Cassandra Claire/2001: July to December
From Fan History Wiki
Trying to figure out how and where these should be integrated and if they should be interegrated... They are mostly posts based on the Cassandra Claire plagiarism incident sorted by date. It also looks at the history of Heidi8's actions, particularly as they pertain to Fiction Alley and Cassandra Claire.
2000:: See Cassandra Claire/2000 - Discuss
2001:: See Cassandra Claire/2001: January to June - Discuss
2001:: See Cassandra Claire/2001: July to December - Discuss
2002:: See Cassandra Claire/2002 - Discuss
2003:: See Cassandra Claire/2003 - Discuss
2004:: See Cassandra Claire/2004 - Discuss
2005:: See Cassandra Claire/2005 - Discuss
2006:: See Cassandra Claire/2006 - Discuss
2007:: See Cassandra Claire/2007 - Discuss
July 3, 2001
FictionAlleyWriters was opened. [1] Early posts to this list give no indication that FictionAlley.Org was being planned before Cassandra Claire was removed from FanFiction.Net for plagiarism. The first post is not until July 7, 2001.
July 4, 2001
- FictionAlley.Org domain was registered by Heidi8. [2]
July 7, 2001
The first post appears on FictionAlleyWriters. Heidi8 makes the second post:
Author: heidit@...
Subject:"A new era in Harry Potter fanfiction has arrived," Heidi said egomaniacally
Date:Sat Jul 7, 2001 5:42 am [3]
- Welcome to all of you - you writers of novel-length fics (or fic
- arcs, which can count too)
- We've set this list up as an informational place, where you can learn
- more about FictionAlley.org - which we hope will be the central Harry
- Potter fanfiction site. We're still in the process of setting up the
- backend and the site's policies, so we probably won't have answers to
- all your questions yet...but things are moving along among the
- SchnoogleMods.
- "Schnooglemods? What's that?"
- Well, here's the situation. FictionAlley is going to be the OverSight
- for the archive - and there are going to be 4 houses - one for novel-
- length fics (Schnoogle.com), and (most probably) one for romance, one
- for humor and one for darkfics (mystery, romance, etc.) - the other 3
- houses will not be "novel-length fics", though.
- We've looked over sites from other fandoms, like the Star Wars site
- at www.fanfix.com, for organizational inspiration, we're perfecting
- our HTML and database skills and we're putting together a menu of
- excellent resources and treats for the readers and writers.
- Schnoogle is going to be the first of the FictionAlley sites to go
- up - we have an ideal soft launch date in the next week or so (:
- crosses fingers) and the other houses should launch shortly
- thereafter. If everything goes as we hope, at least a skeletal
- version of FictionAlley should be ready to go up on Harry's 21st
- Birthday.
- At the moment, we're trying to keep the number of authors low, so we
- can get everything up & working with a limited number of fics - and
- we are going to have technical standards (minimum length of chapters,
- minimum length of completed fics, requested spell-checking and
- Lexicon-checking (in other words, spell the words the way they are in
- the book wherever possible)) since at least in the immediate future,
- all the fic-uploading we do will be by hand.
- We're still working on the exact policies, and will post them here
- shortly.
- FictionAlley should be at least 83% fun - yes, everyone will likely
- get the occasional UnFun flame, but on any given day, visiting
- FictionAlley should not be something that stresses you out :)
- Happy to see you here!
- heidi
- --- In FictionAlleyWriters@y..., "Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner"
- <bohners@p...> wrote:
- >
- > Dare I ask a couple of questions?
- >
- > 1. What's the ETA on having FictionAlley.org up and running? I'm
- not
- > trying to rush anyone, I'm just curious.
- >
- > 2. What's the policy on the fics being archived at FictionAlley?
- Is it
- > going to be wide open like FF.net, or is it going to be a more
- > discriminating archive where only fics of a certain quality will
- appear?
The discussion on FictionAlleyWriters continued in such a way as to suggest that the site came about as a direct cause of Cassandra Claire being kicked off FanFiction.Net for plagiarism. Below is a sample post from this date.
Author:Cassandra Calire <cassandraclaire73@...> (Note, YES, that is the spelling that appears in the e-mail. See: message 12)
Subject: Re: [FictionAlleyWriters] Re: Intro / "Pen Name" question
Date:Sat Jul 7, 2001 10:20 am[4]
- One: I'm Cassandra Claire, I've got a trilogy of "Draco stories" in the works,
- starting with Draco Dormiens, continuing on through Draco Sinister, and
- finishing up with Draco Veritas, in which I kill all my characters to prevent
- myself from writing yet another sequel and blowing the whole 'trilogy' concept.
- Two: Um, "Cassandra Claire" is fine. Pen name comes from Jane Austen's "The
- Beautiful Cassandra."
- http://home.earthlink.net/~lfdean/austen/juvenilia/cassandra.html
- People tend to call me Cassie or Cass, although I don't particularly like Cass.
- *glares pointedly at Simon.*
- Nice to see you all here!
- Cassie[5]
July 10, 2001
The FictionAlley.Org EzBoards were set up. [6]
July 11, 2001
While they might not have liked FanFiction.Net, Heidi8 did not think it was a violation of FF.Net's rules to promote their new site as fics on FanFiction.Net by posting cookies to stories with a go to this site to read the rest, general site pimpage while Zsenya thought this was a violation of FanFiction.Net's terms of service. [7] After expressing that concern, she never made another post to FictionAlleyWriters though she is thanked by Heidi8 on July 22, 2001 for linking SugarQuill to FictionAlley.Org[8]
July 13, 2001
Draco Dormiens was archived on Fiction Alley. [9]
Mid July 2001
Cassandra Claire moved to New York City. [10][11]
July 16, 2001
Heidi8, like her friend Cassandra Claire, was discovered to be a plagiarist in August 2006. The passage was posted to FictionAlley.Org on July 16, 2001. Below is an example of part she is found to have plagiarized:
- Never did Draco find anything so difficult as to keeping himself from losing his temper when he was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. "It makes me feel as if someone had hit me," he had said once. "And as if I want to hit back. I have to remember things quickly to keep from saying something ill-tempered." The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage, but around Lucius, it had to be done.
- Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.
July 22, 2001
While some changes were later made to some of the citations, the individual lines were never cited, nor was it made clear which lines were lifted and which lines were original to Cassandra Claire. This event would be one of the things that people from other fan space would come to associate with the Harry Potter fan fiction community. There are varying accounts as to the tie in to this with the Cassandra Claire plagiarism issues. The domain was not bought until July 4, 2001[12] which lends credence to the "It was started because Cassandra Claire got kicked off FanFiction.Net" argument, which idlerat on LiveJournal, who has interviewed Cassandra Claire and other involved parties, says is true. [13]
Nasnoona has credible belief that Fiction Alley came about as a spin off of HP_Paradise, a mailing list that included such authors as Ebony[14], Heidi8, IvyBlossom and Cassandra Claire. [15][16] Ebony is noteworthy because among other things, she left FanFiction.Net because she was afraid the same sort of thing would happen to her that had happened to Cassandra Claire. This might have been justified as she is alleged to have plagiarized from L.M. Montgomery's Anne's House of Dreams (from the Anne of Green Gables series).[17] Word-for-word plagarism from Virgina Hamilton's People Could Fly was shown in August 2006 by NarcissaM. [18]
Nostrademons, a Fiction Alley moderator, characterizes the founding of Fiction Alley somewhat differently[19]:
- There were existing plans. Schnoogle was supposed to be a site for shipper buttons (that's why it's .com instead of .org, and why it was registered a few weeks earlier). The other 3 houses were initially going to be another fanfiction site started by I think Flourish or Rhysenn. FAP was initially the HP Paradise message board - remember how the original EZBoard was at bhpparadise?
