Yes, we have. I’ve also learned to avoid clients who’ve never hired a writer before.

Thanks, David. We’ve seen a lot over the years, haven’t we?

And you’re right. The copyright issue isn’t necessarily intentional, but often based in ignorance. I’ve met more than a few writers who still think they’re allowed to re-publish or re-write someone else’s work as long as they link back to it. So even hiring a professional to help might not protect clients in that position. I’ve had to go to clients after finding some of their other writers were publishing stolen work on their sites. It’s not a pleasant conversation when they know they aren’t getting that money back, but in the few cases where it’s happened I was glad the clients did the right thing and pulled the content, canned those writers, and hired new ones. Legal risks like that aren’t worth it.

And yes, I was the one who was told everyone else was fine with it.

Clients aren’t always savvy to copyright issues, and I can’t fault them too much for it. Look on the internet at how much content is just reworked or reused or outright stolen. Anyone who isn’t familiar with plagiarism would think it’s perfectly fine to do the same thing. I’m fortunate that I’ve had just a few clients who weren’t familiar, but they were quick to realize and even quicker to correct.

But any writer who takes on a project at the tail end has to consider this, and I myself would be checking sources to make sure there’s nothing hinky going on. That takes time and money.

It makes me sick seeing how much they’ve gotten away with so far, especially since I’ve caught them engaging in more than a few black hat tactics. Step two in the insta-expert fake authority plan after ripping off your colleagues with legit knowledge I guess.

One of the worst to come up in the community in recent years. Their inevitable fall will probably be a hard one.

But anyway…

Your last point is a serious kicker! That didn’t even occur to me at first, but yeah. That could be one big nightmare copyright violation. And if the writer ran with it, that could have been a huge risk to them.