original?

I think being credited is the least of expectations. My characters (shallow fucks that they are) could still inspire someone to write something. Even if they change everything about it, I would still like to have some mentions.

But that's just me.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

Just checking, when you say Big Cox, do you mean Brian Cox the physicist, or the actor?

Either is fine, I just want to know before hand.

And thank you so much for taking the time to describe (very accurately) my sexual desires. The Rick-roll marathon is ongoing, but once it is done, I will be sure to open your link!

C.O.C.K.S.

you're welcome!

 

[calmlikeabomb]

C.O.C.K.S.

you're welcome!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Confederation Of Chinese Kisses Sensually gets me sooooo hot!

 

[Bramblethorn]

In the hypothetical situation where you have inspired a fan, someone already writes a Ranger Ramona sequel. That is a thing that happened, the horse has left the barn. Nothing you can do will prevent that from having happened.

The only thing you can do is decide whether they post it as a Ranger Ramona sequel and give credit to you, or change the names to Ranger Rachel and pretend you had nothing to do with it. That's it. That's your only choice.

These aren't the only two options. Many, many writers have openly acknowledged inspiration by other writers without presenting their work as a sequel using the same names/etc. as the work that inspired them.

 

[MelissaBaby]

In the hypothetical situation where you have inspired a fan, someone already writes a Ranger Ramona sequel. That is a thing that happened, the horse has left the barn. Nothing you can do will prevent that from having happened.

The only thing you can do is decide whether they post it as a Ranger Ramona sequel and give credit to you, or change the names to Ranger Rachel and pretend you had nothing to do with it. That's it. That's your only choice.

Someone was inspired by your work and wrote something based on that inspiration. Do you want to be given credit for that inspiration? Or do you want them to publicly pretend you never existed and pass off work inspired by you as wholly original?

No, I don't want to take credit for someone else's theft.

Why don't you get this?

 

[MajorRewrite]

Would that be so bad?

Yes

 

[RocketGrunt]

No, I don't want to take credit for someone else's theft.

Why don't you get this?

No one is being stolen from. People are inspired to write smut. And you very well might be one of the people to inspire that smut.

So again. What has happened in this hypothetical is that someone has been so inspired by your Ranger Ramona story that they have written their own Ranger Ramona story. It exists. It's on their computer. They polish it up, and now they think it's good enough that they want to show other people. Maybe it sucks, maybe it's good. Maybe it's better or worse than what you would have written. Maybe it goes in a direction you wouldn't have. But none of those maybes are particularly important.

What's important is that when it comes time to submit their story to Literotica they have two and only two choices.
Choice One: They thank MelissaBaby for inspiring their Ranger Ramona story and submit it as-is.
Choice Two: They use find/replace on their document and change every instance of Ramona to Rachel and pass it off as their own unique work that came fully formed from their own mind.

That's it. Those are the only two choices. And no amount of temper tantrums on your part will change that. There is no horse so high that you can make there be an option three.

You're writing for free public consumption. That means that you should really look at Academic Writing as a model. Best practices for open access science journals are much more relevant to what we do than whatever Penguin Random House is doing.

 

[MelissaBaby]

No one is being stolen from. People are inspired to write smut. And you very well might be one of the people to inspire that smut.

So again. What has happened in this hypothetical is that someone has been so inspired by your Ranger Ramona story that they have written their own Ranger Ramona story. It exists. It's on their computer. They polish it up, and now they think it's good enough that they want to show other people. Maybe it sucks, maybe it's good. Maybe it's better or worse than what you would have written. Maybe it goes in a direction you wouldn't have. But none of those maybes are particularly important.

What's important is that when it comes time to submit their story to Literotica they have two and only two choices.
Choice One: They thank MelissaBaby for inspiring their Ranger Ramona story and submit it as-is.
Choice Two: They use find/replace on their document and change every instance of Ramona to Rachel and pass it off as their own unique work that came fully formed from their own mind.

That's it. Those are the only two choices. And no amount of temper tantrums on your part will change that. There is no horse so high that you can make there be an option three.

You're writing for free public consumption. That means that you should really look at Academic Writing as a model. Best practices for open access science journals are much more relevant to what we do than whatever Penguin Random House is doing.

You keep trying to sell this, and I keep telling you that I'm not buying it.

Enough already.

 

[RocketGrunt]

You keep trying to sell this, and I keep telling you that I'm not buying it.

Enough already.