- Cassiegate, IIRC, convinced a bunch of people in that corner of the fandom to work together instead of starting separate fansites. So Schnoogle became the novel-length fansite, Rhysenn (Flourish?)'s fansite was split into the other 3 houses, they came up with characters and names and personalities for each of the houses, and Ebony donated her messageboard as the forum.
- Now, perhaps it's technically accurate that FA wasn't under construction until after Cassiegate, because it wasn't FA then. But there were plans for independent fansites that eventually became FA; they just changed in scope and focus after that kerfuffle.
In the Charlotte Lennox affair, it is said that Fiction Alley was designed to be different from SugarQuill. The friction between the two parties dated back about a year.
The Schnoogle.Com section of FictionAlley.Org opened on July 22, 2001. A sample announcement, taken from the hpslash list, appears below [20] with a similar announcment appeared the next day on the HP_Fanfiction list [21]:
Announcing the launch of F i c t i o n A l l e y . o r g If you tap on the third brick to the left of the web, or type in http://www.fictionalley.org, <http://www.fictionalley.org,/> you will be portkeyed right to the newest fanfiction and fanart site in the HP Fandom -- and we hope it's the most comprehensive site too. The Schnoogle.com section of FictionAlley contains some of the best novel-length fanfiction on offer, from many of your favorite authors. F i c t i o n A l l e y . o r g FictionAlley features fanfics by talented authors - and among the grand opening offerings are a new chapter of Draco Sinister from Cassandra Claire and a brand new PoUniverse cookie from Lori Summers. S c h n o o g l e . c o m Dictionaria Potterica Fandomia: "Schnoogle" (sh-NOO-gl): Anything from a hug to an all-on-snogfest. Click on Schnoogle when you get to FictionAlley and you'll see a list of all the authors we feature. And more authors are joining every day -- if you want to see your fics on Schnoogle.com, visit the Submission Guidelines at the site or join http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/FictionAlleyWriters <http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/FictionAlleyWriters> and read the guidelines in the Files section -- http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/FictionAlleyWriters/files <http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/FictionAlleyWriters/files> S c h n o o g l e . c o m FictionAlley has review boards, ChapterOwls, message boards and Professor McG's Fanfic Primer...take a stroll and pick up some fanfics - only seven sickles an ounce. S c h n o o g l e . c o m & F i c t i o n A l l e y . o r g -- i t ' s j u s t g o o d . www.schnoogle.com www.fictionalley.org _____________________________________ Gwendolyn Grace =| Schnoogle.com, part of the FictionAlley.org community |= * high-quality novel-length fanfiction from some of your favorite authors * talk to the authors using Schnoogle.com messageboards _____________________________________
Note the prominence of Cassandra Claire's name in the announcement. This contributes to the impression that FictionAlley.Org was founded to provide a home for Cassandra Claire's fan fiction.
Cassandra Claire on ParadigmOfUncertainty:
Author: cassandraclaire73@..
Subject: Re: Slightly OT query (please don't kill me!)
Date: Sun Jul 22, 2001 6:21 pm [22]
- 'Lo, Spam!
- I've answered this offlist, Heidi. <grins> That said,
- fictionalley.org (of which schnoogle is part) is launching very soon,
- and when it's up at www.fictionalley.org, it'll be easy for anyone
- interested to go to the site and read the TOS and submission
- guidelines there.
- Cheers!
- Cassie[23]
Michela Ecks, author of the FanFiction.Net Terms of Service, claims that FictionAlley.Org opened with a terms of service plagiarized from FanFiction.Net, as Michela Ecks distinctly recalls posting to FanFiction.Net's forums on this issue and being told by Steven Savage to just let it go. At the time of the Cassandra Claire blacklisting, Flourish had been maintaining that as she had been prior to leaving leaving FanFiction.Net's staff. She left because of pressure to do so as she was blasting FanFiction.Net's handling of the Cassandra Claire situation and had not been informed of that situation.
July 23, 2001
The announcements regarding FictionAlley continued. Below is a sample of one of the posts from this day from the HP_Paradise mailing list.
Author: "Ebony AKA AngieJ" <ebonyink@...>
Subject: ADMIN: Take a Stroll Along FictionAlley...
Date: Mon Jul 23, 2001 6:54 am [24]
(Since this public service announcement deals with information re: all of the Featured Authors' fics, I have attached an ADMIN tag.) Rita Skeeter and Rachel Ratliff are proud to announce the grand opening of the definitive HP Fanfiction site... FICTION ALLEY! If you tap on the third brick to the left of the web, or type in http://www.fictionalley.org, you will be portkeyed right to the newest fanfiction and fanart site in the HP Fandom - we hope it's the most comprehensive site too. FictionAlley features fanfics by talented authors - and among the grand opening offerings are the LONG AWAITED final chapter of Draco Sinister from Cassandra Claire and a brand new PoUniverse cookie from Lori Summers. All of your favorite Paradise authors are also featured at FictionAlley. Look for new chapters of their fics to be featured there in the near future. Click on Schnoogle, when you get to FictionAlley, and you'll see a list of all the authors. And more authors are joining every day - if you want to see your fics on Schnoogle, visit the Submission Guidelines at the site or join http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/FictionAlleyWriters and read the guidelines in the FILES section. FictionAlley has review boards, ChapterOwls, message boards and Professor McG's Fanfic Primer...take a stroll and pick up some of the best Harry Potter fanfic around - only seven sickles an ounce. Cheers, everyone. --Ebony AKA AngieJ The Magical Mod Squad HP_Paradise
FictionAlley.Org then went down right after the announcement as the servers went down. [25]
Another announcement was made to the Sirius_Black_and_Remus_Lupin mailing list. [26]
July 28, 2001
On July 28, 2001, FanFiction.Net began what would be an extended downtime. This was a considerable help to the launch of FictionAlley.Org, and Heidi8 and others on the FictionAlley.Org staff capitalized on this downtime in their posts on HP_FanFiction.
Eric Oppen, July 28[27]:
- Is fanfiction.net down? I tried to get there and couldn't.
Laila, July 28[28]:
- Yes. People have been having all sorts of trouble
- going there this evening. Everyone says it will
- probabl be back tomorrow.
- Last piece of shameless promotion for the day {as measured in california
- time}- at least fictionalley.org is up...
July 30, 2001
FanFiction.Net remained down, as noted in posts on HP_FanFiction.
Hermione2621, July 30[30]:
- i know! it is down- and has been down since friday afternoon. its
- rather annoying. thats why i put my stories up onto this site.
- fictionalley.org is also a good place to go- and so far hasn't been
- down yet.
July 31, 2001
By July 31, 2001, the following message was found on FanFiction.Net:
- Fanfiction.net has suffered an unexpected outage, and attempts to
- bring the site up to full are underway. We apologize for any
- inconvenience. Please check here for details in the near future.
- Until the site is up - keep writing![31]
Steven Savage made the following comment about the FanFiction.Net downtime on the FFnetwriters Yahoo! group[32]:
- >
- > *sigh* I guess I'll just have to deal with it, but I so wish FF.net
- > would get back online. What's gone so wrong that the site won't be
- > back up until August 8-9?
- A lot of stuff going wrong at once that makes it hard to find out exactly
- what went wrong. When it's one thing, it's easy, but pile on a lot of
- stuff (crashes, line problems, etc.) and people's normal schedules and it's
- just a pain.
