Adopting a story

[Wlijnis]

If it exists, what is the policy around adopting a abandoned story?
I found a story that I liked but sadly the author has vanished a long time ago and the story is left incomplete. I’ve thought of an ending and a path of getting to that point but at which point stops it being stealing?
‘Why not make a unofficial part 2?’
Though I like the story very much, it needs changes in the earlier and (current) last chapters for the ending to work properly. That and I think it can be improved by changing one chapter entirely, but that’s besides the point.

[BronxWench]

We actually have a forum thread for story adoption. Our policy is that unless a story is placed in that thread, it is not available for adoption. No matter how long a story has been abandoned, it remains the property of the original author until they tell us otherwise.

[JayDee]

Ghost of Jane Austin somewhere wishing like heck the same rule had applied to Sanditon.