t thinks

2 of our goodest friends we met online. Here, actually. Huh.

Actually, when it was pointed out, I said 'If it's a problem let me know or get a Whedonesque admin to delete it' (or words to that effect). If it's going to piss somebodies site up a wall, fair enough, there wasn't enough reason to leave it linked.

I'd normally link to something without checking first, for the simple reason actually tracking down somebody responsible for a site from a technical perspective can be a nightmare, but if bandwidth is an issue and it's somebody I vaguely know from here, yes, it's my bad, and my apologies for that. The link was supposed to be a gesture of goodwill to Nilly, instead it managed to turn into me being impolite, and let's not begin to overhash what I thought of Nilly because of the quotes.

The entire thing which kicked this off was the suggestion that's it's impolite to link to something without checking with the person first. I disagree - I think once something is online, it's fair game.

In a technical sense, you betcha. Anyone who posts something on the Interbunny and expects to retain 100% privacy and control over it is fooling herself.

However. If fandom is about community, and community is about relationships, then it seems to me that asking before linking would be the normal, polite thing to do. That's how relationships work. And, as ita said, there is such a thing as netiquette.

Kevin, how do you feel about hotlinking, or reposting someone else's words? Do you believe in netiquette, and do you believe it varies from place to place?

Netiquette, yes. In terms of websites, it's up to whoever runs the website to set the rules.

In terms of reposting words, I follow Tim's logic that once it is out there, those words are out there.

We don't even tag posts here without seeking permission.

In terms of reposting words, I follow Tim's logic that once it is out there, those words are out there.

They don't lose authorship, just by virtue of being on the internets, though.

Jesse, agreed.

In terms of reposting words, I follow Tim's logic that once it is out there, those words are out there.

I'm not sure what that has to do with the price of tea in China. Of course what's out there is out there. I asked about reposting. And hotlinking -- where do you see the line for repurposing other people's content?

We don't even tag posts here without seeking permission.

This is one of the reasons I love this board. I'm sure we aren't the only ones, but I do think it makes us (somewhat) unique. Also, the fact that many of us have met F2F and make an effort to do so. It sort of lends itself to increased consideration.

I have to confess, it took a lot for me to understand the hotlinking-is-bad thing.