What's public online can go for print

They're doing it again. Write a comment on some website and you might find it on the newspaper the following day, alongside your name.

Don't want some people finding out about your opinions (possibly on them) from the papers? Forget it. The way they see it, what's public online can go for print.

It had happened to me too during the elections period when the Malta Independent printed an entire blog post of mine without letting me know. Being the "Independent", they chose the only blog post I had written that week in which I criticized the MLP.

I was enraged and told the editor, in a not-so-subtle manner, to ask for my permission before printing any of my shit. I am not a Nationalist supporter and don't want people to think of me as one. I remember telling him "when I'll want to send you a letter to the editor, I'll do so." He never replied.

Besides, you like the way I wrote an article?
Would like to print it on your newspaper?
If I consent, you gotta PAY ME, BITCH!

They could fill an entire newspaper with blog posts and comments, and it wouldn't cost them a dime.

I followed Sandro's advice and put up that Copyright emblem you see at the top left. Let's hope it works.

Jacques had told me to start writing "Not to be published anywhere" under each comment I post online, which I never did. But it's a good idea.

Comments in particular are very easy to misquote. For instance, I could be replying to a comment made by Sandro in Jacques' blog and the newspaper guy might think I was replying to Jacques' blog post etc.

Case in point, just today this guy misunderstood a sarcastic comment I wrote in response to a letter to the editor of his, and wrote AN ENTIRE LETTER about it.