- BADGER
- aka Steven Savage
- http://www.seventhsanctum.com/xai/ - Xai - Tales of the Crossworld
On HP_FanFiction, list members discussed the downtime, and FictionAlley.Org administrators continued to plug the new site as a reliable alternative to FanFiction.Net.
Betty, July 31[33]:
- As of roughly 11:15 Est. ffnet is still screwy. I got onto the main
- page, but any time I tried to search, I got an error message saying "the
- document contained no data. Try again later."
FldaGirl27, July 31[34]:
- I got this....
- Fanfiction.net has suffered an unexpected outage, and attempts to bring the
- site up to full are underway. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please
- check here for details in the near future. Until the site is up - keep
- writing!
- The site is messed up, I can get into The Pretender section. but not the HP
- section
Erica, July 31[35]:
- The site could be done for another week. They posted this message on
- thier web site.
- "Fanfiction.net's unexpected outage continues. Our best estimates
- indicate it could be down until the 8th-9th of August, depending on
- the exact nature of the problem."
- !!
John Walton, July 31[36]:
- Oh well. While FFN is down, you can get your fic fix at FictionAlley @
- www.fictionalley.org is up and running, with some fantastic fics for your
- literary delectation...
- FictionAlley...fics of all shapes, sizes and ships!
- __s_c_h_n_o_o_g_l_e_._c_o_m___________
- John Walton -- Crazy Ivan
- ivan@...
- =| Schnoogle.com, part of the FictionAlley.org community |=
- * high-quality novel-length fanfiction from some of your favorite authors
- * run *by* Harry Potter fans *for* Harry Potter fans
- * talk to your favorite authors using Schnoogle.com messageboards
- ____________s_c_h_n_o_o_g_l_e_._c_o_m_
August 2001
The FanFiction.Net Liberation Front [37] was airing grievances against former FanFiction.Net staffers, Michela Ecks and Steven Savage. They did this on God Awful Fan Fic, fanfiction-writers, Usenet[38], Writers University and other mailing lists and message boards. [39] [40] In doing this, they used as part of their rational to launch personal attacks, the Cassandra Claire incident. Despite knowledge of this vitrol going on, Heidi8, Cassandra Claire and others from that party did not make a move to step in.[41]
August 1, 2001
Fiction Alley was opened for a public beta test. [42] Note the prominance of Cassandra Claire's name in this, which adds to the muddlement on the issue of why FictionAlley.Org was created. The announcement read as thus:
Author:"Amber" <reanna20@...>
Subject: Public Beta Test of FictionAlley!
Date:Wed Aug 1, 2001 3:09 pm [43]
- <Sonorus>
- Announcing the Public Beta Test of FictionAlley
- At 10pm Eastern Standard Time on July 31, 2001, in honor of Harry
- Potter's 21st birthday, the FictionAlley Writers' Consortium
- Alohomoras a public beta test of three of the FictionAlley
- neighborhoods. In other words, the other 3 ficsites sites are up!
- AstronomyTower.org adores romances (including an AU ficlet from
- Cassandra Claire and a fic for Harry's birthday from Rhysenn),
- TheDarkArts.org is filled with angst, action/adventure and mystery
- fics, and Riddikulus.org allows you to chase away the boggarts with a
- bit of humor.
- For the past ten days, Schnoogle, the novel length FictionAlley
- archive, has been entertianing readers around the world with its wide
- variety of exclusive fics; today, AngieJ's final chapter of Trouble
- in Paradise was added to the site.
- FictionAlley is also accepting fanfic submissions; contributors are
- asked to visit the submission guidelines on the site or at
- http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/fictionalleywriters.
- FictionAlley features review boards, hit counters, a message board at
- FictionAlley Park, and Professor McG's Fanfiction Primer. Also, on
- September 1, ArtisticAlley will have its first showing.
- ** Fictionalley.org - Fanfics of all shapes, sizes and ships - 7
- sickles an ounce **
- < / Sonorus >
August 5, 2001
A message on FanFiction.Net's site says the following in bright red big text:
- It appears that Fanfiction.net won't be up until the 8th-9th of August. The
- site may go down completely for maintence before or around those times,
- depending on the nature of the problem.[44]
August 10, 2001
FanFiction.Net came back online on August 10, 2001[45].
August 11, 2001
FanFiction.Net went offline again on August 11, 2001.[46] Advertisements for FictionAlley.Org as a reliable alternative to FanFiction.Net continued on the HP_FanFiction group.
John Walton, August 11[47]:
- > server is down again Xing is working on it
- Oh dear! Poor FFN. In the meantime, if you can't get your Harry Potter fic
- fix at FFN (which, these days, is standing for "Far From Normal"!), head on
- over to the wonderful Harry Potter fanfiction at FictionAlley.org.
- There's Schnoogle.com for what's probably the best novel-length fanfic
- around, TheDarkArts.org for all your angsty-darkfic type stories,
- Riddikulus.org for a good laugh over a humorous fic, and AstronomyTower.org
- for the romances.
- What's more, you can actually *chat* to the authors when you review! But
- wait...there's more! The FictionAlley Park board is a fantastic place to
- discuss, announce, swoon over, drool at and generally chat about the Harry
- Potter fanfiction community.
- FictionAlley.org -- fanfic of all shapes, ships and sizes -- by and for the
- Harry Potter fanfiction community.
- --John
- __s_c_h_n_o_o_g_l_e_._c_o_m___________
- John Walton -- Crazy Ivan
- ivan@...
- =| Schnoogle.com, part of the FictionAlley.org community |=
- * high-quality novel-length fanfiction from some of your favorite authors
- * run *by* Harry Potter fans *for* Harry Potter fans
- * talk to your favorite authors using Schnoogle.com messageboards
- ____________s_c_h_n_o_o_g_l_e_._c_o_m_
August 24, 2001
On August 24, 2001, chapter one of Draco Veritas was posted on FictionAlley.Org. [48]
September 2001
Gryffindor Tower was founded. This site, unlike SugarQuill and FictionAlley.Org allowed smut and adult rated material. It was dedicated to Harry/Ginny. This pairing was hated by Cassandra Claire. [49] She has stated repeatedly her hatred for this pairing. [50][51][52] This sort anti-Harry/Ginny attitude helped fuel tensions between Gryffindor Tower, SugarQuill, and FictionAlley.Org as Cassandra Claire's friends and fan girls had a long history, back to at least October 2000 of defending Cassandra Claire's positions because Cassandra Claire was their friend.[53]
MWPP/L stories had become popular because of Cassandra Claire. [54]
September 3, 2001
Pamela Dean made a comment on Usenet which obliquely referred to the Cassandra Claire incident. The comment was:
From: Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet Date: Mon, Sep 3 2001 1:16 pm Email: p...@gw.dd-b.net (Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet) Groups: rec.arts.sf.composition "Brenda W. Clough" <clo...@erols.com> writes: >Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet wrote: >> I think Kipling wrote his own because he couldn't not write poetry; I >> kind of doubt the copyright situation he faced was remotely similar to >> the present one. >Yes, I was being facetious. Sorry -- having been recently hit over the head with just how little just so many people understand about copyright law, I didn't want to let even a joke just lie there for somebody to take seriously; but I shouldn't have forgotten to laugh. >I will add that it is tremendously liberating to just >write your own verse headers and quotations. None of this messing about trying to >find the right one in BARTLETT'S! Where I want a specific quotation, I already know it for the most part and I want that particular one for a lot of complex reasons, so writing my own wouldn't work. But I don't do chapter headers in verse; I can see that that would use up one's backlog of memory pretty quick. -- Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet (p...@demesne.com) "I will open my heart to a blank page and interview the witnesses." John M. Ford, "Shared World"
This was posted on Usenet in the same time period that Heidi8 indicates she was in negotiations with Pamela Dean's agent to obtain permission for Cassandra Claire to use the text from The Hidden Land in Draco Sinister:[55]
- She got permission through conversations with Pamela's agent, btw, and
- in August and September of 2001 I worked with said agent to finalize
- the language which Cassie used in her fic thereafter. I remember it
- well because we were supposed to get in touch in the middle of the
- following week; we postponed it for months, though, because the
- following week began with 9/11.
