d20radio.com

Hey, guys, I'd just like to jump in here and give my two cents on something I've been seeing a lot of on these boards.

I'm not against reposting news from other sites, but the manner in which it's being formatted is something that would leave me, as a journalist, a little miffed if I were to come across it in relation to something I have written. I firmly believe we should have a policy against reposting the full text of an article, especially if it's not attributed in the body, and especially especially if a link to the original article does not exist.

A lot of online journalists depend on pageviews and advertising to pay their hosting costs (and in some cases, their other bills.) If you just rip the text and leave no reason for anyone to visit the site of origin, that's basically taking money out of their pockets.

Here is an example (gotta pick on Perrian. ) This, as a journalist, I find basically unacceptable. Not trying to sound hostile or anything, so let's all keep in mind that T.J. is a Friendly Guy who often does not come across that way in written form. XD

I'll give a few examples of how I would do things.

Bad:
This is the text of an awesome article about TOR! I spent a lot of time on it and posted it to my site for all to see!
[End thread]

Even if you have the name of the site in the post title, some people might not really know what site you're talking about, and won't bother to visit anyway because the full text has been copied and you didn't even provide a link.

Better:

[End thread]

Now we at least have attribution in the body of the thread, and it's in quote tags, so you won't get confused and think it's the words of the person who posted it. (I advocate doing this when reposting stuff from the Dev Tracker as well.)

Ideal:

Click Here to read the full article!
[End thread]

So that's my quick rant on that subject. I hope it makes sense to everyone why this is important, and you will keep it in mind going forward.

_________________
Jedi Master Tir-Jin Meteos, The Order of 66
PC GAMER - T.J. Hafer

Attribution is important, TJ, even on the Internet. The Gamer Nation is full of respectful and helpful people who would never take advantage of an online source intentionally, so I applaud your efforts to help the Gamer Nation represent itself as upright and respectful as we are.

In fact, I think the best second-source posts are those that simply include the poster's own summary of the cited content and then a link. These contributors live off redirects and hits just like the rest of us. Providing a link and encouraging others to use it is not only appropriate and fair, but it also helps our members find more and better sources for their own gaming interests.



There's nothing wrong with posting the first paragraph of an interesting article, but I don't even think that's necessary.

Thanks for raising this topic, TJ.

_________________

Basically I want to know 4 things about a posted article:

What is it?
Who Wrote it?
Where can I find it?
Why should I read it?

In about that order. Quoting the entire article at me in a forum post just gives me a case of the MEGOs*....


(*My Eyes Glaze Over)

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Editor and Writer at The GSA, writing about all sorts of games from YOU, the Gamer Nation.
Purveyor of Skill Monkey Segments for the NEW Order 66.
I write Do Not Pass Go for EN World