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  1. #1
    Council Member Pete's Avatar
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    Default Rules on Use of Quotations

    What are the forum rules regarding the use of quotations from other sources in messages on the forum? When I became a member a few weeks ago I vaguely recall seeing guidance to the effect of not making lengthy quotations when a link to the original material could be inserted. I have reviewed the FAQs and User Agreement but have been unable to find the rule.

    Recently a one-message thread of mine on the end of the procurement of the Humvee was deleted. It consisted of a six or seven-paragraph portion of a story clearly identifed as being by the Associated Press. I didn't see any need to link to the online story when a brief quote was sufficient. Last month the same thing happened to a thread of mine on Army slang. The three quotations used were not especially lengthy, and all were attributed to the authors and titles of the original works. Two of the three passages quoted are not available on the internet but were reproduced by me from old original copies; therefore there were no links.

    So again, what are the rules for using properly attributed quotations? Is the rule in place to conserve bandwidth or is it to ensure the veracity and proper attribution of the source?
    Last edited by Pete; 02-09-2010 at 08:50 PM. Reason: Fix typo

  2. #2
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Trying to answer

    Pete,

    I will offer an interim moderators reply.

    We do prefer, no insist upon that quotations do have a link to their source, preferably a web link or a source e.g. Rommel's Memoirs pg.39 refers and are in quotation marks I.e. opened with [q-e] and closed with [/q-e].

    Excessive quotations are looked at seriously as there could be copyright issues and we have had visits from those who have an interest in preserving copyright. SWC wants to avoid litigation.

    Brevity also helps and I regularly summarise quotes from press articles.

    Hopefully a wiser head will come along to explain more if required.
    davidbfpo

  3. #3
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default Pete, the problem is that totally posted articles, etc.

    with no link to the basic document can cause US copyright law conflicts. AP in particular is very touchy about their stuff; you can make short quotes and link and they're cool with that but if you post the whole thing, even with attribution, they sometimes get dicey about it (LINK), (LINK).

    Some Newspaper and publications are even worse than AP and over the years, a few things have been yanked form this Board because the Copyright owner spotted it and demanded that be done.

    Jedburgh probably said all that in his PMs to you.

    In any event, this is a case of better safe than sorry; it may be overkill but that's the way the owners of the Site wish to operate. It's their site, the rest of us are just guests...

  4. #4
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    Default

    Pete,

    Ken and David pretty much explained the issue. But I have also told you privately - more than once - via PM about the need for linking sources. It takes extremely little extra effort beyond the cut-and-paste of the quoted material. Hell, its just cut-and-paste of the URL. There are a lot of other people who post regularly on this board, and none of'em appear to have any problem with linking sources.

    The effort you are exerting in avoiding a response to my PMs cautioning you about the lack of quotes, and then taking it public on the board, far exceeds the absolute minimal keystrokes necessary to link a source. What is the real issue?

    Just remember, this is a board that welcomes open discussion and encourages differing viewpoints. But if you can't play nice, and play by the - very simple and minimal - rules, then take your game somewhere else.

  5. #5
    Council Member Stan's Avatar
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    Default Pete, it's also common courtesy

    The other part of this that really gets me goat is I get interested in the subject article and have to search or beg for the link
    If you want to blend in, take the bus

  6. #6
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stan View Post
    The other part of this that really gets me goat is I get interested in the subject article and have to search or beg for the link
    I can't help you on the missing links, Stan, but we did find your goat--apparently he's defected to North Korea...

    They mostly come at night. Mostly.


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