This note is specially addressed to pyrodynamo, sicariorum and half-sleeping, and other influential members of the Kuroko no Basuke fandom.
This is pinecone & bob2ff, both fanfiction writers in the KuroBasu fandom. We wanted to comment on the recent plagiarism issue concerning aomeanie, pyrodynamo and idyllis, and Tre anon on AO3. We don’t know aomeanie at all. But we are personally worried of the fact that aomeanie has been driven out of the fandom, and we think that the handling of the situation has been thrown out of control.
We have been resting from the fandom for a while, but we feel that we have a responsibility to comment now that we know about this issue. We do not want to be apathetic bystanders,and this is why we are commenting on this issue.
Firstly, we fully disclose that we are commenting from an urge to offer emotional support to aomeanie. We think that aomeanie needs a voice from her perspective, as we are worried about her current psychological / physical state. We believe, above all things, in treating others decently. Whether plagiarism has been done or not, whether it’s done repeatedly, or even if another person has treated us badly. This is our fundamental, unshakeable belief. We all love KnB after all, and in our shared love for the fandom, we should treat each other as part of a community,
Next, this part is on the matter of plagiarism as a whole, and how we choose to deal with it as members of a fandom. This matter first came to our attention because people influential in the Kuroko no Basuke fandom, namely sicariorum and half-sleeping, have been signal boosting this issue. Frankly, we are not so sure that signal boosting is the best way to deal with this issue, and plagiarism in general.
There are two issues this commentary deals with:
Whether it constitutes as plagiarism or not
If it is plagiarism, how to deal with it
For the first issue: Whether it constitutes as plagiarism or not
There are currently no controls put in place in fanfiction for whether something is plagiarism or not. In the first place, we are all using Fujimaki’s characters as a tribute when we write about it. Sure, we create our own original plotlines and dialogue associated with it, but in the end, we are still all trying to learn from the characters created by Fujimaki, and using the elements of his plotline and characterization to further our writing skills.
If you read Neil Gaiman’s opinion on fanfiction, that is exactly how we feel about this issue.
We will say in public now, we are completely okay with people using our storylines and learning from them, because we are firmly in the camp that fanfiction is a training ground for actual writing, and if our stuff helps people learn to write better, we would accept that as the highest compliment. We completely understand the emotional need to be possessive over creativity, but in the medium of fanfiction, there are so many overlaps and common tropes that the lines get very blurred. The fact that there are no laws or legal processes associated with this medium makes it even more complicated.
That leads us to the second issue, which is, how to deal with it if it is plagiarism.
For the second issue: If it is plagiarism, how to deal with it
The fact is, it seems to us that aomeanie, at least from her messages to pyrodynamo, that she is very concerned about whether what she is doing is plagiarism or not. She reached out to ensure that she wasn't committing plagiarism, and she was just trying to learn.
This is why we are worried about the fact that all this signal boosting and public call-outs have driven her completely out of the fandom. We personally do not believe that this is the right way to deal with this issue, or plagiarism. Firstly, this is because aomeanie ends up not learning at all. Instead, she is driven out of the fandom.
Secondly, if plagiarism is occurring, then we believe the medium of fanfiction is such that the best way to deal with it is, if it really is a matter of personal interest, to firstly reach out to the supposed plagiarizer. Maybe the plagiarizer is like aomeanie, and needs guidance in what’s plagiarism vs. what’s inspiration. The fact that she looks up to writers like idyllis and pyrodynamo should mean all the more that they could be her mentors.
If the plagiarizer really meant to plagiarise, then maybe signal boosting could be the way to deal with it. But the fact is, the medium of the Internet and Tumblr is such that signal boosting could occur with just a click of the button. It is so easy to share, and thus, it is too easy to ruin the reputation of someone who could just be trying to learn. It is too easy to drive someone out of a fandom, and too easy to make assumptions about them, reasonable or not.
We know this is a long commentary...but because this issue is so complex, it requires a long post. An issue this multi-faceted, emotionally-charged and subjective requires extended discussion. It deserves more than just a click to reblog/signal boost, or short-phrased anon asks.
We are open to receive asks, replies, etc. and welcome further discourse and discussion on this issue.
