What is and isn’t okay when someone posts your articles on their sites?

I realize that this is a little confusing for newbies to understand.  With all the talk of usage rights and plagiarism, it’s easy to be a bit bumfuzzled about what is and isn’t okay when you come across a completely different site with your article on it whether it is part of your article or your whole article.

Whole article

If you find your article in whole on another site, first check to make sure that it isn’t a partner distribution from Y!CN.  Look under your content tab on your account page.  You’ll see the word “Partner” on the right.  Click on it.  Check to see if the article is listed there and what site it went to.

If you don’t find it, look under payments for any payment that was a distribution payment.

If you’re still coming up empty handed, it is likely plagiarism.  Note that one key item that can tip you off if it’s plagiarism is if they don’t have your Y!CN byline on it.

This isn’t okay.  And it isn’t just NOT okay, it’s illegal.  But what you do next is determined by what rights to the article you’ve retained when you published it on Y!CN.  If it was Exclusive, then shoot an email to the legal team at Y!CN and let them take care of it.  If it was Non-Exclusive or Display Only, then you’ll have to deal with it yourself, however you want to deal with it.

Part of the article

If another site is going to link your article, they should only take a paragraph or two with a link back to your article.  I do this on my TV Slugs blog all the time.  This is completely okay.  More than okay, really, because it gives you a link back and more exposure.

But some sites do get greedy.  I found the whole first page of an article once on another site.  They linked back to my article but after reading the entire first page, only a small fraction of readers, if any, was going to click through to my article.  I politely thanked them for providing a link back to my article but taking a whole page wasn’t proper etiquette.  (Anyone who does niche blog content exposure knows this, so I’m sure it wasn’t news to them.)  I asked them to shorten it or remove it.

But that’s it.  If another site takes a paragraph or two and links back, great!  Anything more then that is cause for concern.

For more info on plagiarism topics within this site, click here.

Article Etiquette: Name-calling in an article does not display intelligence

State opinions intelligently.

We've all heard this but do we all adhere by it?  Unfortunately, no.  Some people, I would imagine, even have a hard time understanding what an intelligent opinion is.  I'll sum it up for you.

Don't name-call.

You'd think that anyone smart enough to be getting by fairly well on Y!CN would know that you can't state an opinion intelligently by grouping people together and calling them all a name.  But it happens more than you might think.

In a recent article by a contributor I will not name here, everyone in a religion was grouped together and called "crazy", "dumb", and "stupid".  Sounds more like elementary writing, doesn't it?  I've seen similar articles here and there and they do nothing to gain the respect of readers or peers... unless they are just as elementary as the writer, that is.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having an opinion.  But be intelligent about stating your opinion in words.  Name calling helps no one, especially you. All it does is make you look like you have no class.

That will be all for today.  Have a great week, Y!CN!

How to Be a Productive Forum Member at the Yahoo! Contributor Network

So, you just joined the Yahoo! Contributor Network and want to take advantage of the forums? There are a several things to keep in mind when participating in this (or any other) online forum. From simple etiquette, to

following guidelines, and even reporting issues, here are some things I have learned from being a long-time member of the Yahoo! Contributor Network forums, as well as many others.

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Asking Associated Content to Edit Articles

It's an icky feeling: you publish your non-exclusive or exclusive content with AC and then realize there is a glaring error.

I used to tell contributors that they would just have to suck it up and deal with it.  Why?  Because there is an article out there where I got some information mixed up and even though I went over it several times before publishing, I still didn't see it until I'd had a full night's sleep.  When I emailed AC for help in correcting it, I received a hasty (bordering on rude) reply that with thousands of pieces of content, AC couldn't possibly edit within the contents of an article.  They would alter a title if they needed but wouldn't change anything within an article.  This was a long time ago but I still remember that reply and how blatant it was.  So I apologized for the error in the comments section of my article only because it was terribly obvious.

Since then, every once in awhile a person will come into the AC forums and ask how to go about getting AC to edit an error.  After having received the hasty reply I had, I was confused over and over when more knowledgeable contributors than I would tell them to email community@ if they needed a change on a serious error.  ( A small error absolutely don't bother emailing them.  Don't tie up their email for a simple typo.)

Mine was a serious error.  Why was I disregarded like I was when these more experienced contributors were advising others to go ahead and email AC?  No one knows. 

An AC staffer assured me that usually, AC will fix problems if asked.  If a particular contributor is constantly asking for edits, then they will be "encouraged" to up their proofreading skills but otherwise, there's no reason why I was regarded like I was by an unknown AC staffer.  Maybe they were having a bad day or maybe they'd been bombarded with so many emails they snapped.  I don't know.  I don't care now really but at least we cleared up whether AC will do some edits or not.

Here's something to keep in mind, though.  When you publish non-exclusive or exclusive with AC, always proofread, edit, and submit the very final draft.  Mistakes do happen but ultimately it is up to you to make sure it is error free.  Do the best you can with it so you don't have to worry about asking AC.

