Some recent events I've encountered on the social app, Palringo have me really reconsidering the consequences of posting art online....

I had been using a WIP of mine (one that I have put a couple dozen hours into so far) as my profile picture on the app, and someone who apparently had a problem with furries picked a fight with me and then stole my profile image and started spam posting it in the chat room, then his friend defaced it and started posting the defaced version. Long story short, I ended up banning them from the chat room, and they ended up posting my defaced artwork as the profile picture for their own chatroom, claiming that "it was just a Googled pic" (and I hadn't signed it or anything, since it was just a WIP, so I could not even prove otherwise). I reported it through the app's website, which had no immediate effect, but sort of by a stroke of luck, someone was able to get it removed for me. But this got me thinking: if that person hadn't been able to pull some strings and get it dealt with for me, how long would my art have remained there, and how much further could this have gone? Ultimately, it seems like it would be very difficult to prove that any work of art online belongs to you, even if it is signed, especially for those of us who do not have massive portfolios and a well established, consistent art style and reputation.

Just makes me wonder if it is even worth it to post my work online, but then again, what is the point in putting 30+ hours into something that no one but you will ever be able to appreciate?