I was talking to my best friend on the phone, whom I'm still trying to cross over to the Spuffy side. She's still all for Bangel, ugh. She's hasn't watched the show in years, I mean, years. Last time she watched Spike hasn't showed up yet.

Anywho, so I was trying to get her to read on of my fics, and then a memory hit me. One of my old betas, one of my first that I ever had sent my fic to someone else to read without my permission. I guess she felt that I wouldn't mind, but I did, but the bad thing was I didn't say anything I just stoped using her. The person that she sent it to im'ed me telling me that they really enjoyed it, but still. It wasn't her place to do that.

I just had to get that mini rant off my chest. And betas reading this, or future betas reading this. Don't ever, never, ever send your writer's fics off to other people without asking them first.

OMG, I remember that... was it me (not the bad beta, the other person)? Cause I know someone once sent me a fic of yours I liked...

I also once had a former beta get confused and sent me a chapter of someone else's fic instead of mine, but that was just a goof and not on purpose, obviously. But it was also a fic I was reading and it meant a sneak peek *shifty eyes* lol

It would bother me too.

Yes, it was you. :P LOL, the reader not the bad beta. But I was glad for the feedback and that you liked it. But it bothered me greatly that my beta would do that, ya know.

I don't know if I'd have a problem with it -- as long as they weren't pointing and laughing... yeah... hehe

I can imagine a conscientious beta who had questions about something consulting another beta whom she respected and asking "what would you do here?" about a small portion of a chapter or a punctuation/grammar point, but I believe sending an entire chapter to someone else to look at without asking the author if she minds is not proper behavior.   You probably should have told the beta why you were dropping her, though, rather than just wandering away - if, for no other reason, than to keep her from making that same mistake again with someone else. :)

GB - you should have forgiven your Bad Beta immediately and profusely.  Betas are hard to find!  I agree it was a bad thing.

I did take one sentence from one of my writer's stories to ask about a grammar point the other day.  That doesn't seem too bad to me. 

Well I didn't just wander away, lol. I send her a e-mail saying I no longer needed her. And yeah, a good beta is hard to find. But she really didn't change that much of what I was writing, and I know I needed help, lol. The fic that she sent to Marie was also worked on by I think three other betas, but the one sole fic that she beta'ed for me didn't have much changed at all. So that's why I started looking for a new one. But I should have told her that sending a whole fic is a no no.

Spikez_tart, she sent the whole fic to someone else, lol. What you did, I don't think theres a problem with that. You were just double cheeking, making sure that what you were betaing was correct. Plus it wasn't the whole fic.:)

Some betas aren't also writers so they have a hard time understanding why this is bad behavior. (this isn't directed at anyone in this thread, just saying, maybe the beta wasn't herself a writer.  That makes a huge difference in how you see it.)

Not for me. Even if I wasn't a writer and just a beta, I still wouldn't have sent someone else's work (the whole fic) to a third party without permission. I mean, it's just like playing with some's toy. Your firend trusted you with it, you would go and give it to someone else to play with without asking the owner first. Would you? lol

Playing devil's advocate here.  If I wasn't a writer, I might have done it.  I probably wouldn't see the big deal.  I mean one could rationalize it's not like I was taking credit for the story or posting it all over the internet, etc.  I still really believe that most people, unless they write aren't really that sensitive to the various writer quirks, such as sensitivity about having your work shared before you're ready to share it.