Comments on: Crediting Sources of Stories – Do You Do it?

By: Online Business Blog

Online Business Blog — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 12:24:30 +0000

Rewriting news is very important to not fall in “Duplicated Content” that will harm your SEO strategy.

By: Al Shaw

Al Shaw — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:47:37 +0000

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with your reasons for giving credit.
I think the problem is that as new bloggers we’re often afraid of “losing the reader”, which I think you have shown pretty convincingly is a short-term and misguided preoccupation which should be addressed through good content and design.
I also think many of us when we start pay only lip service to the “wider community” aspects of accreditation within the blogging community. Experience shows of course that its one of the keys to our success.
Thanks Darren.

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:58:27 +0000

I think there’s always going to be some grey area but If I take it from a blog directly (though re-written and researched), I’ll always credit.

By: Best of Feeds - 45 links - programming, blogging, humor, blogs, geek, tips « //engtech - internet duct tape

Mon, 21 May 2007 23:07:50 +0000

[...] Crediting Sources of Stories – Do You Do it? (problogger.net, 2 saves) [...]

By: richard

richard — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:33:47 +0000

Always. And y’all should too.

By: Annoymous

Annoymous — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 03:47:02 +0000

Darren,

What about sites you know use your site as a source and don’t give you credit, which are then in turn supported and encouraged by major blogs to keep doing it. Sometime the major blogs wants article you wrote, they are always watching you site all the time for articles and instead of them linking to you, they wait for another site to take your article, the other sites does a complete rewrite and give you no credit to you and then the major blog links to them as a source instead of you. I know one really massive site that has been doing this for over a year and a half. Why do they do that? I think it is wrong.

By: kunal

kunal — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:17:04 +0000

Darren, I think being widely read can make others to copy the content. I have had many instances where one of the blogs (in the same niche) regularly copied my content and re wrote it in his own words. Now it really pisses me off coz his blog takes all the credit and also if I claim it in public, it would harm me more than my competitors blog. The simple reason is that his blog is more popular than mine.

In my opinion, if the person doesnt stop doing that, its time to payback. Scape his content and re write in your own words.

By: Des Walsh

Des Walsh — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 08:16:08 +0000

No question in my mind not only to link to the original – or at least the “original” as far as you know – and to the blog where you picked up on the story. If the intermediary has a particular spin I might try to point to that so it is more than just a “via”. In a post today I found that the points made by the “via” blog were actually just paraphrases of the original post – reportage without extra angles – so I just did a linked acknowledgement of the post I had read first. But if I get onto a story via, say, Google Alerts, I don’t acknowledge that.

By: Sinead

Sinead — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:13:16 +0000

Like a previous poster, I too learned early on always to credit not just your main source, but every source!

Having completed an English degree and training as an English teacher, the practice of acknowledging sources was of utmost importance during my studies and it is something I still do religiously. It was also something I always impressed upon my own students. In fact it is just plain good etiquette!

And just to prove my point, I was directed to this post by Angela at http://breastfeeding123.com.

By: Dave Starr

Dave Starr — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:52:43 +0000

Pretty sad commentary on integrity and work ethic when a guy or gal excuses laziness and plagiarism by invoking his ‘care for his readers’.

Quite frankly I’ve stopped reading a couple blogs because I’ve seen this kind of senseless copying.

You better believe I credit always .. it’s not only the right thing to do but as many have pointed out it certainly lends credibility.

To a couple folks in this chain who made mention of stories being written about by so many blogs … you’ve written yourself a prescription for 2007, take the medicine… if 20 folks have already written your post is unlikely to be of interest … unless you angle is unique. I passed up dozens of repetitious iPhone ‘me too’ posts … this morning I noticed one fellow out of the hundreds who found something unique .. Apple has made the iPhone without GPS or any easy provision for it … that’s a news item … the fact that Steve Jobs ranted on and on for a couple hours yet again is hardly news at all.

By: Jay Wilson

Jay Wilson — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:29:43 +0000

Linking to your source is an essential – I consider it to be one of the bedrock elements of this ol’ interweb. I’d like to think that if I churned out something link worthy, that someone would do the same to me. Web karma, baby, web karma.

By: TheMadHat

TheMadHat — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:09:36 +0000

I agree with your assesment of linking to both sources. The thing that makes blogs interesting and worth coming back to are the writers thoughts on the subject.

