I was browsing Photobucket for Mai Valentine pics, thinking to myself "Gee, I wonder how all those Japanese artists feel about their work being put up here" when I stumbled upon, of all things, my Utena-Style Mai pic.

Yeah, I'm surprised too. It's not that great compared to just about every other piece of Mai fanart that hasn't been shamelessly copied from promo artwork, a screenshot, or even someone else's pic.

Still, someone called RaniaV6 or some such thing apparently thought it was good enough to post on Photobucket. Without my permission. Which is ironic, because had they asked, I would have gladly said they could post it, but only if they clearly indicated that it is mine and where to find the original.

On the other hand, is posting something on Photobucket really stealing anymore? It's not like she (I'm assuming it's a she) said it was hers, after all, so am I just overreacting and being whiny? My gut says no, but I'd like to know your guys's opinions on this.

I tried to find a way to contact her to tell her to take it down, or at least give credit where credit's due, but apparently you have to be a Photobucket subscriber to do that. So if any of you guys have such an account, I would be forever grateful if you'd drop her a polite note about this.

Maybe I'm overreacting. And really, it's such a surprise to find my art used like this; I had expected to have to deal with this sort of thing when my art became actually exceptional, if ever. Part of me thinks I shouldn't even bother with taking her to task...but then again, it's MY artwork, so shouldn't I have a say about where it shows up?

Opinions? Support? Disagreements? Anything? (Please?)