I Have Been Reinstated at AC!

To all of my friends, avid supporters and especially to Associated Content-

I wanted to say that AC has decided to reinstate me after I emailed them my thoughts ,concerns and apologies regarding a photo I posted on an article that I was not supposed to publish last year.

I will admit, I was a new CP back then and I was having fun searching for cool pictures to add to some of my articles here on AC. I wanted to spice them up a bit and add some flair and character to them.

At the time, I had read other CP's articles on AC and saw pictures that other CP's had posted that were not from free photo sites so I thought I was ok. I googled Taco Salad, and found a cool picture, added it to my article, gave credit where credit was due, AC accepted it and they published it. I really didn't get but a few cents of PV off the article as it was a local restaurant review and the article really was a flop!

I never messed with the picture, morphed or tried to change watermarks or trademarks, I just posted it as is. So then several months later, I get an email that I was being banned for copyright infringement on that picture, the owner of the picture contacted AC and demanded it be removed. They removed it, kept the article up and banned me from accessing my account.

After that, my account was still up and running so you could google my pen name and my published articles and I would show up through the search engine and then you could link it back to read my article.

I heard that my story raised some hairs on the forums, and I hope it was a good learning tool for other CP's and also a good wake up call that the little things that seem like "fine lines" are actually serious legal matters. Copyright infringement is no joke. This whole situation has been a HUGE wake up call to me and I wish I would have educated myself more before I published articles with pictures.

I have clearly learned my lesson to read the fine lines and the small print when agreeing to any independent contractor agreement. I definitely learned that most pictures on the web even though you can look at them, they are not free to take and use for anything of personal value what so ever. I never meant to hurt anyone or take anything that wasn't mine, I obviously did and I want to apologize to all of you from the bottom of my heart.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of my AC friends who have emailed me privately and offered support and concern for me and what I was going through. I have found a great group of fellow CP's on here that I am proud to call my friends.

And last but not least, I want to say to AC, that allowing the "little guy" like me, the "Underdog" so to speak, another chance. This writer's portal gives me the freedom to express myself through this wonderful and unique site called Associated Content.

So please remember, when it seems like the Admins do not listen to all of you, they do, they do care and they do want to play fair and by the rules. Sometimes they get a bad rep in the forums when in fact this is their job and they are doing the best they can to make things run smoothly.

I hope to be at AC for a long time and I hope AC is around for a long time.

Here is to a long and lasting friendship!