My golden rules:
- Copy verbatim
- Put into quotes
- Include article author name, source URL and source site name
How you do the last one up to you, most people just create a simple anchor link and "Source: John Doe, The Washington Post"
To demonstrate the obnoxious disparity in what is true or not about this issue regarding copyright:
If the content has a copyright notice, remember this: "
Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something." Source:
Copyright.com
But alot of blog sites list this in their FAQs about blog copyright:
"Do use facts and ideas: Copyright Law protects the expression of facts and ideas. That is the form, combination and structure of documents and not the facts themselves. You are free to use facts and ideas reported on articles or websites." Source:
DailyBlogTips.com
Aaaaaargh!!!
First off, I trust copyright.com and NOT some blog site. To me, blogs are ideas, and are not subject to copyright enforcement, that's my interpretation of that.
But it is a
common courtesy to follow the above procedure in some form or another, credit the blogger and the source site. I also think it shows that you have journalistic integrity, something that alot of bloggers lack, and will increase your readership if you come across as professional even if you aren't and don't have to be. My .02 on that.
-jim