AC Etiquette: Commenting on Other Articles

There are three major points today that I'd like to bring up.  The first I've already written about in this blog post.  I don't think it bears repeating.

The second is inspired by three, huge paragraph-type comments that I received on an article a couple of months ago from another contributor.

AC Commenting Etiquette: Don't Leave Disrespectful Comments on Other Articles

Disagreeing with a subject matter in a respectful manner is a completely different thing than openly trashing someone's work on a comment section.  I give the person who did this to me gut points for not hiding behind a "Guest" name, though.  This guy started off stating how his opinion differed from mine, which was fine.  Then the second comment escalated into a "Do you even know what you are talking about?" and the third comment completely demeaned me into a "You're the reason AC has such a bad name," type of comment as if he was getting angrier with each comment.  I left the first comment on my article but deleted the last two and sent him a message that in the future if he wanted to comment on my articles, he needed to do so in a respectful manner or next time I'd report him.

I just finished telling someone that the premise is different when dealing with anonymous comments (which we now have a way to block, yay!) than dealing with comments that come from fellow contributors; our working peers.

You get the gist.

AC Commenting Etiquette: Commenting Just to Put Your Name on Someone Else's Article

I'm completely aware that not everyone will agree with this so take it however you wish.  It is not my intention to "call out" or "scold" anyone for doing this.  This is just my personal opinion and not something I would consider doing.

I don't think that commenting just to comment or just to leave your clickable name on an article is very good etiquette.  I can't tell you how many times I see a " :) " or a "Thanks!" or a "Good job!" on my articles.  It's not that I don't appreciate the page views but I've always been of the mindset that if you don't have anything relevant to add or really feel moved to say a meaningful thank you to the author, then move on.

I read a lot more articles than what I comment on.  I enjoy a great deal of them, but I'm not gonna put a generic comment on something just to leave a comment.  And I also wouldn't want anyone to feel obligated to click on my articles if they weren't interested in reading them in the first place.  I'm not into the whole "follow just to be followed thing" although I understand that's the way some people like to do it.

Whichever way you like to do it is completely okay.  But just don't make me feel like just because you left ten " :) s" on my articles that I should feel obligated to do the same for you.  And don't think that just because I don't comment that I'm not reading.

AC Etiquette: Spam-Flattery Will Get You No Where

I could've sworn I wrote a post a few months ago about how PMing other contributors and asking them to check out your work was bad AC Etiquette but I can't seem to find it so we'll say it now: PMing a variety of contributors and asking them to check out your work is bad AC etiquette.  There.

With that said, there's another form of bad AC etiquette.  It's called spam-flattery and gauging from the number of people who said, "Oh, thank you," back to the contributor who practiced this, a number of writers were fooled.  Read on for more.

A number of contributors received a message on their contributor profile last week.  The message read something along the lines of, "I've read some of your work and you truly are a great writer.  I can only hope that someday my short witty poems will be as good as your writing."  That's not word for word but that's the gist of it.  So I'm sitting there saying, "Oh, that's really nice."  I go to this person's profile only to find that several others have left thank you comments on his page.  Hmmmm. Something about this was amiss.

After a little investigating, I found that this new contributor was leaving the same kind of comment on every profile he could find.  When I left him a comment on his profile to the tune of "Thanks for your comments and I was almost flattered but I see you left the EXACT same comment on many, many, many other profiles. That's about like spamming but I welcome you to AC anyway and wish you luck with your writing."  Within seconds, my comment was deleted so he knew exactly what he was doing and it couldn't be blamed on AC newbie-ness.  I then PMed him.  "I appreciate that you want more page views but spam-flattery isn't the way to do it. Other contributors are already aware of your tactics so it might be wise to stop the spam before you end up getting reported to AC. Just some friendly advice. I did take a look at some of your work and it's a lot of fun. I hope you keep it up. With time and persistence, it will do really well. Just practice good AC etiquette and you'll get along with everyone very well. You'll also get more readers and more respect that way. Welcome to AC."

The same message goes out to all those new to AC who think they can get away with this type of behavior.  AC writers are connected across several networks.  We Twitter and Facebook when we see things like this happening and we don't like it when someone tries to take us for fools.  You're not as clever as you think you are.

In addition, when you do this, your page views may go up briefly, but if you're not writing quality content, that will be the extent of the spike in your views.  It not only turns off those who would've become your readers if you'd behaved properly to begin with, it won't do any good in the long run with page views anyway.

As always, practice good AC etiquette when dealing with other contributors and if you have any questions, go to one of AC's very helpful and knowledgeable community guides.

Pointing Out Others' Mistakes Publicly Makes YOU Look Like an Idiot

First, allow me to point your attention to an Examiner article I wrote a little over a month ago.  This came on the heels of someone who publicly commented on one of my Examiner articles that I basically was full of s*** and had no clue what I was talking about on my page.  Why would someone take advice from someone who couldn't spell?

