Well, that is weird. I've never heard of anyone who that's happened to. I'm afraid I have no answers for you. I'm with one of the "biggies," and always have been (although not the same one I'm with now).

Oh, how I wish I were an Internet goddess, LOL! I know some things here and there, but there's a lot I don't know. I'm actually not that technical, and don't know much concerning security issues, just a bit here and there. I know a little more about websites, but not programming languages too well. I can install most PHP and Perl scripts on a Unix server (not sure about Windows servers, because as I understand, the user can't set permissions him/herself), but don't know much about the languages themselves. However, I know a couple of handy things about PHP. I have lots of bookmarks for website design, Internet resources, graphics, and so forth. However, I don't know much about creating my own graphics (a little bit, but not much). I know HTML and CSS pretty well.

I also read about and discuss copyright issues. It's good to get some basic knowledge on it, in case someone steals your website content. Many people don't understand you can't grab images and text from a site and use it on your own without permission. That's even if you give credit, links back to the original site, and disclaimers. And it's true, even if there's no copyright notice on the site. However, not everyone will be upset with you using their stuff; it's just best to ask first. Now, if a site has a notice that you can use its images or text on another site, that's fine. There might be a condition of a link back or whatever, so make sure you check for that. And yes, there is Fair Use, but like I said, it's best to ask first, when in doubt. The thing about copyright, and especially Fair Use is, not all of it is black and white. In a lawsuit, there's not always a guaranteed winner.

Oh, and one more thing about copyright...whenever you write a story, create an artpiece, write a song, etc., even before it's finished (there's no exact definition of how much has to be done, but at some point), it's copyrighted. You don't have to register a copyright for a work to be copyrighted. However, registering a copyright gives you more proof and protection, and entitles you to certain types of compensation should you have to sue. I forget exactly what, but just visit Copyright.gov, the official Copyright site, for info. You should put a copyright notice on your work, but it's not required for your work to be copyrighted. Titles cannot be copyrighted. Neither can ideas.

Hope this information is useful.