Alright, I'm a newbie here. However, I have something that is worrying me.

I have a map I'd like to post on here. It's hand drawn and colored, and I've put more work into it than I have any other. Honestly, I did it with the intent of posting it here. I've looked through this site a lot, and I love the stuff I see, and I would be honored to have you wonderful people look at my work and hopefully give me some much wanted comments/criticism. I've also read some on how to post my map and the copyright rules. I know that anything I post on here is my work legally. If it was featured, then CG could post it on their homepage and other sites could possibly link to it (I think?).

However, I can't help but worry. What is to keep someone from taking my map, calling it their own, and doing something else with it? What are the best ways to protect my work from theft or copying by some less-than-honorable individuals? I'm not so arrogant as to believe that my map is so amazing that people couldn't help but try and take it, but I'm still rather protective of it. I'd eventually like to base some short stories in the little world I've created...I'm actually currently working on a political map (several actually...spanning several centuries) and a basic history (some things more specific than others at the moment). The idea of anyone taking my work and calling it their own makes me very reluctant to post it on the internet.

Again, I'd love to post my work on here and have you all look at it. However, I still don't feel exactly safe doing it. Does anyone have any words of confidence?


Dmitri

P.S. I'd like to make it clear that it's not this community that I'm wary of. Though none of you know me, I have a great amount of respect for all of you. Most of these maps simply blow my mind, and give me something to aspire to. It's people on the outside that I'm more suspicious of. It's not my intent to offend anyone.