What is the third option that you think exists?

The fan has their Ranger Ramona fanwork finished. They change the names before publication, or they don't change the names before publication. That really seems to be the entirety of possibilities with respect to the character names.

If you think there is a third option, you should be able to articulate what it is. Since you're demanding that your fans take this fantastic third option, you should tell them what it fucking is so they can do it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

What's important is that when it comes time to submit their story to Literotica they have two and only two choices.
Choice One: They thank MelissaBaby for inspiring their Ranger Ramona story and submit it as-is.
Choice Two: They use find/replace on their document and change every instance of Ramona to Rachel and pass it off as their own unique work that came fully formed from their own mind.

That's it. Those are the only two choices. And no amount of temper tantrums on your part will change that.

This is kinda patronising and childish tbh. She's not having a "temper tantrum", she's just not agreeing with you.

There is no horse so high that you can make there be an option three.

These are the adventures of Rachel the Rover.

[100k words later]

Thanks for reading! This story was inspired by MelissaBaby's 'Ranger Ramona' series, if you enjoyed this please check out her work."

There. Option three. Was that so hard?

You're writing for free public consumption. That means that you should really look at Academic Writing as a model. Best practices for open access science journals are much more relevant to what we do than whatever Penguin Random House is doing.

Not really, no. The purpose of publishing in a science journal is VERY different to the purpose of writing fiction.

 

[Omenainen]

What is the third option that you think exists?

The fan has their Ranger Ramona fanwork finished. They change the names before publication, or they don't change the names before publication. That really seems to be the entirety of possibilities with respect to the character names.

If you think there is a third option, you should be able to articulate what it is. Since you're demanding that your fans take this fantastic third option, you should tell them what it fucking is so they can do it.

They can keep the story private and jerk off to it to their heart’s content. That’s the third option.

 

[RocketGrunt]

They can keep the story private and jerk off to it to their heart’s content. That’s the third option.

But they aren't going to do that. They are going to publish it in some form for the same reason you publish your stories.

I mean, you published at least one thing in Chain Stories, so I imagine on some level you appreciate the desire someone might have to continue a story they enjoyed with the hope that someone else might further continue it.

So given that they HAVE written a story and the ARE going to publish it, they will either IP Scrub it or not IP Scrub it. Or you can keep pretending there's a relevant third option.

 

[MelissaBaby]

What is the third option that you think exists?

The fan has their Ranger Ramona fanwork finished. They change the names before publication, or they don't change the names before publication. That really seems to be the entirety of possibilities with respect to the character names.

If you think there is a third option, you should be able to articulate what it is. Since you're demanding that your fans take this fantastic third option, you should tell them what it fucking is so they can do it.

The third option, obviously, is to write their own damn stories.

Now, please stop pestering me.

 

[SimonDoom]

But they aren't going to do that. They are going to publish it in some form for the same reason you publish your stories.

I mean, you published at least one thing in Chain Stories, so I imagine on some level you appreciate the desire someone might have to continue a story they enjoyed with the hope that someone else might further continue it.

So given that they HAVE written a story and the ARE going to publish it, they will either IP Scrub it or not IP Scrub it. Or you can keep pretending there's a relevant third option.

Your idea of "IP Scrub" may be different from mine. You seem to think that if they just change the names there's no IP problem. I don't agree with that.

If this person came to me and asked permission to write a sequel or conclusion to a story I wrote, I might well say yes. I'd be flattered that they want to do that.

But if they did it without my permission and I found out, I'd immediately send a message to Laurel asking it to be removed. If the author changed the names, I'd send Laurel a long and detailed message detailing the ways in which the new story ripped off the creative expression contained in mine. And based on what Laurel has said so far, and the commitment she had expressed concerning adherence to copyrights, I'm confident she would remove the story. IP doesn't just consist of names and specific text.

 

[Voboy]

What is the third option that you think exists?

Did they ask me first?

If not, then my third option is a PM to Laurel. She'll remove that trash, and she'll do it tout suite; she has a track record on this issue.

We cannot control what others choose to do. But this site can, and does, control what gets published here. By using this site, we tacitly agree to that level of control. Start your own site if you don't fancy the way this one works.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

But if they did it without my permission and found out, I'd immediately send a message to Laurel asking it to be removed. If the author changed the names, I'd send Laurel a long and detailed message detailing the ways in which the new story ripped off the creative expression contained in mine. And based on what Laurel has said so far, and the commitment she had expressed concerning adherence to copyrights, I'm confident she would remove the story. IP doesn't just consist of names and specific text.

