₦airaland Forum

Fatalveli, if you can help us, please give the links to those sites, I think we can always do something about it.
If we can protect one another, then I see no reason why plagiarist would stop stealing our works.
When I saw some writers leave, I felt like leaving also, but I can't leave. I'll rather remove my stories from here as soon as I am through with them than run away.
Even writers like, LarrySun, Repogirl, whitemosquito, Glowingscene, Ishilove we don't know where they are presently. I know some of them are now writing on their blogs, but those who are not with a blog. probably ran away cos of plagiarism.

Onemansquad:
Wia d mods dis piece suppose dy front page
*obinnau* and co

Threads like this are not frontpage worthy.

Fatalveli, I considered my options before I created this thread, I knew it won't go anywhere, people won't read, neither would they contribute, but the few people who will read it, at least it will change their mindset.

stuff46:
Oga D you have got a point, and i think should be considered. The rate inwhich they steal story (ies) here is much and to address such situation one has to be at alert.

In as much as NL doesnt gurantee the safety of your work, the writers should protect their work in any way they can. Even those that steal this stories don't have fear of God in them, so the best way to avoid all this kind of story is after some time you delit them from sites, (since opera mini, mozilla firefox, uc browser give room for copying).
After deliting the works from site (s) it would help protect your work.

As a saying goes, 'running away from problem doesnt show your braveness, rather it shows your cowardice'. I saw some writers stop posting thier stories here just because of this problem, i ask myself 'what does this show'? I guess you understand it. You must learn to stand and approach every trouble that arrive. This is just part of the problem you ought to have taken into consideration before going into the course of writing. As every job/ activity comes with a challenge, one must be able to fight for his/her right.

If you don't get to convince the thief and his followers, pray for him that he may change not to get discouraged in your doings over their actions, since your concience is clear that it is your work.

...

Bro, I agree with you. Not for any reason will I stop writing on Nairaland so far I have the time. Plagiarists can keep copying my works, but they'll be suprised that they'll only find half of my works.
I'll be deleting my stories in the coming weeks.

And the last thing I would be talking about is also somehow related to writers encouragement.
If I decide to subscribe my phone, laptop or any device that I use in posting my stories, I won't spend less than a thousand naira, for monthly plans. And if after subscribing, I started posting my stories here on Nairaland and you guys are commenting the way I want, at then end of the month if my data finishes, your comments would make me spend the same amount on money to subscribe my phone, just because I want to see more sweet comments.
Now, if such stories run for five months before it finishes. At the end of those five months, the writer would realise that he had spent five thousand naira on data plans with nothing in return. At the end of those five months, your comments won't be a source of encouragement any longer, he will see the comments as just mere comments with nothing else.
If I should spend five thousand naira to in five month for the subscription of my phone, even though I didn't use the whole data on Nairaland alone, I probably used whatsapp, BBM and other chat platforms, but believe me, at the start of every month, I can't spend #500 to subscribe for these applications, meaning my one thousand nairal subscription is majorly because of Nairaland.
At some point, you'll realise that you have excecuted a business without profit.
Now, someone saw the need for writers to be encouraged and every month, he is giving out a sum of five thousand naira to a writer and recharge cards to a few others. Even though we don't know who the sponsor is, but the person who brought the project to Nairaland is also a writer.
And all that is expected of our people is just to go to the voting thread and type, "I vote this person." Is that too much to do? It doesn't take a minute of your time, it doesn't deduct something big from your data plan. You don't need to exert your energy, just type and get out. But Nairlanders won't vote when you ask them to vote and when there is no update, they complain.
Someone is ready to encourage writers by giving them a token sum of money and all that is expected from you is just the votes, but you won't vote. Why?
A writer who spent five thousand naira before he could finish posting his story who wins this prize has been compensated, everything is all squared, and a writer who didn't spend up to that amount even made profit.
This is the only way our writers can be encouraged to do more.
It baffles me when during Mr and Miss Nairaland, a contestant who took the last position had about 60votes and in the literature section, the writer who wins the writer of the month has 60votes.
If beauty is more appreciated than brain then there is a problem.
Note: I don't mean to discredit the Mr &Miss Nairaland contest, but truth need to be told.
I was one of those who voted during these contest and I saw how it is being celebrated, it made frontpage, everyone from different sections participated, but here in the literature section, even the users of the sections are not voting. We need to do something about it.
Five thousand naira is not up to what you have in your account, it doesn't make you richer, but instead of you withdrawing from your bank before you subscribe your phone, you can use this money.
Lets vote for our writers. Brain speaks louder than anything. You can't depend on anything, but believe me, you can depend on your brain.
This piece is written and compiled by d9ty7, a concerned literature section user and it is written to every literature section users.

