R1ngBanana Banana Bunch @r1ngbanana - Tumblr Blog

Been on a little redrawing spree and decided to tackle this sidlink pic from 2017! Used a lot more different brushes this time lmao I did definitely make my life harder by drawing Sidon's accessories this time around

jeriafterdark

from this

bsky / other one

notfinancialadvice

This is so fucking embarrassing. This is one of the most embarrassing business quips I have ever seen in my entire vile career.

birdsareblooming

coat bath

estrogenesis-eeveeangelion

tag yourselves i'm the GREAT ROOM beside the GOURMET KITCHEN

pocket-deer-belly

i remade it in the sims 4

sydchan

Hey, sorry for the random ask. I assume this is "sydchan" from FictionPress? I ask because this website "word-stream" is stealing people's fanfics, and putting them being an AI Audiobook paywall (they also just... post all/most of the fic itself). They don't even have your name on this which I thought sucked. i just wanted to let you know

This is the same person as the sydchan on Fictionpress!

I think I found the site you were talking about, although I wasn’t able to pinpoint which fics of mine they uploaded. Search brought up nothing but I suppose if they changed the title, that would make it even harder to find. So if you have a link or knew which one(s) it was, I would love to see, mostly out of morbid curiosity (also in theory, could maybe try to contact them myself). But no worries if you didn’t save it or don’t recall. I can try and dig more later. Unless this was more meant as a general warning about the site. Which is fine too. And thank you for the heads up! I don’t really care about the reuploading part, since I’ve always known that’s one of the risks of uploading things on the internet. The making people pay for it part is the actual scummy part. People can read that nonsense I wrote for free! Don’t make them pay for it!

I still wouldn’t actually take those stories down from fictionpress tho. Since would rather just keep them there and whatever happens with them happens. If people steal them, they steal them (plus the digital footprint is pretty permanent for them by this point).

But thank you again for the heads up and if you do have the link of which ones it was, would appreciate seeing it.

r1ngbanana

Hello! I'm a complete newb who has no idea how tumblr works lmao. This is where I found it: https://word-stream.com/3807366c-b3dc-4112-89e2-c2d75b416618 Clickable link for easier

ekingston

does anyone know wtf word-stream.com is or where to send them a takedown request? i just found a bunch of fics, including my own, hosted on this AI slop site—apparently offering what I assume are AI-generated audiobook versions & (equally AI-generated) ratings and reviews. i can’t take a closer look without signing up, which, no thank you, but it looks like they’re hosting the full fics and are peddling a paid subscription for the trouble of hosting them. can someone more knowledgeable than me explain what our options are in this situation?

makicarn

First of all, I'm really sorry to all the authors that have had their works stolen and hosted on this site, this really sucks.

If you try to click on any of the sites, you get a link to the App Store app, which is called "WordStream - Audiobooks".

Who is Ofek Weitzman? Apparently he's also known as Cliff Weitzman, the CEO of Speechify, an AI Voice generator app famous for its partnership with Snoop.

Also, Cliff Weitzman is named as the copyright holder at the bottom:

If you search for Ofek/Cliff Weitzman, you find his name in the terms and conditions for Speechify.

Strange that someone with a legitimate company with a partnership with Brandon Sanderson would put their name behind a shady company stealing works from fanfic writers, but it may be worth reaching out to him on X.

Best case scenario is that someone has stolen the name for an app, but in that case, it would be good for him to know.

Otherwise, it would be good to start a dialogue about how authors can get their works taken down from this site!

makicarn

It really does seem like this is the right guy to contact, based on the Youtube channel for WordStream, which features Cliff Weitzman!

Given his desire to work with authors, I hope he's responsive to fanfic writers and can get everyone's works taken down.

ekingston

Thank you @makicarn & @fazedlight (see her reblog in the tags) for finding more information!! According to the listings for the app it's only been live since October, which explains why we haven't heard much about it yet. The website also purports to provide access to AI-voiced classic novels like (at a glance) Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick and Sherlock Holmes, all of which are all in the public domain, which leads me to think the creator of the website wrongfully assumes copyright doesn't pertain to fan fiction.

Per @echoekhi 's advice (who's done invaluable work for fandom with their project Copy-Knight) I have contacted OTW Legal, hoping they can help. Because word-stream doesn't list a formal policy regarding copyright violations, and Weitzman doesn't appear to publically own up to his connection to the website anywhere, (correction: I just watched the YouTube shorts Maki linked to and his face is right there along with the boast that we can access all of these free works for just one teensy payment, isn’t that just SO GENEROUS OF HIM) I agree with them that it's inadvisable to file a DMCA takedown at this point. I wouldn't trust it 1. with my personal information and 2. for it to actually go anywhere. That being said it's definitely something to keep an eye on and obviously anyone whose work is listed there should do their own research and decide for themselves which steps they want to take.

Sorry to bring attention to such a crummy thing right before the holidays!!