TITLE: Academic integrity
QUESTION [22 upvotes]: This may sound like a childish question and for all its worth, very well may be one as I am only 17, but how do I know who to trust with reviewing or looking at my work? The idea of someone stealing someone else's work, sounds so horible I cant imagine anyone doing it, but I am still not very secure on the topic. So who should? and shouldn't I trust? to show work I have done to.
I also often don't know if work I have done is of any value, much of my work, may very well be crap. But if I ever have or create somthing of value, whom do I trust?

REPLY [5 votes]: I just want to cite a counter-example to what people written above. Academic plagiarism does exist, and it is better to face it rather than avoid it as something of very small probability. If you were afraid of plagiarism, you can post your solutions/ideas in a personal website/blog or even on arxiv. Then in case others' solution is substantially similar with yours, at least you have a proof online that you did independent work first. 
It is very discouraging for a young man/women to work out something himself/herself but found he/she was exploited by others in the end, or wrongly accused that he/she copied other's ideas from somewhere. Consider the outcome of Shengming Ma(he was dismissed from Columbia, and at some point had to work at a subway sandwich establishment), I do not think protecting one's original ideas is what "a crank will do". You should be open to collaborations and discussions, but also cautious of the indecency in academia.