Another pressing issue is the writers encouragement:
Personally, I have no reason to complain about this because I have recieved more than enough encouragements in terms of comments and other things that could encourage a writer, but the same can not be said about the new set of writers that we have around here.
If I decide to post a story on Nairaland and after five straight update, I can't count at least fifteen updates, then I'll have to consider the options that I have. Afterall, no one is paying me, therefore no one has the right to hold me responsible if I decide to stop writing. Believe me, I once checked the literature section not too long ago and the first five topics I saw were stories, I checked back after an hour and this five topics still occupies the first five positions with no new comment and nothing new, whereas in other sections, in a minute, you'll get at least five comments, while in the literature section, in a day, you'll get a comment and about 5 views increase.
If you check some popular sections, you'll see about five hundred registered members viewing the section with the same amount of guest while a thread will have at least a hundred registered viewers. If the thread makes front page, it tripples, but in the literature section, hardly will you see hundred registered users viewing the board while on a thread with the highest viewers will have about thirteen registered users and six guests viewing. If such thread makes the frontpage, you'll see about seventy registered users and hundred guests, check back after ten minutes, hardly will you see twenty five registered users.
Abeg, are we writing rubbish? Please tell us, so we can work on it or better still stop writing.
The readers don't comment and when they do, all they write is, "you are the bomb! Next update please." These comments does little or nothing in encouraging these writers.
At the same time we are fighting plagiarists, we are begging people to at least comment on our stories, even if na to book space. Its very bad.
I have seen a writer who for the past one week is always calling on his people to come and read and while they read, only one person will comment and since that last week, the same person has been commenting after every update.
And while some people will complain that there are so many abandoned stories on Nairaland, who will post when he knew he won't get any new comment. The same thing everyone talks about, the writer is the bomb. Achebe never called Adichie the bomb when he read her book. Give these people detailed comment, tell them what you think, what you think should be done.
Believe there is not writer here on Nairaland that is 50%, we are all below average which is why our stories are being posted for you to read and correct.
All in all, lets work on the issue of comments, likes and shares, they serve as encouragement to we writers.
A popular writer was talking about how he normally bounce his dinner just to enable him type late into the night to satisfy we his readers, sleepless nights, as a student, he won't read his notes, he would always want to satisfy us and in the end, while his GDP falls and he log in to nairaland, hoping to see comments that will lift his spirit, all he would see are people complaining that he his taking too long, he is starving them. Is that the encouragement that he needs? We can do better.