September 5, 2001
FanFiction.Net was still crashing repeatedly.[56] The following message was posted on FanFiction.Net:
- September 5, 2001
- We currently reevaluating our website capabilities due to the rash of
- recent downtimes. Difficulties are mounting by the month.
- Please be patient. We are expecting the site to return by the
- upcoming Friday.
- Our only primary goal right now is to have FanFiction.Net operate for
- an extended period of time between errors.
- FanFiction.Net[57]
September 8, 2001
Gryffindor Tower opened. [58] There would be later conflicts between Cassandra Claire and FictionAlley.Org staff, and Gryffindor Tower staff members.
October, 2001
cassie_and_rhysenn saw its volume peak in October of 2001.[59]
October 4, 2001
On October 4, 2001, chapter 2 of Draco Veritas was posted on Fiction Alley. [60]
The original disclaimers, based on the version posted on October 5, 2001 to ParadigmOfUncertainty were:
- Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created
- and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited
- to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner
- Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark
- infringement is intended. Other citations will be made where
- necessary.
- Author's note and Things To Know: Once again, this chapter is
- illustrated; artist credits are given at the end. Both the chapter
- title and the opening lines are from Leonard Cohen songs. [61]
October 20, 2001
The following is a journal entry from Michela Ecks's LiveJournal from that date regarding Cassandra Claire:
So I have this message board at http://www.voy.com/36422/ which I've basically designated a fannish ethics discussion board... (Which is something I should really get into myself but hey, I can be a lazy idiot with less than ethical practice so long as I own up to my own hypocrisy?) Where was I?
At any rate, it's linked to the Cassandra Claire rant and the minors, age of consent and other sex related legal information page. I check this board probably about once a week just to see if there is anything pressing there that needs to be addressed. (Compared to the main Writers University message board which I check daily.) And when I checked two days ago, low and behold! There were posts about Cassandra Claire... (Which is a nice perk of sorts being the web whore I am... I get about two hits a day from people seeking her out.)
And I find their defense so amusing.... What idiots... There posts are the reasons why I've kept that essay up because plagiarism shouldn't be tolerated and people think it is okay or misunderstand it... so it remains and has nothing really to do with Cassandra Claire anymore (as I get about four hits a day to it a day because people are looking for information on plagiarism.) and more with fannish tolerance of it to begin with...
So, let me say this just to say it again, plagiarism has nothing to do with the intent (and really, if you need intent, word for word uncredit usage pretty much spells out intent to me especially when you cite the wrong book and don't cite the author but that's back the Cassie thing.) and everything to do with failure to cite. Any of her supporters who scream intent means plagiarism by definition and by law are happy, uneducated little idiots... :o) They are laughable.
So of course though, when presented with this, I must analyize because I am Michela Ecks, Analytical Ass Hole.
So let's do that for a second... I found 14 definitions... and then broke down components of what they defined as plagiarism...
Plagiarism is… Total
Using ideas AND words with out acknowleging the source. 10 71%
Quotes from another paper with out citing the author's work. 6 43%
Cites with out quotation marks. 7 50%
Copying of whole paper or pages with only minor formatting changes. 7 50%
Copying and pasting parts from multiple sources to create a new thing. 2 14%
Done on purpose or through carelessness and recklessness. 3 21%
A serious (academic) offense. 4 29%
Hard to Define 1 7%
Paraphrasing. 3 21%
Can lead to expulsion from a university. 2 14%
Regardless if a person makes money. 1 7%
A form of stealing. 1 7%
Done knowingly with out the owner's permission. 1 7%
Hmmmm... Let's note something here... It can be done on purpose or through neglect for 3 definitions... and I don't see intent anywhere in those definitions. Hmmmm... I do see that two have can lead to expulsion from a University in their DEFINITIONS of plagiarism along with four saying this is a serious (academic) offense. No intent there...
If any one wants all 14 definitions, let me know :o)
Anyway, just felt a need to post that as I find their ignorance amusing.
Current Mood: amused
October 24, 2001
Heidi8 posted to SugarQuill regarding the changes in the site's terms of service. [62]
November, 2001
JK Rowlings's writing abilities
The Harry Potter fan fiction community would eventually get to a point where JK Rowlings was fundamentally not respected by a large contingent of the fan base. This fan base preferred the works of several big name fans instead and the fanon universes created by these characters. Cassandra Claire was fundamental in this movement and her stories, along with Lori Summers' work would help lead the way for many a Harry/Hermione shipper, whether they were aware of this or not. It became evident that this would be the course in posts like the following dated to this era:
Author: frantyck@...
Subject:The Canonist Manifesto (long)
Date: Fri Nov 16, 2001 6:30 pm[63]
- This process has begun, because many questions on this list concern
- fundamentals such as the nature of magic and wizarding social
- relations. There are also a couple of imperialistic HP fanfiction
- universes, something like but not fully consistent with Rowling
- canon, such as Cassandra Claire's Draco-centric fics and Lori
- Summers' H/H adult fics, which, by sheer compelling popularity, are
- drawing other fanfic writers into their orbits. Who will win?
Harry/Ginny
In late November 2001, Cassandra Claire decided to give Harry/Ginny a chance. She asked for recommendations for stories to read. Someone recommended "Alpha and Omega" by Imogen. This helped launch the attacks on Gryffindor Tower and set the stage for the Msscribe incident. [64]
Cassandra Claire's Stalker
Charlotte Lennox describes the onset of this best with:
- The admins at GT didn't like this. At all. The ones who didn't like it the most were Imogen and a woman named Chryslin who had written another fic in Imogen's Alpha and Omega universe called (I believe) Deconstructing Harry. Anyway, there was turmoil, flame wars, angry emails, etc. Chryslin had a husband named Jeff, and Jeff, bristling in defense of his wife, her friends, and their beloved ship, sent Cassandra Claire and a teenaged girl named Emily some exceedingly nasty emails. To Cassandra Claire, I understand that he claimed that he knew her real name, knew where she lived, etc., with a definite implication that he might Do Her Harm. Cassandra Claire, not surprisingly, contacted the police, while her legal advisor Heidi and technical advisors such as Stacey ([info]phatphatkitty) from FA worked diligently tracing IP's, etc., to try to identify who this nasty e-mailing threatening stalker was. [65]
- One of the avenues Heidi pursued was to contact the SQ admins. I should tell you that in an attempt at "fandom unity," representatives from FA (Heidi, Cassandra Claire, and a girl named Ashley) and SQ (Arabella, Moey, Moey's husband, and GinnyPotter) had had a polite, stilted lunch together in New York City. At that lunch, Cassandra Claire had revealed her real first name, something that she apparently rarely did. Jeff used Cassandra Claire's real first name in some of his communications, so Heidi initially charged that the SQ admins must have told him Cassie's name -- a charge they vehemently denied. Using this as pressure, Heidi requested help from SQ in confirming Jeff's IP and also requested that they make a statement about the stalking on their website. Reluctant to be dragged into the mess, but agreeing that Jeff's letters were truly disturbing, the SQ admins made the statement, and confirmed an IP from Jeff's or Chryslin's posts at SQ. SQ also removed Chryslin's fic from their archive at this time. [66]
Other sources for information include Fandom Wank's wiki. [67]
Cassandra Claire's stalker also made an appearance at Writers University's message board. Among other things Chryslin was doing was pretending to be Pamela Dean and saying that Michela Ecks had it wrong, that Pamela Dean had actually plagiarized Cassandra Claire.[68][69] At this time, Stacey contacted Michela Ecks claiming to be a private investigator, working for Heidi8 and Cassandra Claire and part of the Harry Potter fan fiction community. As Michela Ecks had her own set of stalkers around that same time, she thought stalking was bad and willing provided the ip address evidence to Stacey in order to help her out.
