Friday, May 14, 2010

Sad Happenings

Let's not discuss the disgusting Cavaliers - Le Bron can go to HELL & play basketball there!

Assholes....

No, this post is about fandom issues.

One of my favorite authors in the Starsky & Hutch fandom, someone who I admire, who've I met and found a lovely, intelligent woman, who's done ALOT for the fandom - has plagiarized stories from other fandoms.

The proof is stupendous and very clear. She has apologized for three stories she's ripped off, but now there have been more found. And she states in her apology that her stories are "far, far, FAR, too close" to others'.

No, they aren't. THEY ARE IDENTICAL. THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME, OTHER THAN NAMES.

So the apology is only haff-assed IMO.

It's heartbreaking because this woman has done soooo much for the Starsky & Hutch fandom. She's also very popular in several other fandoms under a different pseudonym.

She's met alot of other fans at Cons.

And the worst is, she's accepted awards for writing - knowing that she had stolen from other writers. One of those awards is in the memory of a fan who was very nurturing to new writers, and a beloved member who lost her life to breast cancer.

She accepted this award in front of the woman's best friends!

I'm astounded and hurt at the level of betrayal. But I'm also astounded and disgusted by other fans who just want to "give her a hug". They feel there must be some underlying issues.

I don't care. This has been going on for at least 8 years, according to the proof printed on Live Journal.

She doesn't deserve our empathy. She doesn't deserve our hugs.

She needs to come completely clean and admit the plagiarization. Not just that she was careless and lazy and remembered paragraphs from others. She hasn't directly admitted her crime.

And it is a crime.

She STOLE from others. Yes, it's only writing. But writing is hard. And what's worse is the betrayal of trust.

I would welcome her back to the fandom once she admitted her mistake directly, and took a back seat in the fandom for a while. But her stories - if any - will always be suspect.

However, I doubt she will come back under her current pseudonyms. And I don't see her coming to any Cons in the future, either.

it's sad to know that someone you admire, have met, have discussed things with, has to steal to get accolades that she feels she needed.

The Compendium she put together gave her so many accolades and was hard & long work.

Wasn't that enough for her?

The reasons why will never be answered in full. Do we all the fans deserve an explanation? Yes. But I don't think all of us will ever be satisfied with any explanation.

It's a sad week for the Starsky & Hutch, Sentinel, and SG-1 fandoms.