member for 34 weeks 18 hours
If you write on the web long enough you're going to become the victim of plagiarism. And I can almost guarantee that if you discuss it with enough people, at least one of them is going to say something like, "I guess you should be flattered, huh?" Do try to resist the urge to hit him or her.
What is it about intellectual property that encourages so many people to take such a casual attitude toward it? Is it because we don't view online articles, web graphics or photographs as "real" property?
No one would ever look at a burglary victim and say, "Well, I guess you should be flattered that someone thought so much of your widescreen T.V. that they broke in and stole it" so why in the world would anyone say that about plagiarism?
Trust me, when I see my work being credited to someone else, one of the last things I think is, "Oh, how nice. I'm so flattered." 
Comments
Login or register to post a commentYes, that is disheartening
Yes, that is disheartening when someone else is claiming credit for your hard work. Especially in the writing world. Writing is difficult, those who have a gift at it should be recognized. Writing is beautiful when well done. A good writer can really paint an elaborate picture that the reader can visualize in their mind. A good writer encourages creativity and dreaming in his/her readers.
Were you recently plagiarized? What did you do about it? What are steps you can take if you have been plagiarized?
Freda
Filing a DMCA complaint
When you come upon your work duplicated elsewhere on the web, you can file a DMCA complaint of copyright violation to have it removed. Different sites have different particular formats they like you to follow, but they generally all include the same elements. Google's DMCA filing procedure is pretty standard, and if a site doesn't give specific instructions, I'd follow Google's.
I myself filed 2 of them just this week. Whatta royal pain.
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Maddie