Heidi8 has seen copies of the police reports related to the Cassandra Claire being stalked by Chryslin material. [70]
Another stalker
Compounding this, there was another stalker named alleged Sinead. Cassandra Claire, Heidi8 and Stacey were accusing Sinead and her boyfriend of hacking into Yahoo accounts. [71] [72]
Nimbus
Starting in November 2001 in the HPFGU chat, the beginning stages for the Nimbus planning started as an idea for having a HPforGrownUps meet up. [73]
November 2, 2001
On November 2, 2001, chapter 3 of Draco Veritas was posted on Fiction Alley. [74]
December, 2001
Fangirls
Meril described a run in with Cassandra Claire dating to this period:
- I was in a chat with Cassie, hmm, back in '01 sometime? December, I think. My memory for this short of thing's details is pretty much shit, so forgive me. I didn't realize that I had to back up every stinking thing I said in the fandom until sometime in '02 right before I left it.
- But anyway. I was in this chat. Someone mentioned the delay for book 5, and we started joking around about who would finish the series if Rowling died. Someone else said that they'd love it if Cassie would be given official permission to finish it off in that case. I said something to the effect of "well, that would mean I'd never read another HP book."
- One of Cassie's fangirls PMed me saying that Cassie was very hurt by what I just said and to try to be kinder when she was in the chat. I replied back with a) I preferred Rowling's style to Cassie's style, and wouldn't accept a replacement and b) if Cassie was so pissed off about what I just said, why couldn't she PM me herself?
- No reply at all. 'Twas weirdness. [75]
Whip rounds
Sometime during this month, Cassandra Claire posted to her LiveJournal asking people to help pay for her to go to England for a Harry Potter fan gathering.
December 1, 2001
On December 1, 2001, chapter 4 of Draco Veritas was posted on Fiction Alley. [76]
The disclaimers as originally posted to ParadigmOfUncertainty were not really disclaimers as no authors note were at the front [77] but the end. They were[78]:
- Side note: I am well aware the verses of "Greensleeves" are not
- right, this is because the song is actually "Leaving Green Sleeves,"
- by Leonard Cohen.
- Yes, yes. I know everyone is mad "Who is Ron sleeping with?!!" and
- all that. Trust me, when you find out (@ Chapter 6 by my clock) you
- will understand why I didn't tell you before. As Alex said, wow 4
- chapters and no sign of a plot yet! Well, there is one actually and
- I'm happy to say it will start taking off next chapter in a big way,
- when we finally get off campus - which I've been dying to do. Yes,
- much shippy angst abounding, and it will get worse before it gets any
- better (to coin a Lori phrase.) Don't ask me what's up with Harry, he
- just got all hormonal there for a second. Meanwhile, Draco seems to
- be making a bid for a future as a monk. At least Ginny has Seamus,
- and in the next chapter, gets to know him better while Harry and
- Draco are off visiting graveyards, Ron and Mystery Girl have further
- relationship problems when he refuses to let me tell everyone who
- he's snogging, the Slytherins and Gryffindors have their rematch
- game, and Draco gets partly naked for Hermione's benefit.
- Warning for future chapters: This series is going to be darker than
- the first two that I have written, because it's the end of the story
- arc. People will die, and not come back, and there will be * coughs
- violently * sex. And not just the off-screen sex Ron is having,
- either. I will be upping the ratings on all future chapters to "R". [79]
December 2, 2001 to December 7, 2001
Between Decemer 2, 2001 and December 7, 2001, Heidi8 sent an e-mail to Cassandra Claire's alleged stalker. This e-mail had an attached word document containing letterheard from a firm that Heidi8 had quit in November 2001.
December 3, 2001
According to her LiveJournal, Cassandra Claire has a stalker. She says the following regarding the stalker:
- Wah. Some very angry person has been sending me hate mail threatening me with all sorts of horrible, painful things. Apparently they are very angry with me for ... well, I am not exactly sure, it seems to have something to do with being an H/H shipper, and they accused me of trying to destroy other fanfic sites. ("Other" sites? Like I have a site?) I wrote to the Headmistresses of Sugarquill in case they thought I'd been flaming them, but they seemed to think I had nothing to apologize about and were confused (which is nice...I like Arabella and B and I like having lunch with them...) so I remain mystified. Could it be very, very angry H/G shippers? They have such a fluffy rep, who would have thought? And what brought this on? That I didn't like that one H/G fic? Seems a tad extreme. I am at a loss, which I hate. And I was having such a good weekend, too! Finally finished DV4, the weather's great, hung out in the park with Ashley, saw crazy Russian artist friend O., seeing crazy other friend E. in two weeks (makes face at jackdaw)...and then with the hate mail. Sheesh.[80]
December 5th, 2001
On December 5th, 2001, Cassandra Claire posted the following regarding her stalker:
- *sigh* As am dealing with police, lawyers, subpoenas, etc. in reference to Psycho Loser Cyber Stalker person. It is amazing how nice other fanfic sites are when dealing with cretins of this ilk, even sites that are supposed to not like you. O_O Ah, well. Should be cleared up soon. :D
December 6th, 2001
Cassandra Claire continued to bait the stalker she claims to have with two posts this day. The first post made at 5:25 pm said:
- So. We caught the Psycho Stalker. I'm still in shock that it was so easy -- and that they were so unbelievably stupid. And yes, it was an angry H/G person. They were very upset, apparently, that I did not like that story where Harry gets Ginny pregnant. O_O Anyway, everything has gone to the police and I will be pressing every charge known to man, as well as getting them fired from the site they help run. I feel so disgusted that I ever had contact with this person, as does everyone else lucky enough to read his sick, sadistic, perverted emails. Man, what a mess. I am sitting here staring at this freak's (well, two freaks) address and phone number and ... wow. The urge to call and scream is pretty strong, but superseded by my lawyer's advice to just wait and sue their fucking asses off. :D[81]
The second post made at 10:54 pm said:
- So frown tells me she got some messages from CyberStalker as well...and lovely they were, too. Death threats, and offers to chainsaw me apart. Good stuff, and I'm sure the police will enjoy asking Stalker Couple about this. What *do* they put in the water in Ohio? Anyway, we checked and the IP addresses match up, so anyone else who has been flamed or threatened should let me know...we know who this person is so they will not get away with it...they will be outcast. Oh, and note to stalker: quit blaming other people for the fact that we know who you are. You sent an abusive email with a link to your homepage in it, you submoronic troglydyte.[82]
December 7, 2001
HP Paradise
The following post was made to this mailing list:
Author: User141751@...
Subject: Cassandra Claire?
