This past week I posted a few cartoons, cards, and other amusing bits that I thought my readers would appreciate. And it seems that many of you did! So much so that you re-blogged the items and I am glad that you did since that helps others learn of my blog.
But I also noticed this week that in a couple of instances folks did not link back to my blog. The result, of course, is that the readers of those fine blogs will have no idea about my blog. Our blogging superhero Jim West posted a few comics but DID include a HT and linkback. When I suggested that he not also post the comic, since otherwise there was no reason for his readers to come to my blog, he kindly kept the linkback but removed the comic. Thank you Jim! (By the way, I have communicated with a number of comic artists who have told me that for traffic reasons they prefer that bloggers host the image they are commenting upon on the blog’s site and then linkback to the artist’s site. That is called “hotlinking.”)
So at the risk of sounding like a whiner, I would like to ask that if you repost something from anyone’s site that you be sure to attribute or cite the originating blog. It is basic blogging etiquette.
5 thoughts on “Blogging Etiquette: The Linkback”
It’s not whining, it’s basic netiquette and, for the academics among us, a simple habit to cite the source.
My problem is I often see the same thing on several blogs and I can’t remember who I saw it on first…
Thanks Jeremy. That I can appreciate. In those cases I just cite one of them, acknowledging that others have also posted it or I cite the one that posted first (assuming they have dates for their posts).
i agree chris. im very careful to link to sources and if i sometimes forget i immediately correct it the moment i can.
i think bibliobloggers in particular who dont cite sources are loathsome. pretending originality of discovery, they simply deceive.
manys the time ive posted something or other and a few hours later seen it on so and so’s blog- knowing they saw it on mine first because they leave a trail… but they dont bother saying where they saw it.
irksome, but sadly common practice.
I’m really surprised that artists would want other folks to host their work. Wild.
It is because they would otherwise (potentially) be paying for bandwidth servicing my site instead of theirs. It is called hotlinking. They still want and deserve to be linked and credited.