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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/8248
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I used to play an online mmorpg game named [Popmundo](http://popmundo.com) and to be a regular columnist for their game magazine: It's Pop. In the agreement of the game, they specified that the content you create was _locked_ to the game and could not be used outside, even they not being able to sell it or make profits out of the game itself.

That give an example of how you can know if posting something publicly on the internet can count as "publication": agreement.

Any site of forum will have an agreement page - _or something like that_ - and there they will specify what can be done with content publish under it. Some smaller sites may not have it, what demonstrates some lack of seriousness. You should be aware of such sites if you intent to use your work.

Another thing, the Internet is wild west and exist in a gray area. Take for example online shopping, made most of times trough trust: if you buy something from another country and there are problems, it will be extremely difficult to enforce your rights trough law.

For that, I want to say that if you do not have your work registered, somebody - _not site staff, but readers_ - else may get your manuscript and do it and you will be engaged in a lot of problem to prove you own it. I'm not saying it happens always, but it may happen. So, if you want to share your work, make sure it's marked as yours somewhere.

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