If anybody has been as confused as I've been about duplicate content, then this message from Ezine Articles might clear up at least one issue for you. Just bear in mind that SA is different. SA will not allow you to publish your article on your own site first, or anywhere else, for that matter. Have to respect the individual site's rules if you're going to publish on their site.

I've already posted this quote in the forum, but figured I'd put it here too, just in case you missed it.

I asked Ezine Articles if it is permissible to publish an article on your own site, then publish the same article in Ezine, and here's the answer...

"Hi Joan,

Thank you for your email.

You are more than welcome to publish your content on both your
website and EzineArticles.com.

Please note, we verify exclusive rights for articles based on the
author name associated with the article. If the article is found
listed under different names on different sites (or no name is
cited), the content is considered non-exclusive and cannot be
accepted as such.

We suggest ensuring your author name is attached to your content,
wherever it appears. This would eliminate any question of exclusive
rights to the content.

For more information on repurposing your content, please refer to the
following content:

http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2010/09/2-min-app-repurpose-content.html

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Ashley "

Hope this helps. Be sure to click the link and read about repurposing. It will de-mystify some of the confusion about dulplicate content. This makes more sense to me than some of the info that's been circulating about duplicate content..