Plagiarism as defined by dictionary.com is the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own. This may apply to everything from school assignments to full-length novels. It is, simply put, stealing another person’s work, and passing it off as your own. In the last few years I have become very conscious of plagiarism and it’s affects on people. I am an avid follower of numerous fan fictions and several authors as well. One specific author team that I follow is the duo “Cat and Caitlin” who produced the fabulous The Bob Files. The Bob Files is an extremely long fiction based off of the anime, Ronin Warriors. During a period when they were reworking several scenes, Cat and Caitlin received a notice that their story had been plagiarized. They filed a complaint to the site they were posting on and the other story was taken down and his/her account was shut down for a period. Cat and Caitlin were victims of plagiarism. Now, I know there are people all over the world better known that these two fan fiction writers, but this was something I was familiar with. This is what brought plagiarism to life for me, and made it real. This also made me realize something very serious. Anything and everything we put up on the internet can be plagiarized, and unless we catch the person in the act or trying to gain glory from it, we can’t stop them. Originally when I started this online journal I intended to post exerts of a story I am working on up on the site to get some creative feedback and hopefully build a fan base (modesty isn’t a strong point for me). Before I could even get the first chapter put up, one of my close friends stopped me and informed me that I was setting myself up for trouble. She argued that if I put my story up on the internet, not only would I be opening myself up for plagiarism, but I also would lose certain rights entitled to an author. Most of the stories I work on I intend to submit for publication. If I had posted the story online, I would have lost what is known as a first publishing fee. The monies or royalties entitled to the author for a book or stories first publication. What I did not know then, that I know now, is that when you post anything online it is considered published to an extent. You may not be receiving payment for your product, but because unaccountable people are viewing it, it is considered published. There are two things I believe everyone should keep in mind when posting original material online: 1) before you publish anything online, think first about what you plan for it- is it just for fun, or do you want to make money off of it; 2) even if you’re posting just for fun, beware of plagiarizers. They are everywhere. Creators beware. It is a dangerous world out there, and it is our creations that are at risk.