Forum Etiquette Question
 

I was posting a link to a story in another thread. I also posted some passages from the story. It ended up being a fairly large part of the story. It got me thinking. When is it appropriate to post a link to a story, and when is it appropriate to post the story, and is it proper to post both?

Generally, I would think if it is a short story or blurb, just post the story. If it is longer, then post the link. But what is short? Well, obviously Shorty, and Cam's hair, but for a story, how do you gauge?

I know I usually won't read a link unless it is something that really intrigues me, or if there has been a lot of response to the post. Or if I am going to post in whatever debate ensues.

So, what IS the proper etiquette for posting a link or story?

Use your judgment. If it's controversial, always post a link since otherwise people will think you're making it up.

Even if you're just posting a link, please post at least a short summary. Nothing worse than: "Hey, guys, this is interesting: http://www.cnn.com/this/is/interesting"

404 ERROR: Page cannot be found. :)

HEY!!! That wasn't a link!:D

I ususally just post the story and the link no matter what, cause most people are to lazy to click on the link, but I post it anyways to show my source.

Raises hand:)

Didn't Fritz recently post a story where someone mentioned keeping things like a "woman's skirt: long enough to cover the subject, but brief enough to keep me interested" was a good idea? Wait- that was some guy who got in sexual harassment trouble. Oh well. I know I had a point here somewhere but I lost it.

SI

Guilty as charged, which is one reason I often post stories rather than links. But it is DAMN aggravating to start reading an article, then 15 minutes and 30 mouse pad lengths later, realize it was a whole lot longer than you ever wanted to get into.

Usually post a link. After a few replies, the gist of the story comes out.

I usually post both the story and the link. Some people don't like to click links. Some people like to see the source of the story and therefore want a link. If you give them both, you have the best of both worlds.

I post both. I post the story so that people can easily read and quote from it. I post the link because it is the property of another, and link back allows the "parent" to get some attention.

Just be careful. I once posted a link that turned out to need a registration to visit and got flamed by everyone for doing it. Some media sources require you go through basic registration and once registered you forget all about the fact you had to register for it.