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general furry discussion => general furry discussion => Topic started by: Iara Warriorfeather on March 08, 2021, 02:09:50 am

Title: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Iara Warriorfeather on March 08, 2021, 02:09:50 am
Hi everyone,

So this happened the other day--I was Googling my novel title, to ensure someone didn't have the bright idea of taking my work and claiming it as their own or some nonsense. The first page had all of my own website links (which is good!) but then...at the bottom of the first page on Google, a site called So Furry dot anthro dot fr appeared, and it listed all of the deleted chapters of my novel, Iara's Crossing, which I've since updated and I wish to publish offline!

 :goldpissed:

Needless to say, I was furious! I contacted the site owner and requested to remove my novel in addition to accessible NSFW content that I had hidden from the general public through SoFurry. After this was done, I posted on SoFurry's forum and contacted the mods:

https://www.sofurry.com/forum/view/thread?id=56586

And...I also put in a notice to the Furry Writers' Guild Discord group, in case anyone else found their works circulating on this site. Thousands of authors have their work on this "search engine," much of which was either deleted by the author years before, or reposted without their permission.

SoFurry's user responses have been apathetic, to say the least.

I'm so disappointed. I had no idea any of this was happening, and when I confront people on it, all I get is "well once it's on the Internet it's there forever!" kind of attitude. Which is frustrating, because (a) I deleted things! and (b) I expected better of a server whose purpose is to house and protect authors' works, including their copyrights.

*sigh* I wasted my whole weekend taking down everything from my SoFurry account and confronting a SF user who made this "search engine." They even had a Patreon to support it!  >:(

Anyway. Thought I would let you all know what happened with this situation, as some of you are writers and might have works on SF.

I hope this gets resolved. Otherwise, it's like losing FA all over again.  >:(
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Jade Sinapu on March 08, 2021, 08:04:40 pm
The concept that people should just suck it up and take it in the ear that all they ever did, will be forever searchable, is total nonsense in my book.  I believe in starting over.  Some things need to be remembered about a person and their actions, but not writing a furry novel and then changing their minds.
A few of my recent posts here even talk about how Google is data mining about you and me, and how this is not cool, just like this bot/archiver site you mentioned.

So if you created content and changed it, and wanted to now publish $ a new work based on that old work, and some jerk is posting the old stuff potentially as their own or without reference, yeah that stinks.  Makes it foggy who wrote what, and when, thus no one will publish that for money if they can't prove who owns it.  I guess next time if you have a novel you think will make coin, go straight to a publisher and tell them NO ONE has seen it except them.

The idea that "if you don't want it stolen, don't post it" is a voice from the type of people who are potentially rather young, have nothing , thus nothing to lose, and think sharing ideas and such with everyone all the time is okay.  IMHO these people do not yet have to fight for a bite to eat, fight to find a place to live, nor fight to plainly stay alive and build a retirement.  Most people I have run into who think share and share alike for absolutely everything are people who, again, have absolutely nothing, do not do something original and take pride in it, or are totally taken care of by others and do not have a clue.  You probably worked hard at your novel, take pride in it, and wanted to share what you wanted to share, you wanted the control over your creation, and some jerk is taking that away.  I do not like that.
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Kada-Ru on March 10, 2021, 01:28:38 pm
What I have noticed through my years of posting my art on the net is that it DOES pose the threat of being stolen.  There is no way around that.  Yes, it would be nice to be able to post stuff to the net and get paid for it but remember, there are unscrupulous people out there that are waiting to 'steal' from others to make a profit for themselves.

I keep in mind that when I post something to the net, whether on my own web page or at other sites, there is the possibility that there will be other people out there that, instead of creating their own works, just want to steal works from others.  Not caring how much time and effort that someone put into that work!

I agree that if you want to protect your work, send it to a publisher FIRST.  That way you have a copyright on it and can prove it is yours.  Another way I learned years ago, is that once you complete a piece of work, send it in an envelope to yourself but DON'T open it.  That will also prove the date of your work before posting it to the web.  It is probably cheaper to do the mail bit but also you will have the happiness of having something you wrote/created actually in print!

