I come with a great news for you. The duplicate content penalty exists. I experienced it at first hand and though i am an investment blogger i feel compelled to share this experience.
I started blogging a few months ago. I started to receive a few visitors daily from google. But i was unsatisfied with the low visiting rate. After a few search on the internet i was convinced that if i cut and paste my content on the net my page rank will increase.
I thus started my work one Sunday and paste all my posts on Bukisa.com and started to watch people visit my bukisa page. But a few days later my website which was on the first page of the google search page dissappeared completely.
I was so desperate that some time passed before I fully realised my mistake. I rapidly corrected it by delating my account at bukisa and a few days later my website was again visible on the first page of the google search page.
I was relieved and by now i am convinced of the duplicate content penalty. So it is better if a post is only on your blog and not copied around the internet. I dont wish anyone to experience it. So take care.
