Website miscrediting your work; what to do?

AustinT · Feb 4, 2014

I've been steaming over this for a few weeks now. A few years ago, I was writing at a decent pace for one media outlet, publishing 2-3 articles a week. (Over my tenure there, they published roughly 150 of my pieces.) I wasn't paid for those pieces, but I was OK with that back then, as I didn't have any writing samples, and they were a big enough outlet to make the exposure as a new writer worth the free labor. I've moved on to paid outlets since.

At the turn of the year, the website underwent a major redesign. Sometime during the transition, the bylines for all articles by their former writers got mixed up, and now every piece I wrote for them is being credited to one of their editors. I reached out to them about it just after the redesign and they said it would be fixed, but it's been a month and I haven't heard back, and the problem remains.

It's frustrating because it's a popular website, and they've linked to my (miscredited) articles during this time. It's doubly frustrating because I use a couple clips from them as writing samples when finding other work, and I can't do that until my name is back on them.

Has anyone dealt with a situation like this one before?

Debbie V · Feb 13, 2014

I haven't dealt with this specific issue, but I think I'd start by checking my contract. Often contracts specify the by-line. You could then send another gentle reminder. If a second reminder doesn't work, send a third pointing out the contract breech and the impact on your reputation. Also, ask for a time line for any action they promise.

Hopefully, someone with more experience will stop by with better advice.

Fruitbat · Feb 13, 2014

Slightly off topic but before you pursue this, you might want to get opinions on that site. If it's one of the "article mill" type places, it might be better to consider it good practice than what you'd really want to represent yourself with for paid work.

That said, they've said they'll fix it and it's been a month? Maybe just sending a reminder would straighten it out. If possible, I'd send along your previous email exchange as well as the specific titles of the articles you wrote. Good luck with it.

AustinT · Feb 18, 2014

Thank you both for your advice. I'll send a follow-up reminder, as it's closing in on two months now since they said they were fixing it.

In regards to the type of website it is, it's not a content mill. It's currently one of the bigger music sites; I've had pieces written for them quoted on CD stickers and such.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 18, 2014

AustinT said:
I've been steaming over this for a few weeks now. A few years ago, I was writing at a decent pace for one media outlet, publishing 2-3 articles a week. (Over my tenure there, they published roughly 150 of my pieces.) I wasn't paid for those pieces, but I was OK with that back then, as I didn't have any writing samples, and they were a big enough outlet to make the exposure as a new writer worth the free labor. I've moved on to paid outlets since.?

You might want to help them out by sending them a reminder linking to the articles in question.

Sometimes, as a Web master, I get requests to change something by someone, who doesn't realize that there are 30,000 files on the site, and they haven't given me enough information to be able to simply search for the specific file.

veinglory · Feb 19, 2014

At least one content mill site did this on purpose. You might want to Google and find out if this is the one you are talking about.

Website miscrediting your work; what to do?

AustinT

Just keep on writing.

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others

Fruitbat

.

AustinT

Just keep on writing.

Deleted member 42

veinglory

volitare nequeo