Date: Fri Dec 7, 2001 12:33 am [83]
- Hi
- In late June, Cassie was blacklisted from fanfiction.net for plagiarism. Her
- stories are filled with quotes and passages borrowed from other sources, and
- while this is a common practice among fanfic authors, it was deamed
- unacceptable by the ff.net admins. I am aware of all this.
- However, I've decided that although Cassie may not have been thorough enough
- with her footnotes, it was an honest mistake, and wasn't done out of malice.
- The stories she writes are excellent, and could stand on their own without
- the added material - quotes are fun, but she doesn't build her stories around
- them.
- If anyone has a problem with my decision, they can <A
- HREF="mailto:diagonalley_@...">email</A> me. I hope to have a
- list of signifigant passages here eventually, but in the meaintime you can <A
- HREF="mailto:cassandraclaire73@...">
- ask Cassie</A> if you're unsure what is hers and what was borrowed.
- These are wonderful stories. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
- Ali
- This was copied from Diagon Alley a great site for HP fans who are slightly
- older.
- Go to fiction, and you will see Cassandra Claire listed under authors,
- there you will find Cassie's storys, and a note from Ali this sites WM.
- Hope this helps!
- T. Nichols
FictionAlley.Org and SugarQuill
A joint statment is made by SugarQuill and FictionAlley.Org on stalking. A copy can be found on FictionAlley Park (SugarQuill's version is no longer on their website) and states[84]:
Originally posted on 7th December, 2001 at Sugarquill and FictionAlley.
It pains us greatly that actions in the HP fandom have caused the necessity of the above subject line. While we have always accepted that there is unlikely that we will ever all agree, or that we could ever avoid disagreements we have been most saddened by recent events.
During the past few weeks someone has taken to stalking and harassing a fanfiction writer. This action has included, but not been limited to, sending threatening messages to the writer, uploading 'fics', to ff.net, with the intention of ridiculing, plagiarising, harassing and threatening her and also trying to scare the FA mods into removing her stories by dreaming up 'copyright infringement' complaints which have no basis in fact.
Both the SugarQuill and Fictionalley Admin Teams find such actions unacceptable. Neither site will tolerate any of its users taking part in any such actions, and in this case appropriate action has been taken, as it will if anyone takes part in similar action in the future.
Many people in the fandom choose not to use their real names. If personal information is provided to one person, that doesn't mean it's to be shared with the general community; if someone wants their information made public, they should be the sole determinor of how, where and when.
The HP books teach us about love/friendship and, while at times we will not see eye to eye and agree on things relating to the books, we should not lose sight of the fact that the person at the other end of your message is also a human being and should be treated with appropriate dignity and consideration.
The SugarQuill and FictionAlley Admins
Last edited by stacey on 24th May, 2002 at 07:28 PM
Why: adding headline and housekeeping
December 8, 2001
Cassandra Claire continued to bait, on her LiveJournal, the stalker she claimed to have:
- Why do I have to have a stalker even stupider than he is evil? Look, loser. Nobody gave me your personal information. You posted it on the web. Here's a quick guide to How Not To Be The Stupidest Stalker On the Planet...http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=16897230&nc=1
- Since your personal information is available on the internet, you have no ability to complain that anyone revealed it. It's out there for all to see. As a side note, do you think that ISP's protect the privacy of people who stalk, harass, and abuse? Or is "I still won't appreciate CassieCrackWhore after I kill her...oops, I mean after she dies" not your definition of harassment? And leaving that on the journal of an underage girl, good move there. Livejournal loves people who stalk and terrify teenagers. They love to protect the privacy of people who post comments like "you're next on my hit list, whore...you shouldn't have posted your address. Knock, knock" on little girls' webpages. And you IP address matches exactly to those comments, so everyone knows you posted them. Sad, sick, evil man. I feel like becoming a Republican because it sickens me even to share a political leaning with a creep like you. [85]
December 9, 2001
Cassandra Claire posted to FictionAlley.Org Park with the following message:
- Re: Wow...
- "If you have something to say about someone, stalking and sending death threats isn't quite the way :::to get your ideas across, but maybe that's just me..."
- No. It is not just you. This person is looking at six months of jail time.
- This is serious stuff.
- Cassandra[86]
Such what appears to be open taunting of legally going after the stalker in an open forum was why some people would later question if the stalking actually occurred as such behavior did not seem typical of some one feeling stalked.
December 12, 2001
Cassandra Claire made an official statement on the stalker situation in her LiveJournal. [87][88] She late made four more public posts on this topic. [89][90][91][92][93] GT members remained rather quiet on this issue for several years with only one real statement having been made here and they generally wish for the situation to remain quiet now because many have worked hard at obliterating that part of their past.
December 15, 2001
Queerasjohn's yahoo account was alleged to have been cracked by Sinead or Dai. [94][95][96]
December 17, 2001
According to Heidi8 in a post on FictionAlley.Org Park,
- I want all of you to go now and leave FictionAlley Park.
- Go and change all of your passwords now, to things which are combinations of letters and numbers. Do *not* use Harry Potter character names, and 934 is not a good number, because it's too close to the Platform Number.
- Why am I going on about this?
- Because, if you read our Blog or LiveJournal, you'd know that we've been slightly hacked - it's nothing we can't handle and AFAWK, no information about any of our users, other than what's posted here, was stolen, but you should consider it a precautionary tale.
- Protect your accounts! Change your passwords regularly![97]
December 18, 2001
The following was posted to HP_Paradise:
Author: heidit@...
Subject: Re: Eb's Anniversary & Fandom Business
Date: Tue Dec 18, 2001 6:58 am [98]
- In a message dated Mon, 17 Dec 2001 2:15:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
- "suzwolfe47" <zer6@...> writes:
- > > We did *not* get into this to be terrorized.
- > >
- > We have enough terror from unseen forces who crash into our buildings
- > and hack the net to make it stand still and viruses glore, but can we
- > not have it in HPfandom?
- >
- We want to have it. We want to have our debates and discussions and our fics
- that cover a dozen SHIPs (that's Paradise, in and of itself). But as some of you
- may know from the posts on FictionAlleyPark and Sugarquill over the past 2
- weeks, Cassandra Claire received harrassing emails - the person who admitted to
- sending them is someone who is related to a "member" (which I put in quotes
- because some of her co-admins have publicly said things like "I'm glad I made my
- original choice and haven't got involved with the 'fandom'. For one thing, I
- don't have time, for another, I actually don't want to." so I think that they
- don't think that their site is part of the fandom) of the fandom - a (now
- former) admin of an HP fanfic/message board site.
- The emails were not SHIP debate emails, nor were they critical reviews of a
- story - or even flames. They said things like "I DO know what you look like and
- where you live....but you'll never see me coming."
- This is one-to-one terrorism, and in a year filled with terrorism of such
- extreme proportions, it's even sicker than it otherwise would've been for
- something like this to happen.
- I love this fandom, and everyone who considers him or herself a participant in
- it. When Cassie & I were writing the Xmas Carol this weekend, we sprinkled
- references to other fics, people - our *friends* in the fandom. Friends who
- never team up with us to terrorize anyone else. Friends who are each other's
- toughest critics. Friends who believe in One Big Happy Fandom Family.
- Maybe next year.
- And speaking of next year...well, 2003, actually
- > Also, keep us posted on the convention in works! Let us all know so
- > we can set our calenders and we'll make it a weekend to remember!!
- You can learn more about the convention at
- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-Convention/
- See you there!
December 19th, 2001
The following is another post made by Cassandra Claire on the stalking situation made in her LiveJournal on this date:
- Wow, the fandom just gets uglier and uglier all the time.
