I have noticed that, especially over in the Blogs section that alot of "original" work is showing up.
The funny thing is, people are so stupid, that they don't even do a search, but will post the exact same narrative or poem, DOES NOT GIVE THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR CREDIT and therefore, is attempting to pass the work off as their own. One clue for some of you that are curious is this: do a member search and read some the "author's" posts with the bad spelling and grammar and then read one of "their" narratives or poems and all of a sudden, Billy Backroads has morphed into Bill Shakespeare! Too funny!
Now, I've been watching this for some time and that is why I applied for and was granted copyrights for my "intellectual properties".
See, I love to share my thoughts, experiences and sources with people here and have, on occasion, given some permission to use it, with the understanding that the source is acknowledged. I have no problem with that. However; I loathe and despise people who will cut and paste someone else's hard work and pass it as their own. There is not a lower form of slithering reptile than would do something like that.
A few years ago, someone was using my username in a firefighter chatroom and because of my notoriety, someone contacted me. I went to the chatroom and started up a chat with this individual. Did you know that you could actually stutter on-line? When I was through with him, he was never heard from again; at least not as my persona.
If you are impacted by someone else's work, let that person know. If you want to share it, ASK THE SOURCE FOR PERMISSION.
As for my stuff, forum discussions are free.
Articles that I post in Blogs ARE protected by copyright.
If that sounds presumptive and ubiquitous (that's for Allen), I apologize, but anyone foolish or stupid enough to plagiarize-i.e. steal-someone else's work does NOT deserve respect; only scorn.
There is alot of very good information being posted by some very good writers. They deserve to be recognized for that effort. If you can't give them that, then don't be surprised when you are hit with a legal notice.