Ripped Off and Sounding Out

I've written and published my own original articles on many web sites including this blog. Recently, I joined a new publishing site to gain a little more public exposure for networking and building opportunities. I submitted a few of my previously published articles to get acquainted with the new site before publishing new content. Submitting previously published work is an acceptable practice on this new publisher web site, as it is with many others.

Here is the issue. A couple of my article submissions were denied by the new publisher. The two main reasons for denial are copyright infringement and no matching byline. Wow! My own creations were being unjustly accused of plagiarism. This really ticks me off because all my written work is original from my own experience and mind.

I checked the web sources cited by the AC editor who declined my articles. The first web link was to an expired domain and it contained a portion of an article I wrote and published long ago. The other web link shows my exact full and previously published article, but does not cite me as the author.

Obviously, my written work has been ripped-off and published by some scoundrels. I can verify, without question, these articles are my own creation. In fact, I can show the published date of one of my articles precedes the date on one the links found by the publishing editor.

So, what is the moral? Once you write on the internet, you never know where your words will be found -- or stolen.