In a picture perfect example of how quickly one mistake can ruin your online reputation, the small food magazine Cooks Source has become a laughingstock online after one editor refused to apologize for plagiarizing a writer’s content.

The story begins with Monica Gaudio, who wrote a medieval apple pie recipe for the website GodeCookery.com. Sometime after, Gaudio received a congrats note from a friend who found her article republished at Cooks Source. The only thing is, it was republished without her permission, in its entirety, with no acknowledgement to the original website.

When Gaudio contacted the editor of Cooks Source, one Judith Griggs, she requested a public apology on Cooks Source’s Facebook page and a donation of $130 to the Columbia School of Journalism. That’s when things turned ugly.

Griggs inexplicably responded to Gaudio saying,

“honestly Monica, the web is considered ‘public domain’ and you should be happy we just didn’t ‘lift’ your whole article and put someone else’s name on it!… If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain… We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me!”

This shocking response, which is also completely inaccurate, left Gaudio fuming. The story quickly found its way onto the social sharing website Reddit, where it took off among the web savvy crowd. Soon, comments began appearing on the Cooks Source Facebook page excoriating the publication for plagiarism. Famed author Neil Gaiman even got in on the act and shared the story with his legions of followers.

Griggs herself has become a punching bag on the web, with Google results for her name returning negative news articles about the incident as well as a website set-up to define the word Griggs as meaning “1. To use content on the web without permission, then request payment from original author for rewrites and editing.” or “2. To remain ignorant of plagiarism, ethics, copyright, and asshat behavior.”

Clearly, Cooks Source Magazine responded to this situation poorly, but nobody could have predicted just how swift and severe the reaction would be on the Internet. This incident demonstrates why businesses must be extra careful about how they handle complaints online, and that they should have a strategy in place to manage a reputation crisis like this when it occurs.

Now, both Cooks Source and Ms. Griggs personally will face an uphill battle in reclaiming their online reputations. Some will undoubtedly say, “Good, they deserve it,” but that’s neither here nor there. The more interesting issue is how quickly the Internet can mobilize against someone and cause permanent damage to their reputation. At the very least, it certainly makes you think twice about how you respond to people in e-mails.

Here is some additional coverage of this story from the Washington Post, Forbes, and the L.A. Times.