If I wanted an unbiased news story I’d go to FOX….errrr nevermind, CNN.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:49:00 +0000

But the main issue here is not whether these two bloggers are linking back to you – it is about using your structure, quotes and everything else that is building your articles. In the long run, they are shooting themselves in the feet, they are not credible, readers will get tired of them.

Of course you have to link to the story and mention how you found it! It doesn´t have to be a link to everybody who is blogging the story unless you feel their take on it is worth reading. Just who took you to the story in the first place. And you are absolutely right: linking is making the net work, it can never hurt your publishing venture.

By: Become a Consultant Blog >> Andrea the Consultant

Become a Consultant Blog >> Andrea the Consultant — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:27:49 +0000

Occasionally, I’ve discovered a link on a site that would be inappropriate to cite. Not because it’s a porn site or something like that, but, say, because the site sometimes uses foul language or has unpredictable posts with non-standard content. When that happens, I use the link and send an email to the person who writes for the blog where I found it. Most people understand that you don’t want to send your business clients to a page that says, “Troy McClure is an ***hat” or “Today is International Talk Like A Porn Star Day”.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:38:39 +0000

Yes, I always credit my sources or quotes. I’ve found in doing that I’ve attracted the attention of the author; which means they’ve usually left a comment or emailed me. With my goal being “to engage in conversation with my readers”, I think crediting my sources is the best way to accomplish this.

By: » Man krediterer og linker da til sine kilder!? - Weblog at bo-k dot dk

» Man krediterer og linker da til sine kilder!? - Weblog at bo-k dot dk — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:52:09 +0000

[...] Den altid læseværdige problogger Darren Rowse behandler ovennævnte spørgsmål i et indlæg under titlen “Crediting Sources of Stories – Do You Do it?“. DR’s egen praksis: at lænke til kilden for en oplysning samt til den der – evt. – gav tippet, denne praksis deles her på denne blog. Dette af flere grunde der egentlig burde være indlysende. Den efter min mening væsentligste grund handler om transparens og pålidelighed: Både bloggeren selv og eventuelle læsere får mulighed for at tjekke og kontrollere og søge yderligere information (tænk bare på et halvt år efter – hvor var det nu jeg fandt denne oplysning? ;-) og det burde være ligeså selvfølgeligt at man krediterer den blog, artikel, person etc. som har fungeret som formidler. Dels som en elementær anerkendelse, dels som en uddybende kvalificering af en henvisning (hvordan læser og reflekterer andre en given kilde?) og hermed som et led i den generelle “samtale” i blogosfæren. Apropro samtale: Af samme grund har jeg også sat denne blog op sådan at den altid laver en pingback dvs. automatisk forsøger at advisere kilder jeg linker til, om at disse har en indkommende link. (Og – når jeg husker det – får de også en Trackback ;-) [...]

By: Vyoma

Vyoma — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:31:45 +0000

I am not very sure of my approach. Most of my blog posts are put up based on the mini-research I do. I rarely write about ‘happening-news’. Even then, I see to it that I link to the source I initially found substantial information from and also any original source link, where ever possible.

I know, I have been a bit of ‘insular’ blogger. Need to start reaching out a bit, but I am finding it hard to search for the right corner in the blogsphere to settle myself.

Generally, I feel it is morally right to link out to the first source you found substantial information from, and also to the original (root) source link.

By: Barbra Sundquist

Barbra Sundquist — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:23:08 +0000

Rob.nester wrote:

“I read an ARTICLE over at SITE about SUBJECT…etc etc etc”

with ARTICLE linking to the actual original story, SITE linking to the blog where said article was read and if possible the SUBJECT link takes the reader to the most succinct explanation or definition of what SUBJECT is.
————–
Rob, your method provides an excellent template. This is a very good way to do it and I’d like to see more bloggers doing it your way.

By: Andy Beard

Andy Beard — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:13:06 +0000

I always credit sites where I first heard about the story.

In fact I also go looking for other people talking about the same subject and also link through to them.

Memetrackers are an ideal way of finding great stories.

What is important is to actually use your brain a little and express your own opinion, and not someone elses.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 05:12:56 +0000

I have always linked to the original source of the article, but I can now see the importance of linking to other blogs covering the same store. I had never thought about it from the perspective of helping to build a community of blogs in the same niche. Great advice as always.