I've gotten many compliments on my "Snowstorm Spoof" video that I put on the net. On another magic forum, it is one of the top viewed videos this month. And for my clients and "fans," it's great for them to be able to see my material on line. They love to be able to see videos of my show.

But it seems like I'm always getting comments like "man, that's a great idea - I think I'll start doing it like that" or "I'm gonna steal this story if you don't mind." It's not like I got the routine out of a cracker jack box. It's the result of writing and re-writing the routine for months and doing it differently night after night until I got it how I like it. What makes people think they can just perform my original material? I'm not talking about the snowstorm -- I'm speaking about my take on it and my original routine for it.

Maybe this post makes me sound like a grumpy whiny baby girl, but is anyone else having the same dilemma?

No it doesn't make you sound whiny or grumpy. I think the problem is the idea that everything on the net is public domain. Thus, if you put it on the net, it is up for grabs. But then it is not the net alone, I know there are a lot of "magicians" out there doing Mac King's cloak of invisibility schtick. They fail to understand the significance of the warning at the start of the show of "no video recording", in otherwords they are watching copyrighted material, personal property of Mac King, etc. It isn't up for grabs. But they do it anyway. People who lack imagination steal routines. In is a rather underhanded compliment, they think the routine is very good or they wouldn't steal it.
No telling how far it goes back in time. Stealing material was a very common thing in Vaudville, even though it was not smiled upon. Many comedians later quipped that they stole all their material, or were accused of it by others (in jest), such as Milton Berle, George Jessel, Henny Youngman, etc. It is one of the living dangers of show business, you do it in public and somebody is gonna steal it if it is good. Not right, not ethical, but then many people are not ethical. If you copyright it, can prove it is your original material, prove that you put out appropriate warnings that it is protected material, and you have enough money and time you can sue those who steal it, though in most cases you won't be able to collect enough off of them to make it worth the time and effort.
I know one magician who swears he never does his A material on TV or in front of a room full of magicians.

Well, at least they said they liked what you did.

Maybe they will give you a "credit" in their forthcomming ebook(s).

Don't post performance vids, or worse, sell the material, if you don't want people copying it.

Whether it is right or wrong for them to do so is irrelevant. It will happen. Save the material for your show, and then you won't have to grump about it.

Black Shadow,

I understand your point of view and have heard it from others as well. But I have to think that there's a pro and con situation here. The definite "pro" is that a lot of people have gotten to see my material this way and it's tremendous exposure. In today's world of internet video, youtube, etc., people almost expect you to have your video out there somewhere.

I disagree with you when you say "Whether it is right or wrong for them to do so is irrelevant." That's the kind of attitude that creates more people who don't realize its unethical to steal material.