- (link gone because the thread in which the stalker was spreading his lies and venom has been deleted. Yay.)
- *eye roll* Now I do not mind being called a suck-ass writer. :D I kinda get a kick out of it, since as Lori says you're never more successful than when you've inspired a backlash. But the suggestion that there was no stalker is annoying, since we have plenty of documented proof that in fact there was one. I am also surprised at the suggestion that there is a flame war going on. You have to have two sides for a flame war, and as far as I've noted, there's no "Pro-Stalker Go Go Go!" side. There's just me being pissed off at the asshole who threatened to kill me, which IMHO is fairly understandable in the circumstances.
- What I don't get is why the stalker persists in haunting the fandom and LiveJournal, wailing about how he never did any stalking and he's so misunderstood etc. Dude, you ADMITTED that you did it. YOU ADMITTED IT. Seems a bit late to go retracting things. As of the moment he should be glad his ass is not in jail, and should probably also recognize that it doesn't have to be an email sent to *me* to count as harassment.
- As of the moment, if anyone has any questions or wants the documented proof of the events that took place, please contact me and ask for them. (Just paste your email address into the comments section -- I have no working email I am willing to give out at this point, thanks to Jeff.) I will be more than happy to furnish incontrovertible proof of the stalker's activities to whoever wants it. I am bored with his whiney crap. Some people do not get to pretend that they are victims; stalkers and rapists (and IMHO he is no better than a rapist) are among them.
- CC[100]
December 20, 2001
The following is a LiveJournal entry by Michela Ecks dated December 20, 2001:
I hate Harry Potter fandom, I really do
*pulls out her hair*
Ignoring my gripes on work, let's launch into my latest experince with in the Harry Potter fandom...
Cassandra Claire and stalking. I thought it was real and was happy that she had gone after hers because lord, I couldn't go after mine. I recieved an e-mail at a later date saying Cassie made it up along with accusations on my message board. I go "Oh, wow. Was I ever WRONG." and I laughed hollowly to myself but this eats at me so I inform Heidi via another board. They come a calling and LOW! but the accusations do bear out and boy do I feel STUPID again. Oh, board plug in case you missed it: >a href="http://www.voy.com/36422/">This baord here. Oh wait, I feel REALLY STUPID. Why do I feel stupid? Because I didn't believe initially but based on my earliest experince, I thought the skeptism was justified. Anyway, I initially told the investigator no, I wouldn't send but I would confirm or deny an IP address and than I wandered over to look and really started to read posts that I had just looked over earlier... and it really pissed me off. Oh, and the IP addresses MATCHED. hmmm. Heid posted that she would contact me later and I had the full details, and much more shown to me. Woah. Away those IP addresses and notes went and lots of moderation went on after I got permission.
This stalker proved to be incredibly fucking stupid because I posted a nice little note saying that please no personal attacks, please no stupid oh and please research. By the way, your IP address can be tracked. Stalker is persisting in posting. Oh, and I finished sending off stuff to Cassie's investigator and accidently gave away my indent for that list. I feel INCREDIBLY FUCKING STUPID. That's okay as I am that way normally. Lord, I hate fandom and me. Where was I? The person had started to post as Pamela Dean. This freaked me out cause initially I saw the named and assumed it was her posting in support of Cassie and against the stalker. It was just the idiot stalker with a traceable right back to them IP address. Fucking moron. Anyway, the investigator for cassie e-mailed Pamela Dean's (who at this point must loathe the Harry Potter fandom. I would if I was dragged in like this way all because of fan fiction.) agent who said they would be more than happy to post that it wasn't her. I declined but I got permission to hide/delete those posts which I more than happily did because God, I don't want the Harry Potter blaming me for more shit that WAS NOT MY FAULT! *shudders*
Yuppers, I hate stalkers and fandom gets scarier all the time. The good thing is that Heidi and the investigator said that they would try to stave off blame that might fall on me cause I feel partially responsible because I inadvertently gave the stalker all that info because I just DID NOT KNOW. Bleh. Sucks. And this by the way was me staying out of it. I did nothing (well aside from the one contact to them because it annoyed me if the poster who said cassie lied and fabricated it... well if they were the liars as stalkers suck.) bleh again.
On the same day on FictionAlley.Org Park, Cassandra Claire posted the following:
- I think "Look at who wrote it" about sums it up. I am not going to bother to read anything spewed out by that sick person. I mean, here's a site where the stalker (this is him) link removed by mod brags about the stuff he does and everyone gives him pats on the back.
- I wouldn't bother trying to reply to whatever email address he has there, though, since Yahoo deleted it as it is against their TOU to send stalking and harassing emails.
- Cassie[101]
And she posted again on FictionAlley.Org Park that same day saying:
- LOL. Yes, "Ted Logan" is the guy. Not his real name of course, note that in a feeble stab at humor, he used the name of one of the characters from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
- The odd thing is that someone (Michaela?) posted that it's a good thing I took those death threats seriously and handled the situation well, while at the same time this guy was getting congratulated all over the boards for what he was doing with my stories on FF.net. Now admittedly that didn't bother me much, compared to the other stuff he did. I'll just give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they didn't realize quite how mentally unstable and violently disturbed good old Ted really was.
- BTW, if anyone wants proof of the stalker's activites, just let me know. I have plenty of documents to back it up; I have a case number on file with the police, you can talk to my lawyer, you can send an email to the stalker at tedloganhp@yahoo.com -- oh wait, no you can't, because they DELETED HIS ACCOUNT FOR STALKING. Which they do not do if someone is making things up. That confirmed for us that the stalking emails came from him.
- " I swear, all they do is go on about how horrible you are. Sheesh. Pure jealousy."
- I don't think it's jealousy. It's just hatred. Whatever. Thanks for all the chocolate.
- Cassandra[102]
On the same day on FictionAlley.Org Park, Cassandra Claire posted again:
- Yeah. That the guy spent this much time obsessing over me, how to hurt me, how to scare me, reading probably every post I ever made and memorizing meticulous details about what kind of clothes I wear, where I go in the city I live in, following my internet friends to their journals and threatening to kill *them*...yep, I wonder who the obsessed one is here?
- Creepy. A guy that age fixated on girls way younger. Yech.
- It's only somewhat funny (funny that he only got to boast for a few days before we caught his ass) but won't really be funny until he's in jail. Which, hopefully, will be soon.
- Cassie[103]
FictionAlley.Org Park, Cassandra Claire posted again:
- That's a nice sentiment, but I would never ask anyone to trust my word on this (or anyone's) without any backup proof. If they think I'm lying, then they are also accusing Heidi and Stacey, the Fictionalley Mods, Yahoo (who deleted Ted's account), Southwest Bell, (who sent him a letter warning him that if he continued his harassment he would lose his ISP), and the girls of Sugarquill who *caught* the stalker in the first place and to whom he admitted guilt. The main thing is that we have proof -- including screenshots of death threats he left on Livejournal pages with his IP address showing. Anyone want to see this stuff, let me know.
- The man is a moron.
- Cassandra[104]
FictionAlley.Org Park, Heidi8 said that day:
- Kimberly - very,um, forceful post over there.
- Btw - the guy is married - he's the same person that sent those messages (discussed above) to Cassie and on frown's LiveJournal. The police are assembling a file on him; hopefully, he'll see what the law does in situations like this.[105]
December 21, 2001
FictionAlley.Org Park, Cassandra Claire is still posting about her stalker:
- I am not sure why this guy was so obsessed with me. He is obviously mentally unhinged in a grave and disturbing way, and should in no way be involved in a fandom in which there are children.