That happened to me with a new "author" copying part of my story (after scrambling it a little) and posting it, just a few days after my story premiered. I reported it to Laurel and she removed it and banned the "author" in short order before sending me an apology for it slipping through.

As for the any publicity is good publicity argument, at least one of my fans was upset that I would have something to do with such a shenanigan and voted down my original story until I explained the situation, so yes, a theft of intellectual property can have negative consequences for the original creator if things go wrong.

 

[Voboy]

I mean, you published at least one thing in Chain Stories, so I imagine on some level you appreciate the desire someone might have to continue a story they enjoyed with the hope that someone else might further continue it.

Publishing in Chain Stories carries with it a consensual expectation that others can use your IP and you can use theirs. There is a respect factor conveyed by that consensual expectation, a respect that does not exist in situations when someone uses another's IP without consent.

I'm starting to agree with Melissa: you simply don't get this. Which is fine, but... stop trying to argue about it. As far as this site is concerned, you are quite frankly wrong.

 

[StillStunned]

Publishing in Chain Stories carries with it a consensual expectation that others can use your IP and you can use theirs. There is a respect factor conveyed by that consensual expectation, a respect that does not exist in situations when someone uses another's IP without consent.

I'd say that with Chain Stories the IP is jointly created and jointly held. Everyone participating in the project is involved in the basic premise, after all, and the whole idea is to build on the previous chapters.

On the other hand, in a shared universe (like the City of Scum), I'd say the IP lies with the writer, on the understanding that other writers may use it *within that same setting*.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I mean, you published at least one thing in Chain Stories, so I imagine on some level you appreciate the desire someone might have to continue a story they enjoyed with the hope that someone else might further continue it.

Desiring something does not, in fact, give one rights to it. And the fact that somebody consents to collaborate with somebody they know in one set of circumstances doesn't mean they've consented to all and sundry unilaterally opting to "collaborate" with their work.

 

[lovecraft68]

As far as Literotica is concerned, I do wish that the site would exercise some control over stories that have sat stagnant and incomplete for years. Delete them and let the writer resubmit if and when they get back into the mood or overcome whatever obstacles they have faced to cause the stagnation. Maybe if writers knew that they had a deadline to complete their story, they would be either motivated to keep at it, or better yet, complete it before publishing.

I don't agree they have the right to do this or should, it would create a lot of problems.

But I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't like to see series that were not finished, or have no intention on being finished at 100+ chapter and counting because many of those are cash cows for Patreon and ways to manipulate top lists, dealt with as in a limit to how many chapters, or a time limit on how long one can run before the site locks it down and leaved it incomplete. That and until a series is finished none of the chapters qualify for top lists.

See how fast things finish up if that was brought into play.

 

[Voboy]

On the other hand, in a shared universe (like the City of Scum), I'd say the IP lies with the writer, on the understanding that other writers may use it *within that same setting*.

Yes, Leinyere worked the same way. I was very happy to write in that kind of environment, where we all collaborated on the setting.

Again, it's about mutual respect and consent. This isn't all that difficult for most of us to grasp.

 

[SimonDoom]

As for the any publicity is good publicity argument, at least one of my fans was upset that I would have something to do with such a shenanigan and voted down my original story until I explained the situation, so yes, a theft of intellectual property can have negative consequences for the original creator if things go wrong.

This is a great point I hadn't even considered.

The thing that bugs me about people who say things like "any publicity is good publicity" is this: you don't get to decide that for other people. If that's how you feel about your stories, fine. What bothers me about the "this isn't anything to get worked up about" attitude is that one has no right to tell other people what to get worked up about. Respect that others can feel about their work differently from the way you feel about yours, and if you're going to be a decent person be mindful of how they feel when you're thinking about using their story.

I personally don't get too worked up when my stories get ripped off. One of my stories has literally been copied and posted under other names on other websites, and for all I know it's happened to other stories, too. It's annoying, but it's not something I gnash my teeth over.

What I DON'T like is people rationalizing, "I just want to use your story and I don't give a fuck what you feel or think about that because you have no right to feel that way."

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I don't agree they have the right to do this or should, it would create a lot of problems.

I think most of us would agree that Literotica certainly has "the right" to control what gets published on the site. Whether they should exercise that right to deal with stagnant series or incomplete stories is something I can accept as debatable.