I don't believe you should just sit back and watch your stuff be stolen and even after contacting the parties about the theft.  It is true, that once it is uploaded to the net, it is there FOREVER and there isn't anything any one of us can do about it.  I feel bad that your work was stolen.  Years ago I had artwork stolen and they were posted on another site without my permission.  Luckily, I was able to get my work removed once I contacted the host.  But, that doesn't mean my art isn't still out there on someone else's site.  I just don't know about it.  There isn't anything you can do about it. Period.

All we can do is try to protect our creations BEFORE uploading to the net.
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Kobuk on March 10, 2021, 02:16:19 pm
Anytime anybody posts something.........anything.........on the Net, it is bound to get noticed by somebody and copied, downloaded, stolen, etc., etc.
Once it's on the Net, it's gone and may not be yours anymore. And even if a person asks somebody to take something down off a site, that doesn't in any way mean the item is "completely" gone from the server.
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Kada-Ru on March 10, 2021, 06:05:59 pm
Exactly!  KKKKOOOOBBBBUUUUKKKK! *warm pegasus winged huggles*  Long time no 'see'!  LOL

Anytime anybody posts something.........anything.........on the Net, it is bound to get noticed by somebody and copied, downloaded, stolen, etc., etc.
Once it's on the Net, it's gone and may not be yours anymore. And even if a person asks somebody to take something down off a site, that doesn't in any way mean the item is "completely" gone from the server.
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Iara Warriorfeather on March 11, 2021, 11:40:37 pm
Thanks all for the replies!

I was able to contact the owner of SoFurry and the host of this "search engine," and they agreed to remove my private items and novel from the Internet. I also backed this up by going to Google directly and having each and every entry removed permanently. In addition, I went to the US Copyright Law site and got a copyright for my novel, so that once I do publish the latest version (which is NOT online in total in any way whatsoever), I don't have to stress over someone saying it is theirs.

I know in the end it is a losing battle, to have my stuff posted online *does* eventually mean someone out there will think it is okay to just copy-paste and take as theirs--such is life. But I am doing my best for that to *not* happen, as much as I can.

It's just frustrating and infuriating that this happened to me from a furry site well known in the furry community. It's not the first time someone in furry fandom showed me their true colors and turned out to swindle or take advantage of me (e.g., Califur XIV (which never happened, ugh), or certain furries in my local furry meetup), and I know that no matter where I go to post my stuff, there will be *someone* who wants to do the same...I was hoping against hope that overall furry fandom was a safer place to share my stuff than anywhere else. I don't like being proven wrong, is all.  :'(
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Iara Warriorfeather on March 11, 2021, 11:47:57 pm
I agree that if you want to protect your work, send it to a publisher FIRST.  That way you have a copyright on it and can prove it is yours.  Another way I learned years ago, is that once you complete a piece of work, send it in an envelope to yourself but DON'T open it.  That will also prove the date of your work before posting it to the web.  It is probably cheaper to do the mail bit but also you will have the happiness of having something you wrote/created actually in print!

Kada-Ru--I've learned my lesson the hard way, I suppose! From now on, any other stories I make besides my novel (including sequels) that I wish to publish offline will *stay* offline, until the big reveal. *sigh* I'm most upset with myself over this one, because I started posting my novel to Fur Rag years and years ago, without realizing the implications of what might happen years down the line, and that I would change the storyline altogether in future. *facepalm* Ah well...
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Jade Sinapu on March 12, 2021, 03:58:44 pm
I did search for things on that site you mentioned, and few popped up relating to your screen name, so I sort of wondered if you were having some success getting them to remove items. cool

glad you could get a copyright!
Title: Re: Anthro.fr and SoFurry Reposts-Authors Beware!
Post by: Iara Warriorfeather on March 13, 2021, 01:56:21 am
I did search for things on that site you mentioned, and few popped up relating to your screen name, so I sort of wondered if you were having some success getting them to remove items. cool

glad you could get a copyright!

Yes, the only things that pop up are stories already posted here, and that is no big deal to have on another site (and the link gets kicked to my SoFurry account, which is users only, and nothing is there anymore anyway).

I'm glad I secured a copyright as well, that was what worried me the most about this whole thing.