The issue of plagiarists: I don't think someone is coming from somewhere just to steal stories, I believe Nairalanders are the owners of those blogs and facebook pages where nairaland stories are being posted.
Imagine a story which was written to completion on Nairaland and managed to ganner a little over 5,000 views and a blogger somewhere decides to post the story on his blog and after posting about half of the story, he has had over twenty thousand views. How do you think the writer would feel? Happy right? Because his story is going places. Mind you, the blogger claimed the ownership of the story with copyright claims.
The original writer would be far from happy to speak the truth, from experience. And to say the blogger was one of the numerous people who read and commented on the story when the writer first posted in on Nairaland. He was one of those who called him the best writer, the best this and the best that, but instead of him(plagiarists are mostly males) to acknowledge the writer, he claimed ownership because he wanted to impress his friends on facebook and probably to make his crush see him as someone that is intellectually gifted.
And their readers are not helping matters, when you tell them the story belongs to you, they attack you, they call you names, attention seeker(I felt like jumping into a nearest river the first time I experienced this) even with links, with dates, with pictures, you can never make any sense to them. If you like, you can scan your manuscript and post it on the page, you are on your own.
Why are we doing ourselves? Nairalanders causing havoc to other Nairalanders since 2005.
There are categories of plagiarists but I will only give two here.
1. The Nairalander who just because he wanted to be regarded to as a writer decided to create a blog and he started posting our stories. And just below the page, you'll see a comprehensive note about him, how he started writing when he was three years old, how he wrote a complete novel at the age of five just to pass accross a strong message that he has been a writer from birth.
I once had a run off with one guy who was posting my story on his facebook page, after I had posted links directing his readers to the original story on Nairaland, he then asked me a question.
He said, look at my facebook profile and look at your own, as a neutral person, does your profile look like that of a writer? Then I had to check his profile, he is a graduate of LASU, computer engineering, and in the spaces designed for Bio and all those things that I don't know their functions, there were so many quotes, that would make you ask yourself if he is the younger versio of Wole Soyinka.
2. The second category are those who steal stories from outside Nairaland and post them on Nairaland. The copy directly from published novels, as in from the book. I have seen in the last two months, about two writers on Nairaland who are guilty of that offence. While we are trying to fight plagiarism, our own people are encouraging it. Some Nairalanders copy stories from other websites and post them on Nairaland. Something we want to eradicate is what you are doing.
Another category which I must mention. I regard to these people as being silly. They steal stories belonging to Nairalanders from somewhere and posts in on nairaland. Some will change the title, some will change the section.
If we want to stop plagiarism, then all nairalanders who are guilty of this should stop it.
The fact that there is a disclaimer on Nairaland's homepage doesn't give you the go ahead to steal our works. Make sure you are not found, if we find you, you'll loose your page, loose you blog and even loose all that you've ever worked for.
Its not a curse, its the truth, you can't cheat me and expect favour from God, wise up and get a pen of your own and write.

nairaland literature section is one of the sections where members respect one another. I have visited a few other sections, the Politics section in particular. Believe me, there is nothing like respect in that particular section, you need to see members raining curses and abuses, even on their family members who are innocent. In that section, you can't raise a point, you can't create threads anyhow, you can't comments anyhow, you can't criticise and criticisms are not accepted in good faith. But the reverse is the case in the literature section, one of the reasons why it is the best.
I will highlight a few points that needed to be worked on, we need change, things must change, our mentality must change to make the literature section a better place to always want to come to.
I joined Nairaland in 2013 and I could vividly remember the writers that were active when I joined, but presently, they are far from being active. Though we have a new crop of wonderful writers, but it is not just enough, even though with the few writers that we have, are they being appreciated and encouraged? No

smarh:
@ last i'v joined nairaland nd i'v been able to comment..... wow... this is excellent d9ty7.... i joined nairaland just to acknowledge u, cus i'll b an ingrate if i ddnt do that.... more power to your elbow...

I appreciate it ma'am. Am glad I have been able to at least entertain you with this piece of mine. More to come from me

Bluestarry, I never forget you o. But this thread seems to be moving now, 13pages, 15,000+ views. You just nid to update more often and you'll see the result.
But I will still do my bit

Champele:
...

thanks bro

Gideon9947:
WOW!!!!!............!!!!
At last the very best crime story i'v ever read.KUDOS 2 D9TY7,U'RE DA BOMB.I feel like it will nt come 2 an end.All d same,d Lord will lift u up to dat very position u so much desire.more ink to yah pen sir.

