Hi Fergie,
I totally agree with both you and Peralis that content theft is not okay and should not be tolerated…a great deal of time and hard work goes into writing content and to have it ripped off is downright frustrating (for lack of a better word…have to count to 10 here :angry:).
I have in the past, closed accounts due to the fact that offenders would not co-operate and remove the copied content. Those accounts remain locked and earnings (if any, but usually not) are forfeited. In this case however, the affiliate removed the content relatively quickly and will be monitored.
We are currently looking into becoming alot stricter on this issue and are reviewing adding a clause to the affiliate agreement that expressly forbids content copying/scraping which will make provision for stringent measures to be taken against such offenders if and when the need arises.
Afterall, it only makes sense to look out for the best interests of our hard working and honest webmasters.
Thanks,
Nicole.