I've been asked to elaborate on my statement of archive preferences a number of times now. (One is a number, for the record.) I'm not sure why, since it seems pretty straightforward. If you want to keep a copy of something I wrote, go ahead. If you want to add it to an archive, go ahead. If you want to add it to archives you don't even own, I still don't care, because it saves me some trouble. If you want to email it to people you know/like, feel free. If you want to email it to people you don't know/don't like, go ahead and do that, too. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. If you want to read it aloud to your grandmother, I suppose you can do that too, though don't say I didn't warn you, and I take no responsibility for her cutting you out of the will.
This is the sort of thing a friend of mine used to call windfall writing. I wrote this stuff, I put it in a public place, and you can do what you like with it, but consider it like found money. Sure, you can buy drugs with it, but it's not the responsibility of the person who dropped the money when you get arrested, lose your job or your license, or for that matter get high and have a good time. You can also buy dinner with it, or give it to charity for all it matters to the person who dropped it in the first place. Some of what you find is good, some of it's not, and regardless of that, it sometimes is a good thing for you to have found and sometimes it's not. It's all about what you do with it, once it's out of my hands.
A word about plagiarism: See something I wrote that you really liked and that you're pretty sure you could have written yourself? If you'd like to pass my work off as your own, there are a few courtesies you might follow.
Write to me. Write and tell me you enjoyed it. If it's good enough to put your name on, it's good enough to write and tell me you liked it, right? If nothing else, it'll probably encourage me to write some more stuff that you can "harvest". Feedback is story seed.
Take the whole story. Don't just take a chapter of a series or take a scene from a story. If your readers like what you're giving them, maybe they'd like to read more of it. Since you probably aren't going to give me a link, you might as well at least offer them the whole thing.
Don't blame me if your friends and family members think you're a pervert. Mine already know this about me, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But I have no interest in listening to it from your loved ones.
Don't ask me to define words or explain jokes for the benefit of your audience. If you swipe a story from me, the very least you can do is look up the words and research the references and know, you know, what it is you're saying you wrote. If you're not saying it's yours, go ahead and ask. I'm fine with that. But claiming authorship sort of obligates you to actually know what it is you say you wrote. Don't get the Allende joke? Not sure what a "gink" is? Still pondering "Soda Pop Factor"? Don't take that story. 'Cause if people write to you and ask you, answering those questions is your job at that point. For that matter, so is explaining off-screen fictional events. If someone's written you wondering what it is that the guys did to Frohike's tape collection, don't ask me. I answer that sort of thing often enough from people who write directly to me. I'm not answering it when asked indirectly.
Don't sell it. Don't in any way make money off it. I don't know how you could make money off it, but evidently it happens, and I feel very strongly about this, so just in case. I'm giving it to you for free, you can give it to others for free, whether you leave my name on it or put yours on. Only total scum-sucking weasels take something free, and sell it to others. Don't bottle the rain and sell it. It makes you a scam artist and a jerk. Your karma will suffer. And I'll write to your victims and offer them exclusive stories for free and suggest they publicly mock you. Got it? Don't be a prick. Sharing is good for the soul.
Don't change it. I find it dreadfully depressing to realize that someone liked something enough to steal, but felt like they could improve on it, only to have it turn out worse. If you steal something I wrote, and add spelling errors, I'm probably going to be forced to hunt you down like the tapeworm you are.
One additional note while we're on the subject. If you think there's something in one of my stories you can expand upon, or improve, or just feel like re-writing from a different character, go ahead. Ideas are free. You have my blessing, and I'll be happy to defend you from anyone who accuses you of plagiarism or anything like that. If you're a really nice person, you can include a link to the story that inspired your own, or you can just write to me and tell me about the idea you had, and let me know where I can find the story you wrote. That way I can go read yours, and probably be delighted and amused. But at the very least, spellcheck it, okay?
Thank you kindly,
Erika.