Real Fans Don't Steal

Be honest, y'all thought this was going to be a plagiarism post, right? Well, it is, but technically it isn't???

It's also not about me or anything that happened to me personally. (Cuz my audience isn't big enough to cause these kinds of problems.)

The irony of this post is that it's about "Fan" pages taking content from creators they claim to love and then reposting it directly onto the page. Not a link to the original post. Nothing in the description of their post clarifying that 1. they are NOT the content creator, 2. they have the original creator's PERMISSION to post these materials, or 3. any links pertaining to where the original content can be found.

My friends, that's not just lying. It's theft.

I've been on the horsey side of Youtube shorts lately. There's this one content creator that I've been watching frequently enough. She posts on Youtube, snapchat, tiktok, etc. (I only have Youtube, so that's my medium of choice.) Recently, a few different accounts have popped up in my feed showing HER content. Content that I had never before seen on her ACTUAL page. Which means this content was shared on another medium entirely (as she had planned it to be), and someone STOLE IT off her page, came to Youtube, uploaded it without her permission, and then started getting her entire fanbase's engagement on the content that they have no right to. (Most of the people commenting think they're engaging with the actual content creator, not these scammers.)

As the original creator has asked, I've reported every page that has come across my feed. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be happening to these channels. I don't know why, and that's up to the original content creator to figure out. But it's pissing me off.

Tonight, I came across a FB page that said 'Fans of ________' and it was doing the same damn thing. Taking content posted elsewhere. Uploading it onto their own page. No links to the original creator at all. And gaining traction through engagement that belonged elsewhere.

Now, let's clarify a few things before this rant continues:

1. I absolutely believe in Fan Only Spaces. That's where reviews go. Conspiracy theories. Your own orginal artwork based upon characters/worlds/scenes that you adore. Fanfiction. Even commentary videos, where you react to the original content made available for public consumption.

2. Content creation is a real job. Some people are good at this job. Some people are bad at this job. YOU DON'T GET TO STEAL SOMEONE'S GOOD WORK BECAUSE YOURS IS SHIT and then call yourself a 'fan.'
   

3. Engagment=money. That is the world we live in now, where platforms monetarily reward creators for how many likes and comments they can get. (This does NOT apply to anywhere outside of the internet. Follower count is absolutely meaningless in the real world.) The fact of the matter is, these videos are filmed, edited, and produced by small groups of people. Half the time, the stuff you see online is a one-man-show. If someone is GOOD at the one-man-show part, then they typically are able to go on to hire a modest crew to help them through the more sustainable part of their career. And then it turns from a hobby into a career, in which they rely on engagement for their income.
   

4. There is something called the 'Fair Use Act' and this is why many reaction videos are allowed to exist. In the FUA, you're allowed to take pieces of someone's work and make a commentary about it, write an article about it, or even create memes and parodies of certain scenes or lines. This is allowed because you're quoting something and you're citing your sources. (Yeah, people often forget that last part, but it's kinda important to give credit where it's due.)
   

With all of that in mind, allow me to continue the bitchfest...

Putting 'Fan Page' on a channel/site/page makes everything you're doing worse, not better.

A real fan engages with the source material. A real fan engages with the creator's posts. A real fan shares the original content with those they know will enjoy it. A real fan will boost the content the creator distrubutes.

Real fans don't STEAL content and upload it elsewhere, because a real fan knows that the only way for an author/artist/musician/creator's platform to grow is for them to get all of the engagement they can on their own work! Any person who takes art they have not themselves created and then posts it on their own page to farm engagement from the real fans is a scammer, and they deserve to be ridiculed as such.

Technicallly, I don't know if this counts as plagiarism if it's not in the written format. I do know that it would be a damn hard fight for most creators to file copyright infringement cases, because of the Fair Use Act and how it can be twisted. (Also, any kind of legal thing is a HUGE and expensive battle, which is why reporting and blocking channels like this is usually the best route to go.)

What I DO know is that content creators and their real fans can report these pages/channels/accounts and try to get them removed. (Come with the receipts; platforms protect the consumers, not the creators.) I also know that a single interaction from the creator could do a lot to shut down pages such as these, assuming the pages are run by actual fans who got carried away and didn't know better. A simple private message of "Hey, I'm glad you're a fan of my work, but I would appreciate it if you stopped uploading my content on here and instead used your enthusiasm to boost my original content in other ways/via other means." It doesn't have to be mean or come from a 'cease & desist' kind of attitude. Unless that doesn't work. In which case, they were never really fans; they were always scammers. In which case, bring back public shaming.

Thankfully, I don't have to personally worry about this kind of thing. I'm not widely known well enough for people to even try to steal my writing. (Not even AI stole from me–that I'm aware of–that's how insignificant my own platform is.)

Should I EVER get popular enough for this, however, let this be a PSA: no fan pages. Fan groups: yes. Fan pages/accounts: no. If you want to support me or my work, you do so by sharing my content from official sources, and engaging with my work in your own creative ways. No need to take when sharing is an option.

Okay, that's the end of my rant and not at all the post I wanted to make this week. Good day.