Amen and you too. Thank you very much.

alabig:
There're eggs and there's an egg wole soyinka would say and i borrowed a leaf from him to say that there're writers and there's a writer. Yours is such that could be too rare to find in a moment. Again, okonkwo in "Achebe's" things fall apart said to Nwakibe that "he came to pay respect to the great so that he can pave way for his own greatness". Saying welldone to you d9ty7 could'nt be enough, but in a familiar lingua i say "GRACIAS AMIGOS" to your undying wealth of experience....

Thank you very much bro

________________________________________
The time was 8:30am and Serena knew it would take ten minutes before her father leaves the house nad she needed to talk to him. She walked out of her room towards her father's room with her heart pounding hard against her chest in such a way that anybody standing before her could see how blood is being pumped from her broken heart. Why won't her heart be broken? She is binded together by blood with her parents and brothers, their hearts are well connected and she knew it because at times, one of them could deduce what was going on in the minds of the other family members. A practical example of such was when Nathaniel came home from school when no one was expceting and when asked why he decided to embark on such journey, he said he was having a strange feeling that something is not right with the family he left in the city of Ibadan and truely, two days later, his parents were seperated by a court in Ibadan. Everything is wrong with her family and mere knowing how it all started is enough reason for her heart to be broken.
She knocked gently on the door and the next second, her father's voice thundered.
"Yes, who's there?"
Her heart almost flew out of her chest, the broken pieces to be precise. In the last few weeks, her father had turned to be something else. Mere hearing him talk is enough reason for her to start feeling all jittery.
"Its me dad." She stammered.
"Come in."
She gently turned the door knob and pushed the door open.
"Good morning sir." She greeted going down on her knees like a typical yoruba woman would do to the elders. A tradition that has lived for thousands of years to an extent that, the failure to greet an elder properly, either by going down on their knees, in terms of the ladies or prostrating when it comes to the men, such a person would listen to the story of how his/her father was given birth too, even how he made it through farming or how he travelled to Lagos in search of greener pastures.
"Why weren't you at the morning devotion?" He asked.
She wanted to leave her father's room that moment because she wasn't prepared to answer questions about her refusal to show up during the morning prayers because she had no excuse.
"I..err...I.." She stammered while her father was looking at her amusingly, probably having fun as he watched her speak gibberish.
Why am I even afraid of this man? Serena asked herself, but she couldn't answer her own question.
"Do you know the importance of praying together as one family? With one heart?" Her father asked. "No, you don't." He replied himself.
"I was too tired to wake up." She managed to reply.
"The same excuse your mother used to give. Her failure to be binded in the spirity with this family was the begining of our problems, but I won't talk about that today."
She hate it, when the issue of her mother is being discussed with no one talking from her mother's perspective. She hate it when everyone is castigating her mother without anybody taking into consideration, the reason why her mother behaved in that manner. But right now is not the time to support her mother, because she needed help and she must do everything to please the man before her.
"So, what brings you here?" He asked finally.
"Daddy, my exam is in two weeks and I have decided to sign up for a CBT exam training where I can familiarise with the way questions are answered." She replied.
"Do you have up to two weeks before your exam day?"
"Nine days to be precise." She replied, at least, she was gaining ground.
"And what will you learn under nine days? And its not even a twenty four hours per day programme, maybe an hour or two. You want to learn how to operate computers?"
"I mean, how to answer the questions, you know its quite different from paper exam." Serena replied. One of the reasons why having an educated father is disadvantageous. He tends to know everything including things that you yourself don't know.
"The tutorial centre belonged to JAMB or is it private owned?" Her father asked.
"Private sir."
"Good, you'll go there today with you laptop and buy the exam software, you'll install it on you system and practice with it here at home." Her father said counting wards of Naira notes from his bedside drawer.
"That's five thousand naira. It should be enough. I'll call a cabman to take you to and fro. See you later." With this, her father picked his suitcase and made it out of the room leaving her behind.
Now she understood what was going on. Her father didn't want any of them closer to their mother which was why he made sure Nate was driven to school and now, she would also be driven to the tutorial centre where she intend to buy the exam software.
She walked dejectedly out of her father's room.

