Your Article is Being Used Without a Resource Box – What canyou do?Sooner or later, no matter how much you hate it, someWebmaster is going to use your article and won’t includeyour resource box. Another common practice is that ofreplacing your HTML link with a text link. Funny thing,when you submitted the article, it had a HTML link!Before jumping the gun and coming down hard on the offendingWebmaster, take time to think. There are many reasons forsomebody to do that. It could be lack of experience orignorance; the feeling the Web is so big they’ll never getcaught. Maybe there was something in your resource box theydidn’t like.Some Webmasters might feel that your resource box is more ofan advertisement than an “About the Author” box. It stilldoesn’t make it right and they should contact you to makemodifications. I know most Authors would find a way toaccommodate such a request; all you got to do is ask! Thanks to Janet Attard of www.businessknowhow.com forpointing that out.Of course, there are plenty of slick reasons experiencedWebmasters won’t post your resource box or include a realHTML link. Some feel that giving you a real HTML link will”dilute” their Google Page Rank. The irony is that most articles are usually placed on a webpage with zero ranking! Like the song says: “Nothing fromnothing leaves nothing.” I wish one of those Webmasterswould explain the steps taken to arrive at such obviouslyfaulty logic …it sure does escape me! All the same, how should you deal with it? Anybody can makea mistake. Is there a sensible course of action that willget the best results? At what point should the variedresponses escalate to the next level; what is the criteria?The considerations to resolve your next step are these:(a) How much damage has the unauthorized use of your contentdone to you? For example, if a Webmaster took the content ofyour index page, that could be considered an action of greatdamage and require swift and unequivocal action on yourpart.Should they take non-essential content, such as your privacyand contact statement, don’t sweat it! The content andlanguage used is so generic and commonplace that it willnever dilute your Page Ranking on account of duplicatecontent.Another thing to consider is the amount of time wasted indealing with the matter. Some article writers expect acertain amount of their work pilfered and misused. Theyconsider it a cost of doing business.(b) Are the offending Webmasters willing to fix the problem?Are they easy to contact or are they hiding and ignoringyou? What degree of communication have you received sinceyour initial contact? Are they blatantly stonewalling you?A sure sign of their strong-arm attitude is the lack of aprivacy and contact statement. It leaves you no choice butto use Whois and do a domain search. Of course, they maynever read your email. When was the last time you looked forany email coming from your domain contact info?Another contact option would be to join their Forum and sendthem a private message about your concerns. Your initialcontact with them should be businesslike and presented in arespectful way. Very important since you don’t want toinflame any passions; remember, this is business.All the above should be taken into account before you decidethe level of response. A lawsuit should be your absolutelast consideration. The obvious damage should be great andall other avenues exhausted before you take such action.Please consider these better options:(a) If it’s not a big deal, ignore it. Why waste your time?(b) A strong and resolute email will do wonders. Contacttheir hosting provider and have them enforce your DMCArights. It’s best to deal with stonewalling Webmastersthrough a third party. Thanks to Armando B. Silva of http://profits.cc andPhilip Liu of www.web-marketing-blog.com for that one.(c) Publish all your articles in an eBook format and give reprint rights with free registration. Sell the brandingrights to Webmasters and let them place their affiliatelinks. Viral marketing at its best and folks pay you tobecome your affiliate. I love it! It’s win/win/win/win …Steve Yakim of www.ezasmagic.com gave me that creative tip.Thank you, Steve! Great tip! (d) Publish your article as a Javascript (.js) file and onlygive Webmasters a line of code that links to it. In thatway, you have control and your resource box info will beavailable. I want to thank Sherice Jacob of www.ielectrify.com for that great tip.(e) Call your article “Sticky Shareware” and let folks knowthey can give it away for free but only with the includedresource box. It’s a way of demonstrating how strongly youfeel about your article usage; meaning: don’t you dareremove my resource box! Thanks to Claire Koch ofwww.lazyliving.com for that tip.(f) My personal favorite: Ridicule! Have writers cometogether and create a website dedicated to showing thoseindividuals as they really are: Unethical drones utterly lacking any creative ability. Create and present awards to the most blatant offenders.In a few words: Laugh them out of town! The options to deal with unauthorized content use are many.I hope this helps you find your favorite way of dealing withthat dreadful problem.by Francisco Aloy(C)Francisco Aloy===============================================Agreement reminder, not part of the article:Please include my working hyperlink in the resource box. Remove paragraph before posting.