Blogging is all about sharing, linking, and quoting. But proper etiquette and courtesy require clear and appropriate attribution, and a link directly back to the source post.
Not OK: Copying an entire post without credit and a clear, obvious link (or a lame link that doesn’t give credit to the author, the blog, and the post). That’s not fair, it’s stealing. Give the author their due, and make sure anyone reading your post is likely to go read the original.
It is OK to quote a lot of a post, if you do give proper credit and only do it occasionally. Sometimes I’m so impressed with a post that only a big excerpt will convey the author’s message to my readers.
The New York Time’s Rob Walker talks about another dilemma — when and how you give credit for a widely-reported story. Read it here.
Whoa, that Murketing link is flagged by Google as a possible attack site.
Totally about giving credit where it’s due — and this extends to other media where one is influenced but doesn’t say so. It’s inaccurate and impolite to claim something as your whole doing when infact it wouldn’t have arisen were it not for artists who came before. (I’m curious if JJ Abrams did infact listen to Philip Glass’ Night Stalker Theme before scribing the Fringe Theme!)
I got the flag too. Too bad, would have loved to read it. but I’m just not that brave.
As for your post, Andy, I agree. Even though it means giving away some of my best sources, I always link to the place I got the data, or reference it if it’s an offline source.
Otherwise it’s plagiarism, isn’t it?