Membership Stuck in the middle with you

[Bamf 11]

Sooooooooo guys and gals… this is going to be a bit long winded.

 

This was a delicate situation that happened recently. I’m looking for feedback. I literally just dealt with as best as I could, and tried to take all of my own personal emotions out of the equation…. Here it goes.

 

I use to role play on a Site A with two other people that now currently role play on my site. I’m going to call them Phoebe and Stella.

 

I role played a lot with Phoebe. She and I had a major canon ship and lots of plots and it was pretty smutty so it was very popular. I also had a rarely used canon plot going with another player. Phoebe ended up picking up a second character- even though the site was canon- she created her own concept and put details into the character that aren’t normally used at all (I’ve never seen- but that’s not saying much as I’m still a newbie).

 

Stella loved our stuff. Which was flattering, but would often try to recreate our plots- with me. I would constantly remind Stella that I was already doing something like that with Phoebe and didn’t want to do the same plot over and over again. I felt it was plot stealing, but I never said anything. Stella also tried to steal my rare canon plot too. I was feeling the heat, but again, I said nothing and moved on.

Eventually, I moved on from the original site and made my own. Both Phoebe and Stella joined. I was weary of Stella at first, due to the attempts at plot snatching, but they seemed to have changed and were doing pretty good.

 

Stella asked to be staff. I’ll be honest. Logically, I knew better from past experience with this person, but I really needed the help, so I just ignored the red flags. (Majorly dumb mistake). Stella ended up causes a lot of drama as a staff member with members on the site. When stuff was going on, they would insert themselves and make matters worse. I ended up spending more time cleaning up messes with members than I did anything else. Finally, Stella and I came to a point, either stop making issues, or you’re off staff.

 

I’m not even joking- the next morning, I wake up to a message from Phoebe. (Remember that canon character she did back on Site A- with a unique and interesting concept all her own? Yea that one.) Well, Phoebe had been on lurking on Site B and saw that Stella was playing that same character- exactly how she was. I took a look at both Phoebe's application on Site A and Stella's on Site B. To me it was blatant, but I also role play extensively with her character.  Phoebe was understandably upset.

 

It should be noted that Stella did not copy and paste, but she took Phoebe’s application and reworded it -now if it was some Wikipedia version, then it could be kind of understandable as it’s canon, but this was not strictly canon. Also, Stella never writes apps in first person, but this was was in first person just like Phoebe's original app. This one mimicked Phoebe’s on so many levels, from Face Claim (I know it’s common for people to use the same face), the outline of the history and all the original concepts that Phoebe had put into the character, even some of the original IC quotes Phoebe had made up for the history.

 

NOW the fun part.

 

The original app was on an old site. The ‘reworded’ app was on a different site. Both members are on my site. I felt put in the middle. Because the plagiarism didn’t happen on my site, but I also felt like I had to protect my members. Instantly, Stella was kicked off staff. I took to issue to staff only, and asked them to help me decide. It was half and half, full out ban and the others were undecided.

I compromised, 7 day ban and no new character for awhile.The other reason behind this, is we didn’t want to force the admins on the other site to make their decision, but still wanted to protect our members. We informed Stella of the issue, but kept it vague, though we told them it was due to plagiarism. While Stella was banned, she reached out to other members and told them what was going on. Which backfired for them, because these members got worried that Stella was stealing their stuff. Then Stella threaten to leave all together and a bunch of other stuff. (I refused to engage, cause I knew there was no winning for me.)

 

Whew… I promise not much longer.

 

The other site, decided that it was not plagiarism and did nothing. Which I’m not her to judge them on their decision, cause hell it was hard enough for me to figure out what I was doing.

Stella sent me a long apology PM and then a few days later, asked a staff member to get me to apologize to them because the other site decided it wasn’t plagiarism.

However, I told Stella, what the other site does or decides is up to them. On my site, we concluded that she had stolen Phoebe’s concept. And we dealt with it accordingly, as well as I could of.

So, the dust has kind of settled now. Most of the members didn’t seem to notice the change or even know there was an issue (except for the members Stella reached out to). Phoebe has been cool about it, and just won’t thread with Stella anymore.

 

The question is… was this an overreaction? How could I deal with a member informing me of plagiarism going on? I get that it happened on another site, but this person was a staff member (somehow I think it makes it different… I think. But should I treat staff different than if it was a regular member? What do I do  if this happens again and it’s a regular member? Should Stella have been banned in the first place?

 

Thanks for reading. I know- really long story. I appreciate any feedback and constructive criticism! Thanks guys and gals! ❤❤❤❤❤

 

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by Bamf

[CovertSphinx 710]

I think you handled it just fine - and in the most FAIR way you could given the situation.

[Rune 1,099]

I'd say you did fine. If a member brings it up, you're free to explain the situation and let them know the blatant similarities. You made it clear it wasn't acceptable and that you knew it was happening elsewhere and wouldn't be tolerated on your board.

 

Stella is trying to keep the 'power' she had and doesn't want to let it go. I'm honestly surprised she's still around. And you also learned the valuable lesson of being a little paranoid about who you make staff!

[Bamf 11]

Thank you both very much! Sorry for the long story! Whew! So many parts!

And yes, I learned a lot from this situation- especially about making people staff. 

<3 I appreciate the feedback a lot!

[Rune 1,099]

We all have those situations that make us stress out. I've been doing this for years and still freak out when I have to ban someone.

[Bamf 11]

It's terrifying! And I feel guilty! I only have one full IP ban right now (knocks on all the wood), crossing my fingers that I won't have another.

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by Bamf

[Zahhy 130]

I think you did the right thing. The next best thing you can do is write a no-tolerance plagiarism policy into your rules and even then that's just to cover you in case someone asks why it's such a big deal.

 

We don't have any formally written rules like that at Sirocco because it seems so normal to me for having unsaid moral clauses as writers and gamers in all online game sites. You're the admin, if you feel that anyone doesn't fit with your game because they've done something wrong, you have full rights to ban them and protect your members regardless of if the action happened on your site or while they were admin.

 

That is a tough situation to be in, and I'm sorry you had to deal with it, but good on you for keeping the backlash low and your major member base oblivious. That's good on you!

 

 

[Rune 1,099]

I'd like to add that you did good on letting the other site know. Even if they opt to do nothing it's worth knowing as staff as it could come to bite them in the ass.

 

Id rather know it's a possibility and not ever have to act on it than to be blindsided one day.

[Icewolf 258]

You did the right thing, and not just over the plagiarism issue, but because Stella was making matters worse when issues came up on the site. (I get the feeling that she was doing it on purpose because she wanted the 'place' that Phoebe had with you, and was probably quite obsessive about it, too.)