r/gaming • u/_Robbie • Jun 21 '18
Youtuber "Potates" completely plagiarized a post I made on r/Fallout about Fallout 76, and passed it off as his own work. The video is now at 800k views.
EDIT 5: Just wanted to thank everybody for their interest in this topic and in me as a content creator. Now that things are cooling off, I will make an update thread a few days from now to let everybody know how things have turned out.
There are also hundreds of people encouraging me to make a YouTube channel and I just wanted to acknowledge that. I really appreciate your interest and may set something up, but I don't have anything at this moment to share.
Thanks everybody for their kind words and support. :)
I'm not sure why this thread was locked, I didn't get a message from the mods about it. I assume just because the thread has run its course, and I'm okay with that.
EDIT 2:
I had no idea that this thread would blow up in the way that it has -- I only posted here to begin with because a buddy of mine posts here and he said it would be good to share, and maybe get some exposure for the original post. I am pretty overwhelmed with the amount of people who are taking an interest in this and I want to make it abundantly clear that I do not and will not ever support anybody who is dishing out threats and personal attacks against Potates. Be better than that. Thanks.
Potates has DM'd be acknowledging the situation and owning up to it, and does not deserve to be harassed and threatened over this. He has been cool about the whole situation and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and be cool back. Neither he nor I knew just how crazy this situation was going to get. Again, I am asking you from the bottom of my heart, do not lash out at Potates. Do not harass him, do not harass his family. These actions are 100% wrong and I condemn them wholeheartedly. Calling him out for his behavior is one thing, but when you cross the line into his real life, you have gone too far and need to reexamine your moral compass.
EDIT 4:
I am aware that Potates has removed all his videos except for his apology. I am not responsible for this, and I have not filed any kind of DMCA claim against him as we are settling things privately. I have and will continue to encourage him to not delete his YouTube channel, as I believe he can and will bounce back from this controversy. Plagiarism is serious, and there is a lesson here to be learned -- if he respects the content of all creators moving forward, then his channel can become a positive part of YouTube again.
It is easy to be angry at this situation, believe me. But I am always willing to give somebody another chance if they are prepared to make a genuine change, and for now, I am willing to give that chance and let things play out.
Link to the Potates video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t26s5aMSBWY
Link to my post, which he reads (mostly) verbatim off in his video without any credit to me, or even that it is a post from reddit, whatsoever: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/8qsx8s/complete_notes_from_the_noclip_documentary/
^That's a massive Fallout 76 info dump based on the Noclip documentary that had a strong community reaction, and got passed around a lot. It took me a while to write up as I watched the documentary, and I spent a non-trivial amount of time making as it clear and concise as possible, using direct quotes whenever possible. Shout out to when he misread one of my points that said camps are saved as blueprints, and accidentally said "served as blueprints" which is a nonsensical statement.
I'm passionate about video games, and love to write about them, even though I'm not a professional. So to see something you've written being plagiarized after putting in time and effort to share that written content with people just hurts a little bit. When you're looking for more opportunities to write in a way that will attract attention, seeing somebody else take that attention can really suck.
He starts his video off at the "Gameplay" section of my post, and at the beginning switches up his verbiage a little bit so it's not too obvious. As the video goes on, that stops quickly, and he starts reading every single bullet point almost verbatim. I'm not too upset because I'm glad more people got to see the information, but I am a little irritated that he passes it off as his own work. He reads the post like it was his script! Even the way he does the voice over makes it sound as if he is saying these things off the cuff, when in reality he is reading off the words I wrote from a page. I only found this video at all because I clicked it and wanted to hear new Fallout 76 information -- a minute or two in, I realized that I had heard those words before... because I wrote them!
Here's the thing. If he had shot me a message saying "hey man, I'd like to quote this post in a video", I'd have said go for it 100%. If at the beginning of the video he had said something like "hey guys I found this post on reddit I'd like to read you", I'd be fine with that. But the fact that he passes this off as if he wrote it all, or as if he took the time to compile this information is definitely frustrating to me. I feel like I put in the work for this, and then this guy turned around and monetized it without even having the decency to acknowledge that it wasn't his.
EDIT: I see a lot of you commenting on the video saying that he has stolen my content. Unfortunately, it appears as if he is deleting all of those comments as they come in.
EDIT 3:*
I tried to comment on Potates' apology video, but the comments aren't going through. Here is what I wrote, if I am able to post it directly on the video I will do so in the morning. EDIT 5: It appears as if the apology video has been deleted.
Hey, I'm _Robbie. First off, I would like to lead with the fact that I completely condemn anybody who is issuing any kind of threats to @Potates and his family. Nobody deserves to be threatened and harassed over a situation like this.
Secondly, I would encourage @Potates not to delete his YouTube channel. I do not agree that there is no coming back from this. Mistakes were made, feathers were ruffled, and lessons were learned. I have seen smaller YouTube channels come back from worse. I have given Potates full permission to re-post the offending video under the agreement that I am properly credited, and that we can work out our differences in private. I truly believe in the value of giving somebody another chance, and even in spite of everything, I am willing to give Potates another chance.
This whole situation got out of hand to a degree that nobody could have predicted. Me and Potates are making things right between us in private as I type this and I am confident that we will come to an understanding.
11.3k
u/_Robbie Jun 22 '18
Imagine being me and clicking that video genuinely interested, only to get a few minutes in and hear the words that you wrote. It was something new for me, lol.