The hottest post on ProBlogger at the moment is Adsense Developing Fully Customizable Ads Blocks? due to it being picked up by a number of reputable blogs, forums and websites around the web. It is an illustration of what a ‘scoop’ (of sorts) can do for your ability to find new readers for your blog.
I’m always fascinated to follow the referral stats and trackbacks to the sources of those who are linking up to my posts to see what their take on a story is. In this case I’ve been surprised to see a number of blogs simply reposting my story virtually word for word. Some have been good enough to put quote marks around it others have not with some introductory comments – others have not. All have at least included a link back to the source.
I personally don’t mind being quoted (its part of what blogging is about) or even occasionally having one of my short posts posted in full – but recently have wondered if the art of linking up in an appropriate manner has been lost.
Here is what I consider to be etiquette when linking to a post that someone else has written:
• a link to the original source
• quotes being clearly marked as quotes – with at least quote marks, block quote formatting and/or posting in italics.
• I also think its good form (polite) to either have some sort of introductory remark or addition of your own opinion – either before or after the quote. I would qualify this by saying that on some blogs this is more appropriate than others. Many ‘news blogs’ do not take this approach as they are simply collating news on a topic. However if your blog is more of an opinion blog I think its a best practice to either add your own comment or opinion before or after your quotes. This is not only polite – it makes your post more useful to readers.
• If you want to republish a piece in full seek permission if its a longer piece.
• It is also polite to get the name of the person you’re quoting right (something at least four of those linking up this time have failed to do). So far the misspellings in this instance have been:
Darrne Rowse
Darren Rowae
Derryn Rowse
Darren Rouso
Oh – and for those wondering about pronunciation of Rowse – just say ‘House’ or ‘Mouse’ with an ‘R’ on front and you’ve got it.
