Yesterday it was brought to our attention that RPGC regular [@Tip] has submitted multiple plagiarized entries into the official contest. We take this very seriously. Because I was complacent in policing entries, [@Tip] was able to use a poem by Aleister Crowley to win RPGC #2, as well as receiving unwarranted accolades, praise, and attention. Those awards are being removed, and [@Tip] is barred from all future participation in the RPG contest subforum. 

For my part, I apologize to RPGC contestants who were cheated out of a fair chance at honest competition. I was complacent, and I allowed foul play to spoil the results. We'll be implementing safeguards in the future, but we're only human -- this time, [@Impaqt] caught the plagiarism first, and next time it might be you! We've all got a good thing going here -- help us keep it that way.

We're a writing site, and we're all writers here. It's safe to assume that we all feel pretty similarly about stealing other people's creative works. In light of that, I consider the matter, as it concerns [@Tip], [b]CLOSED.[/b] There is no need to beat a dead horse -- that user should be considered 'appropriately warned and penalized.' At this point we're interested in what happens next, not what happened last month. To that end, [b]there will be no further discussion of this instance of plagiarism.[/b] That said, we have two outstanding issues on which we'd love to hear your input:

1. RPGC #2 was technically won by Aleister Crowley, who, to my knowledge, had no intentions on entering said competition. Runners-up were our own [@RomanAria] and [@Ellri], and there were a wealth of other fantastic entries as well. We're interested in what the community would like to see done with those results -- currently, the offending entry has been stripped of its awards and all other prizes remain as they were. Would you like us to revisit that contest?

2. In the future, we will need to do more to protect the integrity of these contests. I am loathe to put any obstacles between a writer and their audience, but clearly I have not done enough. We will be checking all current and future entries to the best of our ability; is there anything else you would like us to do in the future to prevent plagiarism?

These areas are open for conversation. [@Tip] [b]is not.[/b] This is not a feeding frenzy -- we will be civil and Fonz-cool. If you have thoughts about that user, keep them. This thread will be moderated as necessary to ensure that we remain focused on moving forwards. Thank you for understanding, and my sincerest apologies once again for not catching this myself. Stay classy, RPG!