When I first started in HP fandom I was accused of plagiarism because I used, if I remember correctly, three things: the sonorus charm (it's in the books); one character believing another is dead then finding out he isn't (hardly unique, to put it mildly) and one other that escapes me but was the same type of universal trope. Took me completely by surprise as I hadn't read the story in question (it was well-known but I was new to the fandom then) and on reading it all I could say was "WTF?" Fortunately a lot of readers chimed in to say basically "WTF? That's not plagiarism, you moron." That was comforting, because of course a plagiarist (had I been one) is going to deny it, so my denial was fairly meaningless. That could have been the end of my involvement in the fandom, because I would certainly have stepped away had I been branded a plagiarist.
To me it showed how ignorant some people can be about what actually constitutes plagiarism, and that, fortunately, a lot of other readers and writers are willing to speak up and go "Um, no, the general plotline of Romeo and Juliet [e.g.] - boy and girl fall in love, families disapprove, boy and girl fight to be together - is not copyrighted."
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Date: 2016-08-20 03:36 pm (UTC)To me it showed how ignorant some people can be about what actually constitutes plagiarism, and that, fortunately, a lot of other readers and writers are willing to speak up and go "Um, no, the general plotline of Romeo and Juliet [e.g.] - boy and girl fall in love, families disapprove, boy and girl fight to be together - is not copyrighted."