So, why the drama?  Because there was a typo in my title.  I inadvertently wrote "chose" which was supposed to be "choose".  And instead of sending me an email (which is available on the page), the person decided to rip me to shreds, demean my credibility, and try to prove their own superiority by downing me on a comment section which could be seen by everyone who viewed my page.

Lately I've been getting several comments on my Associated Content articles by people who want to be the grammar police and want to publicly throw stones at me for typos and mistakes.  It's been happening a lot more lately, which I guess is because of my new found success at AC, having come in over 100,000 page views now, I'm starting to get some more attention.  People are taking a look at my articles to either try to figure out where to go with theirs and get descent page views or they are taking a look at my articles to pick them apart for mistakes to try to tell themselves that they are superior and can write better.  The thing about this is that nine times out of ten, these "Guests" that leave questionable remarks on our articles are actually other contributors.  So to those who want to waste time trying to up their own ego by cowering behind a "Guest" title and leaving comments that only make them look like a nitpicking idiot, this post is for you.

I've never claimed that I was a better writer then anyone else.  When I began this blog, it was done so on the newbie level.  Since then, I've grown with experience and with that came the inevitable "figuring things out".  Now, while I've figured many things out, I don't know it all and I've never claimed to know it all.  I try to help where I can and if I don't know the answer, then I'll find someone who does.

What were the comments?  One comment from "Guest: Canadian Writer" stated, "Please, please, please take a writing coarse."  Another comment from "Guest: Jazz" pointed out some mistakes and proceeded to order me to correct them on my articles as if that person was paying me instead of AC.  And they do this publicly to try to rally support.  There have been many more comments but you get the drift.

Listen, on places like AC, Examiner, and all my blogs, mistakes are inevitable.  These are fast publishing platforms and as such, sometimes it runs like a mill.  Doing around 3 to 5 articles across the board on most days, I'm bound to miss something.  I am human despite what my stepchildren might believe.  If there is a very obvious mistake on something, I more then appreciate a nice quick (private) note to let me know so that if I have the power to go in and change it (if it is a Display Only on AC, for instance), then I can.  And trust me, I will thank the person who does that for me.

So, before you point out my most common mistakes, I already know what they are:

-Course and coarse: I used to have a BAD problem with this one.  I'm not that terrible with it anymore but occasionally in a hurry, I won't pay attention to which one I'm using.
- Then and than: same as the above.  Only I haven't gotten any better with this usage.  This is next on my agenda to conquer.
-I'm southern and as such, I don't talk (or write) the way most others do.  If you catch an "ain't got no" phrase in my work, it's just me writing in my talking voice.  Same goes for some other phrases that I use.  If it is too terrible to swallow, then drop me a note.  I may or may not have intentionally wrote it that way.

Having said that, if it is a matter of little things like "then and than" that you are drawing my attention to, I won't be going back to fix it.  Regular readers (who are not also writers) are likely not going to notice anyway.  I don't see the need to waste time going back through my over 200 articles to correct "then and than".

Inevitably, though, I will still get these "superior" remarks because there are those out there who simply have nothing better to do.  And I shall block and move on.

I Still Don't Know Nothin'

Interesting goings on in the land of AC. My experience this week with SEO was, for one article a bit of a failure, and for another one a good one. After rewriting one article after declining the upfront, I submitted it again and got the same offer I did the first time. I thought that was kinda funny that I spent more time on it and ended up getting the same thing. Then, the article I expected to get rejected for upfront actually pulled in the highest upfront offer I've ever received! Let's give a round of applause to the fact that I still don't know nothin' 'bout nothin'. I have to give kudos to Tsu Dho Nimh for taking the time to offer valuable feedback to me in the forums. I'm taking the advice to heart and will work hard to not let that feedback go to waste.

While I don't often have time to pop my head into the AC forums so much lately, I did feel compelled to put a warning there when I saw an ad on an AC article for a questionable literary agency that is being investigated for unethical practices. ACDarnell was quick to respond and the ads have reportedly been removed. Thanks for the quick work, guys. There's enough scam stuff that writers have to put up with and it makes me feel better knowing that AC is taking steps to reduce the promoting of scams on their site. Hoo-ra.

And off topic just a bit, but still pertaining to AC, I would like to spread a little etiquette for new sources. It is not proper etiquette to ask another source to favorite you or subscribe to you just because you've subscribed to them. If you wish to swap subscriptions with other sources, then there is a place in the AC forum for doing just that. The way I see it, if someone likes what I write, then they will either favorite me or subscribe to me. This is the equivalent of inviting people to your birthday party and then telling them that you want them to get you a $50 gift card from The Home Depot. It borders on rude. If I like your work enough to want to get updates, then I'll subscribe to you. Please don't ask me to do so just because you've favorited me. Thank you.

And with that, I've got a short story to publish.