"The Etiquette of Posting Links" Topic

Let's say you've found a wargaming article that you really like, and you want to post to TMP about this great article and include a link. Nothing wrong with that.

But… do you need to get permission first?

Technically, no. In general, if the article is on the public internet, there's no reason you can't post a link to it. (Exceptions might include articles which violate copyright, break TMP forum rules, or aren't relevant to the forum.)

In many cases, it's not even clear who to contact to ask for permission… many blogs lack contact information.

On the other hand, the owner of the site might want to control the publicity. If you post about his article before he does, for instance, it might "steal his thunder." Or he might object to the way you present the material, or just think he can do a better job.

In these cases, in my opinion the site owner should contact the person who is posting links, and ask them not to do so. And the linker should respect the wishes of the site owner, unless there is some compelling reason not to (i.e., maybe the site owner has made an announcement of worth to the hobby, and is not known to post links on TMP).

Comments?

Sounds about right to me.

Did someone seriously ask this? This is the internet…. it is ALL links.

Sounds about right to me, too. One minor snag is that unless you're a paying TMP member and thereby able to send PMs, you probably can't contact the person who's been posting the links privately. You can do it publicly on the forums of course, but you risk coming across to third parties as an overreacting crybaby, perhaps especially if the person posting the links is someone who's already had to take a lot of flak publicly on TMP.

Did someone seriously ask this?

I wonder if it might rather be the case that people have been complaining privately to Bill about this sort of thing happening in the forums, and he's had to pass a public ruling on it. But this is just idle and possibly malicious speculation, and I'll answer for it when Anubis weighs my heart on the scales

Did someone seriously ask this?

This is an issue that comes up from time to time, and it came up again today in a private discussion.

One minor snag is that unless you're a paying TMP member and thereby able to send PMs, you probably can't contact the person who's been posting the links privately.

If you really need to contact someone, and can't afford the $2.50 USD to buy Supporting Membership for a month, contact a moderator and we will help facilitate communication. Same goes if the other party is not a Supporting Member.

I thought the point of the Internet was that you could refer to content via links. If a content creator wants to control their content/publicity, they have two choices: 1) don't put it on the Internet 2) use the features of the web server to force visitors to a home page when they try to visit directly. (Don't know how to do it, but I've seen it done.)

That's my opinion, and worth every penny you spent on it!

In these cases, in my opinion the site owner should contact the person who is posting links, and ask them not to do so.

Wouldn't it be too late, considering that the person posting the links has already done so? The site owner couldn't know about it until after the links were posted. Unless he had some sort of Minority Report software.

YouTube link

I have no problems with people post links to other websites. However, when they post news taken from someone else's site without crediting them than that is wrong.

I know a few people are miffed when items from their blog/website have other people posting threads on here as if they are their own. Post a link to the original article.

@Ucalegos

"The lad's a Frenchman; anything could happen."

YouTube link

Yeah, Tango needs to ask permission for each and every link he posts! ;)

beaten to it!

Wouldn't it be too late, considering that the person posting the links has already done so?

He would ask that it not happen in the future.

Seems a bit odd that someone would be unhappy with their website being shared with others if that particular page is not hidden behind a paywall.

This is bonkers, once the links are available, they are available. Is our aggrieved author going to sue Google for finding them with its web crawlers?

If you don't want content to be publically available, then keep it off the public facing side of your website.

The rules in the OP sound pretty good.

Internet postings are generally public access. If someone doesn't want their stuff linked elsewhere they should say so in the post, and even then complying it's a matter of tact (which I am in favor of) rather than legality.

It does seem fair to me that a site owner could have a blanket request that certain poster or posters not repost ANY of their content here, but I'm not aware of anyone who has made such a request.

I weep for humanity.
Why does something so common-sensical need illuminating?

So you ever seen someone doing a site or blog who does not like links?
Who wants to stay hidden, unknown, has enough visitors, such a small ego that he just did it all for himself?
In case, yes Mr Bill you are right.

Bill, your suggestion sounds sensible to me. And I agree with freewargamerules that correct attribution needs to be made when the work of others is linked.

When the work of others us linked to, doesn't that link constitute an attribution?