--to be continued--

____________________________________________________
The last two days has been hell for Serena, fourty eight hours without her mother is something that has never happened to her before. The highest she had gone without seeing her mother was fifteen hours, which was the last time her mum travelled to Niger state to pick up a relative, but any other travels are always within the range of seven to twelve hours. She couldn't categorically tell if her mother had left her brothers at home for more than one day, and even if she travelled for five days, it will look like five hours because there is this assurance that she would be back, but with the situation of things, she would never sleep under the same roof with her mother unless if she visits her wherever she lives. But to sleep inside her father's house as one happy family is far from coming to fruition.
She had tried to shut her mind from dwelling on the subject, but she couldn't help it, her greatest fear is her father getting married to another woman, she would just have to run away and never come back home.
"You will be driven to school this morning and there is nothing you can do about it." She could hear her father's voice from the living room.
Who could he be fighting with this early morning. She had locked herself up since the previous night and when Nate came to call her for the morning devotion, she refused to oblige, even though she was suprised that Nate, a rebellious person is present at the devotion to the extent that he rendered the praise and worship with his sexy voice which she(Serena) couldn't stop admiring.
But who could her father be fighting with? That person must be a student, but her brother Dave is a graduate, and she a secondary school leaver, therefore, no one is of the school age. Then she remembered Nate. But Nate schools in Ilorin, Kwara state and he could possibly go to the park to board a bus, why will her father insist of getting him driven to school from home? She needs to find out.
She got down from the bed, adjusted her nightie and tied a wrapper around her body. She stood at the dining watching the drama of her father ranting and threatening her second brother, Nathaniel.
But what has gotten into dad? Why is he acting strange and temperamental of late? Were the questions on Serena's mind as she watched her father and brother arguing. Even Nate was not helping matters, he stood his ground and in spite of the pushing from his father, he stood up to him defiantly.
"Dad, I case you have not heard. I am well above eighteen, I can make my own decisions, it is my life, I am travelling back to school on my own and there is nothing you can do about it." Nate said calmly, but one could feel the anger in his words and the determination.
Serena could see her father's jaw twitch.
"Let me see you carry your bags and walk out of the gate."
Serena knew it would come to this, she knew her father would put Nate in a tight corner which is locking him inside the house. Nathaniel is a guy who stands by his own decision, and convincing him is like telling a monkey that apple is sweeter than banana.
"I love that. Then I'll have an excuse of not going back to school when test is starting tomorrow." Nate replied slumping onto the nearest chair.
"I am you father and as long as you still live under my roof and I still pay your bills, then I can tell you what to do. Therefore, you'll be driven to school from home this morning and that's it."
And with that their father walked out of the living room.
"Nate, what's going on?" Serena asked.
"Are you blind? Can't you see or hear the issue we were dragging?" Nate asked angrily as he stood up and made to walked out of the living room.
"Will you allow the driver to drive you to school?" She asked.
"um.. Yeah, but that will be the last of me in this house. At the end of this semester, I will move in to Taofeek's house, his parents won't mind." He replied.
Serena remembered the first time she met Taofeek, it was almost a year and a half ago when Nate matriculated. She could remember her parents driving down to Ilorin and she went with them. Taofeek was a meek guy, a muslim and an epitome of humility, plus he is handsome.
"That's twenty thousand naira. I think that should be enough, call me if you need anything else. I believe you still have foodstuffs in your hostel." Oluwole Thomas had returned to the living room and handed the money to Nathaniel.
"Nate, you can not do that." Serena said, but Nate was long gone into his bedroom.
Is he loosing his mind? Why will he decided to run away from home because of this trival issue that could be solved? She asked herself as she walked dejectedly back to her room.

--to be continued--

kingphilip:
Yes d9ty7 I'm in support o

onemansquad wetin u think

Okay, I will try and commence work on the part 2. It should be ready in a month, and if I haven't started my new story, then I'll start posting immediately. But, it won't be posted here on Nairaland.