Issues of Plagarism
General forum
Posted on Aug. 16, 2021, 6:12 p.m. by EnbyGolem
Hello all! I recently discovered that my deck An Old-School Nightmare has been copied and posted on a different site. I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar thing happen to them and maybe some advice on what to do about it.
I don't mind people using my deck list but this user copied everything verbatim, including update posts and deck description (complete with a short memory of my childhood). Ideally, I would like my work credited and not straight-up copied in its entirety.
What do you all think? Anyone have any advice? I don't have an account to Aetherhub but I might have to make one in order to fill a report.
TypicalTimmy says... #3
Peoyogon, have you asked an admin to enable links for you? You need to do that as they are prevented to help cut down on spam accounts.
August 16, 2021 7:38 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #4
But to answer your question, Peoyogon, I would say the best course of action is to make an account on that site and message the user of that deck and ask them to at least credit you in the description or comments.
If they are unwilling, I would suggest elevate to that sites admins which can probably be found quite easily. Be sure to link your deck link so they can verify it.
But realistically, while it make hurt seeing someone else posting your deck as their own, you don't technically "own" the rights to it. If anything, WOTC does. So, sadly, I am not sure much can be done or enforced other than merely asking for credits - if they are willing to.
August 16, 2021 7:47 p.m.
It happens. I've had decks copied - description and all including hyperlinks to other T/O stuff on MtG Goldfish.
As much as it sucks, it's probably not worth chasing down. I know it feels bad when you've gone to all this effort for somebody to just pilfer all your work and pretend that it was theirs, but given that it's just a decklist and a description that you're publically posting, I would just take it as a compliment and move on.
I'm also not stopping you from creating an account to Aetherhub and filing a report - if you would like to persue it then that is your call.
August 16, 2021 7:49 p.m.
Copying a decklist and even a primer/summery of how a deck works is one thing; but negligently including memories of your childhood is just cringe... dont know if there is anything you can or even should do but you have my condolences.
Oddly enough this article popped up on my phone today. Its an article about a professor who succeeded in getting a copyright for his decklist...long story short its very silly; and I enjoyed some of the comments in regards to this article.
August 16, 2021 8:15 p.m.
Icbrgr - I saw a different version of that article today. The guy who did that is an ass - he likely knows lists of things cannot be copyrighted, but also knows that copyright clerks are not experts on every field, so sometimes things slip past that shouldn’t. Basically he’s wasting a whole bunch of the Copyright office’s (and potentially courts if he ever tries to litigate over his copyright) time on something he knows is a waste of time.
As someone who knows a number of copyright attorneys, I have nothing but contempt for this fool.
August 16, 2021 8:23 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #8
The button at the bottom of the page on every deck that says "Download / Export / Embed Code" or something similar to that... does that copy everything? Decklist and description?
If so, could it be possible our friend over at Aetherhub merely clicked that and just didn't know?
August 16, 2021 8:27 p.m. Edited.
Thanks for the responses, yall - I really appreciate it! Yeah, I totally agree and definitely don't mind people borrowing deck ideas at all. The copy of the description is definitely more where I feel weird; it's kind of strange seeing a little kernel of your personal memory on someone else's account, lol.
That's totally possible, TypicalTimmy. I don't really know how much info comes with exporting decks :-/
August 17, 2021 2:16 a.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #10
I would report it to an admin of that site. Granted, theres not terribly much clout/internet fame tied to deck building sites - people should still earn their keep and have integrity about it. Sure, some decks will have overlap or be 98% the same in some cases but I'm guessing the guy just copy and pasted everything without much thought because he saw it had some number of views and wanted the validation without putting in the work.
August 17, 2021 5:20 p.m.
TypicalTimmy i don't think so... it wouldn't have pulled over the description.
also a lot of other sites simply automate copying en masse decks from here for whatever reason.
i would just reach out to the sites, i am sure they don't want to be peeving anyone off with such things.
EnbyGolem says... #2
For some reason, my post is cutting off the URL to the copied deck so here it is for anyone interested: https://aetherhub.com/Deck/-an-old-school-nightmare
August 16, 2021 6:18 p.m.