Young Writers Society

Okay, so if this doesn't belong here then...forgive me, 'cause I wasn't sure where else to put it. o.O

I was talking to an online friend of mine a few nights ago, and essentially she said that it was better to, if you're going to join message boards for writers at all, join boards where the writing people post is hidden from unregistered members so that the writing will be more protected from plagiarists. I LOVE YWS, so I don't want to just STOP posting here because of the sections for writing being public. It didn't matter before (and I didn't really think about it) because other than the ideas I've been posting for my most recent project, I ended up not continuing with most of the stuff I've posted here, so I don't care AS much about it.

Basically what I was just wondering is whether or not it'd be possible to make a section or something that would be for posting writing but only registered members could see it.

What's the difference? If someone really wanted to plagiarize that badly, they could make an account here very easily, and it wouldn't take them much time.

The difference is that save for trolls/bots (which I haven't seen any of since I joined), there's a certain element of trust you gain from fellow members, especially those who are really serious about someday publishing your writing. There isn't as MUCH of a chance of someone plagiarizing your work if it's protected from unregistered members. It's still a danger, but it's not as untrustworthy as it is if it's just left public.

-Shrug- it's just something I was wondering, that's all...I'm really kind of hesitant to post more of my writing here because of it being in public to unregistered members.

The only alternative I can think of is for there to a critique group made and have people who are paranoid about their writing being stolen post their writing there. Those who are paranoid/serious about someday publishing would still have the element of trust, though the amount of readers could potentially be smaller, depending on how many people would join.

I believe Nate recently posted some things on plagiarism in the Info Desk. Sort of a contract or something, I forget exactly what.

I don't worry about plagiarism. It's never bothered me. If you are worried about it, on one of your more serious projects, research copyright laws, and consider getting a copyright on your work.

I would like a section that can be seen to members only, but for a different reason. On another forum I ventured, there was a section where your work would be posted for X amount of days, then deleted and removed from archives altogether. It was also only viewable to members. But this wasn't for plagiarism, this was for publishing. This would save a lot of hassle with the first print rule that lots of publishers uphold. Some of them will also not take work that has been put online anywhere, and this circumvents that in a way because though it is online, it then gets removed entirely. Although, not every magazine/publishing company considers web forums as going against their first print rule.

If you make users register, you can gain the IP of the member who you may think who stole your work- tho, then you've got to find out which member who stole your work XD

-ok, this wont work

If you are worried about it, on one of your more serious projects, research copyright laws, and consider getting a copyright on your work.

The problem with that is that it really only makes sense to copyright something (which, apparently I have intellectual copyright as soon as it goes from my bran to paper/computer) if it's finished, and a final draft, and I don't have either of that right now. My only source of getting any critiques, unfortunately, at the moment is to post my writing online. So while I will eventually end up trying to get...at least something, if not my current project, copyrighted, it will not be for a considerable amount of time. Until then, if I want any sort of critiques I have to post the writing online.

I do like the idea that you described about the other forum. I don't particuarily mind either way how it would be set up, but it's something I would like to see for this board. In a Writer's Digest issue I received, there was an article I read that said that if a piece of writing is posted in a critique group online, it is not counted as being published. It also said that if you post it in an online journal (i.e. Livejournal), then it is not published. This is what it said:

Published Or Not?
Here's a quick list to determine if your piece counts as "previously published."

It was published if . . .
- you gave up your first North American serial rights
- it went through an editorial process
- it appeared in an online journal, even a defunct one
- it appeared in a print publication with a small print run
- it appeared in a literary anthology

It's unpublished if . . .
- it won a prize but was not printed
- it was workshopped in an online writing workshop
- it appeared on your blog or someone else's (though this is changing, so tread carefully)

Based on that, I think it's okay to post here, though I'm not 100% sure if the writing they're saying is unpublished if posted in an online writing workshop has to be protected or not.

Tyd wrote:If you make users register, you can gain the IP of the member who you may think who stole your work- tho, then you've got to find out which member who stole your work XD

-ok, this wont work

You would also have to be an admin on this board, I think though I don't know for sure, to see the IP addresses. So it wouldn't really do much good for a regular member.