Quote - "You aren't taking any risk....you are inviting folks to take your images....in fact, it was just done...you have merely helped the thief.  Do you leave your doors and windows open too?"

No, I do not leave them open. But if I would have to live in a place where I would have to put iron bars in the doors and windows, I would certainly move to another neighbourhood. Like I said, this is an emotional thing. I absolutely do not like to see images with watermarks, it ruins all my enjoyment of watching a beautiful image. All the rational arguments of the world can not change this, I'm afraid.

Besides, the comparison between image stealing and "doors & windows" is not accurate, at least in my case (and, I believe, for most hobbyists like myself). When someone steals my images they are not actually causing me any harm. I do not really lose anything, I do not get damaged in any way. Image creation is just a hobby for me, I do not make money out of it, nor do I intend to (for professional artists the statements above may not apply, I know that).

So, when someone "steals" my images they are just spreading my work around, which is even good for me because it tells me that my images are good enough to be worth stealing (I only create images for little over one year, so this is even a compliment). Sure I may not get credited for it but that isn't really important for me. I know who did those images and that can never be stolen away from me.