Linking to outside articles

Gantry · 04-15-2008, 04:49 PM

I see a lot of folks, including Wiltz (who is a mod), have a tendency to copy/paste entire wrestling articles from outside sources into threads. This is *not* an attack on Wiltz or anything, but I humbly suggest that all wrestling articles be directly linked to, with maybe a couple of lines as a teaser. The reasons:

1) In most cases, it is technically illegal to copy/paste some else's outside work and bring it to this site. I SERIOUSLY doubt that it would ever be a legal/copyright issue for this board... but in general it's a practice that the websites who create the content frown upon and have taken legal action with on larger message baords.

2) When you don't link to an article, the newspaper/website never knows that you read it. The more hits online publications see for wrestling articles, the more wrestling articles they produce. Also, by virtue of going to an article you will often find references and links to other wrestling stories you will want to read. Win win for everyone.

3) When you link to an article, the author/website knows of the TWT impact. Most websites know which sites "referred" them to whatever page you are reading. If they see dozens or even hundreds of hits referred to them by TWT, they know we exist. It'll encourage the author to come on the board and discuss the article or possibly post about new articles. News websites keep VERY close track of how many people read an article and where those people came from, and the more "power" we can give TWT the better.

My two cents... As fans of a struggling sport we should make it well known that we are reading the articles that are out there. If you don't click on a link to read the article, the people who made the article will never know. The less they know about us, the less likely they are to publish future wrestling stories. Thanks for reading...

Schlottke · 04-15-2008, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by Gantry

I see a lot of folks, including Wiltz (who is a mod), have a tendency to copy/paste entire wrestling articles from outside sources into threads. This is *not* an attack on Wiltz or anything, but I humbly suggest that all wrestling articles be directly linked to, with maybe a couple of lines as a teaser. The reasons:

1) In most cases, it is technically illegal to copy/paste some else's outside work and bring it to this site. I SERIOUSLY doubt that it would ever be a legal/copyright issue for this board... but in general it's a practice that the websites who create the content frown upon and have taken legal action with on larger message baords.

2) When you don't link to an article, the newspaper/website never knows that you read it. The more hits online publications see for wrestling articles, the more wrestling articles they produce. Also, by virtue of going to an article you will often find references and links to other wrestling stories you will want to read. Win win for everyone.

3) When you link to an article, the author/website knows of the TWT impact. Most websites know which sites "referred" them to whatever page you are reading. If they see dozens or even hundreds of hits referred to them by TWT, they know we exist. It'll encourage the author to come on the board and discuss the article or possibly post about new articles. News websites keep VERY close track of how many people read an article and where those people came from, and the more "power" we can give TWT the better.

My two cents... As fans of a struggling sport we should make it well known that we are reading the articles that are out there. If you don't click on a link to read the article, the people who made the article will never know. The less they know about us, the less likely they are to publish future wrestling stories. Thanks for reading...

First, I want to thank you for your time in writing this!

One of the future updates will include links automatically inserted on all articles with URLs posted in them, so citing of sources should no longer be an issue as we grow.

Wiltz generally does link out (I noticed he didnt on a couple recently) and 9 of our top 10 most trafficked outgoing links are to news sites and newspapers.. We've had quite a few authors sign up here over the past few months and read comments on their articles so the newspapers do know about us..

Thanks again,

Jacob

Wiltz · 04-16-2008, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by Gantry

I see a lot of folks, including Wiltz (who is a mod), have a tendency to copy/paste entire wrestling articles from outside sources into threads. This is *not* an attack on Wiltz or anything, but I humbly suggest that all wrestling articles be directly linked to, with maybe a couple of lines as a teaser. The reasons:

1) In most cases, it is technically illegal to copy/paste some else's outside work and bring it to this site. I SERIOUSLY doubt that it would ever be a legal/copyright issue for this board... but in general it's a practice that the websites who create the content frown upon and have taken legal action with on larger message baords.

2) When you don't link to an article, the newspaper/website never knows that you read it. The more hits online publications see for wrestling articles, the more wrestling articles they produce. Also, by virtue of going to an article you will often find references and links to other wrestling stories you will want to read. Win win for everyone.

3) When you link to an article, the author/website knows of the TWT impact. Most websites know which sites "referred" them to whatever page you are reading. If they see dozens or even hundreds of hits referred to them by TWT, they know we exist. It'll encourage the author to come on the board and discuss the article or possibly post about new articles. News websites keep VERY close track of how many people read an article and where those people came from, and the more "power" we can give TWT the better.

My two cents... As fans of a struggling sport we should make it well known that we are reading the articles that are out there. If you don't click on a link to read the article, the people who made the article will never know. The less they know about us, the less likely they are to publish future wrestling stories. Thanks for reading...

I guess I will try harder to link the article. Normally I try and put it in there somewhere. I just post them to generate discussion.

FYI, Gantry I am a volunteer mod. I just pitch in here and there when JensenS and Scholtkke aren't around or if I come across something that needs to be taken care of.

I used to just post the links to the articles but, in general almost zero discussion was generated from the links only. So, it's kind of a catch-22 in my opinion.

I understand and appreciate your post and I will try a little harder to make sure all the links are included.

Gantry · 04-16-2008, 01:22 PM

Thanks for listening guys! Hopefully folks will take the time to click on the links and the discussion will keep going. Perhaps the "teaser lines" part of that will head spearhead discussion while staying away from the whole cut/paste...

Schlottke · 04-16-2008, 01:37 PM

Always glad to get the opinions of new members.

Thank you.
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Stardust · 04-16-2008, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by Schlottke

Always glad to get the opinions of new members.

Thank you.
Posted via Mobile Device

Well, new members that seem to have a shred of common sense, that is...

Linking to outside articles

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