- What's truly amazing is that he claims to have decided to start harassing and stalking me because he didn't like the fact that I gave a negative review of a story. The story in question featured an underage pregnancy between two canon characters, and squicked me, so I said so, here on the Fictionalley boards. And he flipped. There's taking criticism badly...and then there's REALLY taking criticism badly.
- I believe if you follow the links in the stalker's profile you can find his homepage and somewhere on it he mentions his birthday. I am not going to say it here, for fear of driving him to new excesses of vicious insanity.
- Cassie[106]
December 22, 2001
Cassandra Claire made several more posts to her LiveJournal on the subject of the stalker. One was dated at 1:38 am. It said:
- Have been pondering stalker and his creepy motivations. What really weirds me out is that all this was precipitated by the fact that I didn�t like a particular story. (The stalker has now reiterated in several places that this was his motivation, so I feel safe in asserting it.) There is a world of difference between not liking a story, and saying so, and a personal attack. The story in question featured an underage pregnancy and underage sex between Ginny and Harry, and it squicked me, and I said it squicked me, and so the hell what? What the hell is wrong with a fandom where you cannot say that you don�t like a story, or thought it was badly written or poorly conceived? How on earth is this vile, or evil, or even malicious � if it is, then literary critics the world over should be lined up and shot, I suppose. It is one thing to critique a story; another thing entirely to attack the person who wrote it, which I did not do. The irritating thing is that I hardly ever say anything honest about anything I read because I am well aware I am fairly high profile where the fandom is concerned, and therefore I cannot, like a normal person, actually ever say what I think. It�s part of the reason I hardly ever read any fanfic at all unless it�s written by someone I trust, because I am not allowed to have an actual opinion and therefore I cannot give feedback. So hello stalker, if you�re going to accuse someone of flaming, or trolling (which I seriously doubt you understand the definition of) you have picked the wrong person. I hereby invite you all to go and find any flames I�ve ever written, bring them and post them here, and if I wrote them, I�ll apologize for it. Of course I asked the stalker the same thing, and we had the following email exchange (paraphrased as stalker cannot spell or utilize proper grammer):
- Stalker: Go and apologize to everyone you have flamed and trolled, or I will hound you and threaten you and insult you and tell you I know where you live and plagiarize your work and generally make an ass of myself.
- Cassie: Okay, who have I flamed and who am I suppose to apologize to?
- Stalker: I�m not going to tell you because then you would know who I am.
- Cassie: Then how am I supposed to apologize?
- Stalker: That�s your problem, bitch.
- Right. It indicates pretty clearly to me that, since the stalker believed that if he told me who I owed an apology to I would �know who he was� that even he wasn�t so stupid as to think I owed apologies all across the board. In fact, he apparently thought I owed an apology to only one person. Him. A rather generous attitude, in its own sick little way.
- As it turns out, he might as well have told me who he wanted me to apologize to, since we found out who he was anyway. At least he could have gotten an apology out of it, although I�m not sure an apology extorted via threats counts for much.
- Final side note to stalker, who was recently whining in LJ posts that he was worried I was going to call him at home (bleh, barf) : Dude, that will never happen. Partly because I firmly believe to the bottom of my soul that you are a sick and evil person, and the idea of ever even hearing your voice makes me feel dirty and ill. And partly because I have no reason to do so. I will tell you for the record that I will *never * call you, never send you a letter, never ever ever * ever * contact you or your work, because those actions, especially the latter, would put me in the same bracket as you. There are some things you just don�t do. However awful and cruel a person I think you are, however your threats and insults may have affected me and my friends and family, it is not my position to decide what your punishment should be and mete it out. Unlike you, I don�t think I�m God, put here on this earth to make sure that the people who * I * think have done wrong hurt and suffer and are destroyed just because I happen not to like them. Karma, and the legal system, will take care of you; I plan to and need to do nothing. The censure you�ve suffered, the blame you�ve felt for what you did -- you deserve them, and on some level you must know it � it�s all I can imagine would account for your increasingly desperate attempts to throw the blame on someone, anyone else. Give it up and go away and this fandom will go back to being the nice place it used to be before you were in it. [107]
She posts again on this topic at 3:11 am. In this post, Cassandra Claire said:
- Another fanfic writer and I were discussing the stalker and his activites today and I was expressing surprise at the rather...diverse coalition of people who have banded together to help eject him from the fandom. People who cannot stand me have been uber-helpful. I've deleted said writer's name as I do not want to make him/her a target, but I liked what s/he said. And as a side note, I am very grateful for the help that has been given to me, by everyone.
- sd: Nothing brings people together like a common enemy.
- cassandraclaire: Yeah but why should *** care what happens to me?
- sd: No, but he's attacking everything that the fandom stands for. The camaraderie, the good-natured bantering... he's taken it to a horrifying extreme, and that's something that no one wants a part of. Like you said, there really isn't any "go, go stalker!" side in all of this. Everyone with more than a one-digit IQ wants this guy and his twisted little mind out of the fandom. Ergo, they're joining together to accomplish the task.
- Names deleted to protect the innocent from the machinations of the guilty.
- Cassie [108]
December 23, 2001
Cassandra Claire continued to post about her stalker, one that she claimed to have dealt with by getting subponeas regarding. On this date, she said, regarding her stalker:
- *waves at stalker, who reads this journal obsessively during his short lucid periods, in between drooling fits of impotent rage. Enjoy!*[109]
December 24, 2001
The following is a letter sent by Chryslin to Michela Ecks on this date:
---- Original Message ----- From: "chryslin" To: "Writers University" Sent: Monday, December 24, 2001 5:55 PM Subject: Re: My apologies, Ms. Ecks. > Dear Ms. Ecks, > > Forgive me for not responding in a more timely manner. I'm sure you > understand the whole Christmas thing..... > > > I'm going to make this brief, mostly because it's almost midnight on > Christmas Eve, and also because I'm sick to death of the whole thing. I > can't seem to let it go because more than anything in the world, I hate a > bully. > > This all started when Jeff wrote to CC to complain that she lifted a line > from "News Radio". I explained her "theory" of writing and he said that 1) > disclaimers mean NOTHING and 2) she was replying on the message boards to > compliments concerning that particular line as if she had written it > herself. So he wrote a rather pointed and not very nice letter to her and > included the wave file of the line. I just want to point out that he DID NOT > use profanity. > > CC"s return letter was a spewing of profanity and vulgarity of the "What the > fuck?" variety. What followed was a flame war that spilled over into her > live journal as she started posting stories about her "stalker". I can't > even believe that people believe her when she says that he talked about > "chainsaws" and "cutting her head off". I can't believe that CC has the > chutzpa to reel off stories like this, though I'm actually starting to think > that there is a sort of "fanfic psychosis" going on here. (I'd check the > DSM IV, but I'm pretty sure it's not that documented. :)) > > When he received Heidi's "Settlement Contract" it accused him of saying > those things aforementioned and a lot more. Of course, when one of the > admins of GT requested proof (since one of Heidi's "conditions" was that I > be removed from GT as an admin or mod) it was explained that those messages > had been deleted and couldn't be retrieved, but rest assured, it happened. > Then a bunch of other statements were brought forward as "evidence" that had > NO IP addresses anywhere. It was all completely fabricated. >
December 26, 2001
Heidi8 and Cassandra Claire published their co-written story, A Lucius Christmas Carol. [110]
December 30, 2001
- On December 30, 2001, Cassandra Claire published the first of her Very Secret Diaries. [111]
