Posting etiquette

[The Great 8]

We have a post from Brad about supporting the forum by not disabling ads, clicking the video button every so often, blah blah.

Then someone requests the full article because they don't want to click the link and drive traffic to the OS and a moderator obliges? I guess the OS doesn't need ad revenue...

IMO, copied articles should be limited to 3 paragraphs. Pretty sure it's infringement if it isn't. Either way, the OP should get site traffic not kept on here solely. Come back to discuss it after you read it there.

[GaUSFBull]

We have a post from Brad about supporting the forum by not disabling ads, clicking the video button every so often, blah blah.

Then someone requests the full article because they don't want to click the link and drive traffic to the OS and a moderator obliges? I guess the OS doesn't need ad revenue...

IMO, copied articles should be limited to 3 paragraphs. Pretty sure it's infringement if it isn't. Either way, the OP should get site traffic not kept on here solely. Come back to discuss it after you read it there.

If you're just pretty sure, and not completely sure, it's probably best not to say anything at all.  Here's a link to the U.S. Code regarding the interpretation of "infringement." 

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sec_17_00001309----000-.html

If you can glean from this that infringement took place, then maybe you can speak as an educated person on this topic.  I didn't see it there, but maybe I read too fast. 

Otherwise, go to the Sentinel, read the article and do what you think is right. 

[The Great 8]

We have a post from Brad about supporting the forum by not disabling ads, clicking the video button every so often, blah blah.

Then someone requests the full article because they don't want to click the link and drive traffic to the OS and a moderator obliges? I guess the OS doesn't need ad revenue...

IMO, copied articles should be limited to 3 paragraphs. Pretty sure it's infringement if it isn't. Either way, the OP should get site traffic not kept on here solely. Come back to discuss it after you read it there.

If you're just pretty sure, and not completely sure, it's probably best not to say anything at all.  Here's a link to the U.S. Code regarding the interpretation of "infringement." 

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sec_17_00001309----000-.html

If you can glean from this that infringement took place, then maybe you can speak as an educated person on this topic.  I didn't see it there, but maybe I read too fast. 

Otherwise, go to the Sentinel, read the article and do what you think is right. 

All I know is in the past I've been an administrator for a large forum and our policy from lawyers was something like 3 paragraphs max without getting your post taken down.

I wasn't a day to day moderator so I don't know, or care, about the exact rules, but I'm pretty sure the lawyers didn't tell the moderators to enforce this for no reason.

Granted, it was more sensitive content usually being discussed. Regardless, it seems hypocritical to beg for thebullspen users to view the ads here but then provide full-text of a link because a poster doesn't want to go to the OS.

[Greg Auman]

You guys are good about throwing up links to content you link to, but Great 8 is right -- if you paste the whole thing here, there's no need to go to the site. Not that newspapers are really turning web traffic into revenue at appreciable rates, but if they don't have traffic, it's hard to sell web advertising. So when the traffic goes away, the newspapers that provide the information get a little bit closer to going away. Again, I appreciate the traffic that comes from this site, so not complaining.

The fan base can help a lot with making editors aware of reader interest. The poll numbers for the "Greatest Ever" series were pretty telling this week -- more voters for the USF poll than in the comparable ones for the Bucs and Rays combined. That's not to say USF has more fans, but it shows there's a base of readers that care about the coverage and are involved. Again, thanks for that.

[GaUSFBull]

You guys are good about throwing up links to content you link to, but Great 8 is right -- if you paste the whole thing here, there's no need to go to the site. Not that newspapers are really turning web traffic into revenue at appreciable rates, but if they don't have traffic, it's hard to sell web advertising. So when the traffic goes away, the newspapers that provide the information get a little bit closer to going away. Again, I appreciate the traffic that comes from this site, so not complaining.

The fan base can help a lot with making editors aware of reader interest. The poll numbers for the "Greatest Ever" series were pretty telling this week -- more voters for the USF poll than in the comparable ones for the Bucs and Rays combined. That's not to say USF has more fans, but it shows there's a base of readers that care about the coverage and are involved. Again, thanks for that.

One can reasonably infer that there are other like-minded individuals that don't want to click on links to the Times or the Tribune.  No one said G8 was wrong here about the need to go to the site when whole article was posted - it was the infringement issue.  That's where I disagree based on the language on the link I provided. 

[Triple B]

We have a post from Brad about supporting the forum by not disabling ads, clicking the video button every so often, blah blah.

Then someone requests the full article because they don't want to click the link and drive traffic to the OS and a moderator obliges? I guess the OS doesn't need ad revenue...

I'll only do that for very good reasons ... and outrunner's reason was outstanding. This site is littered with full articles, along with the links. If that's something Brad wants to stop, I'm sure he'll chime in.

[Bull Dozer]

You guys are good about throwing up links to content you link to, but Great 8 is right -- if you paste the whole thing here, there's no need to go to the site. Not that newspapers are really turning web traffic into revenue at appreciable rates, but if they don't have traffic, it's hard to sell web advertising. So when the traffic goes away, the newspapers that provide the information get a little bit closer to going away.

It's the Slantinel, **** em. 

[Brad]

We provide not only a lot of links to newspapers and blogs when we discuss an entry we also provide permanent links (advertising) with nothing returned.

This site advertised and recommended Bretts site at the Trib when it first started and we heavily promoted Gregs too.  Also providing links to other upstarts typically receiving very little in return.  But thats not the point.

There's a link to the Sentinel in the very first post.  The fact that someone posted more or all of the article means little.  Should the Sentinel wish us to stop linking to them, we shall. Same goes for any site.

Thats about all.  Long posts vis the iPhone give me a headache.

[SRQ]

if USF wants more coverage in more media outlets, the '3 paragraphs with a link' rule serves best.  Its all about # of hits.

[USFishin]

I'd say I'm probably the  biggest culprit of this here  >  I usually post the whole article because sometimes people reading the thread don't have access to the article because of work firewalls or reading from their phones, etc.  I always make sure I link to the original article though.

If Brad or Greg want me to stop I have no problem changing how I post the articles, just let me know.