Is it okay to lift meterial from a blog?

December 7, 2006 2:33 PM

Um. If someone admits in an FPP that most of the material was lifted from a blog, is it time for an upside-down pitchfork party?
posted by scrump to Etiquette/Policy at 2:33 PM (68 comments total)

No.
posted by timeistight at 2:35 PM on December 7, 2006

Not really. but he used the dreaded superscripting so the party is still on.
posted by bob sarabia at 2:36 PM on December 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

Whats intrinsically wrong with lifting most of the material from a blog (and with credit)

Isn't that what we do here? (kidding, but only slightly)
posted by vacapinta at 2:37 PM on December 7, 2006

Nope. Next question?
posted by mullingitover at 2:38 PM on December 7, 2006

I don't even know what an upside-down pitchfork party is, but if it's on, someone make sure Michael Richards gets an invitation.
posted by bunglin jones at 2:43 PM on December 7, 2006

jesus h. whatthefuck. such a shitty post.
posted by boo_radley at 2:45 PM on December 7, 2006

I went to one a few years ago, I'm having none of that now.
posted by Science! at 2:45 PM on December 7, 2006

I didn't follow the links, but did he quote some random guy on a message board?
posted by thirteenkiller at 2:48 PM on December 7, 2006

No. People crib FPP material from the linked source all the time, and they usually leave it unattributed - an exercise for the reader to figure out.

Which, I would imagine, most do quite easily upon clicking the link. I hope.

It's a known quoting convention. Even established, traditional journalism uses it when introducing something or using a given source in teaser blurbs and more. y2Karl does it often, as do others here.
posted by loquacious at 2:49 PM on December 7, 2006

The post itself, as they say, does indeed suck a bit.
posted by loquacious at 2:50 PM on December 7, 2006

Also, that post should be deleted just for being about Billo.
posted by bob sarabia at 2:52 PM on December 7, 2006

Doing such is acceptable with attribution.
posted by drezdn at 2:53 PM on December 7, 2006

And I'm with Bob.
posted by drezdn at 2:54 PM on December 7, 2006

I propose the following symbols to denote links. They can be either superscripted, subscripted, or in parentheses following the link.

# YouTube
^ WikiPedia
& NY Times
% Newsweek
* Slate
! Salon
(.)(.) Adult content
~ Viagra-related
< liberal websitebr> >> Conservative website
>< moderate websitebr> ><> Fundie Christian website
??? Agnostic website
--- Atheist website
() Google video
)( Gay-friendly
/. Slashdot
| Hetero-friendly

Just start using them now and life will be much easier for us all.
posted by The Deej at 2:54 PM on December 7, 2006 [22 favorites]

Deej, that's hilarious
posted by Hands of Manos at 2:55 PM on December 7, 2006

ok it funked up my comment by trying to html it. but you get the point.
posted by The Deej at 2:56 PM on December 7, 2006

Thanks Hands, how's Torgo?
posted by The Deej at 2:57 PM on December 7, 2006

All I have to say, Deej, is ~.
posted by scrump at 2:58 PM on December 7, 2006

*switches pitchfork from left to right hand, wonders if original post is proper party invitation*
posted by Cranberry at 2:58 PM on December 7, 2006

I think it's a bad, huge blogworthy (i.e. not Mefiworthy) post, regardless of where the three paragraphs of content are from.
posted by blacklite at 3:07 PM on December 7, 2006

(Which is to say: this will go well.)
posted by blacklite at 3:08 PM on December 7, 2006

I think ^{( " , )} should be used to denote a YouTube link.
posted by The God Complex at 3:10 PM on December 7, 2006

go well more like wendell AMIRITE
posted by scrump at 3:11 PM on December 7, 2006

How many minutes have to pass before an FPP that fails someone somehow, gets called out in metaTalk? How many days must flow on by, while we sit here and de-cry the failing of our station. Year in and year out the same things we shout. Double! Self-link! Well... my oh my. How proud you must be to so completely ignore your own contributions. And point. And Cry. Do Not Let It....
posted by econous at 3:11 PM on December 7, 2006

I dug the post. I led me to the band which sings the awesome song at the end of the 8-year-old's video.
posted by EatTheWeek at 3:15 PM on December 7, 2006

boo and Bob have it. This should get wiped ASAP.
posted by koeselitz at 3:15 PM on December 7, 2006

And, since it seems self-evident to most, but someone will come along asking, the reason this post sucks is: it's not really about a little girl who's interested in Bill O'Reilly (which would be sad enough) or Bill O'Reilly himself (which would be fucking stupid) but about a nazi-ish troll in the YouTube comments. Are trolls on other blog sites worthy of FPPs? You be the judge. I'm going home to listen to Meshuggah.
posted by koeselitz at 3:19 PM on December 7, 2006

This gives a whole new meaning to when I say #*&%~/.!

And I think I like it.
posted by googly at 3:29 PM on December 7, 2006

OK, God Complex, feel free to edit the symbols. But all editing must be done by midnight tonight.
posted by The Deej at 3:29 PM on December 7, 2006

YouTube^u=.

See, it's like a U and a tube. And it's kinda like the ⁼Van Halen⁼ logo. And kinda like a cock-n-balls. Which is nice.
posted by team lowkey at 3:32 PM on December 7, 2006

Has this thread won itself a piglet yet?
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:45 PM on December 7, 2006

did he quote some random guy on a message board?

He quoted dilbert27.
posted by brina at 3:54 PM on December 7, 2006

I read the FPP, and I read the original blog post. They don't seem to have much more in common than the usual "via". I'm not sure why MonkeySaltedNuts said "most material taken from". Maybe he thought most people didn't understand what the word via means?
posted by Plutor at 3:58 PM on December 7, 2006

Are trolls on other blog sites worthy of FPPs?

As I understand it, that's what this site is for.
posted by juliplease at 4:13 PM on December 7, 2006

His super-scripting was crap.
posted by econous at 4:18 PM on December 7, 2006

no. what plutor said.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:21 PM on December 7, 2006

Let's remember Pearl Harbor
As we go to meet the foe
Let's remember Pear Harbor
As we do the Alamo
Never Forget!
posted by Postroad at 4:23 PM on December 7, 2006

I wish we still had inline images, just to see the crying bald eagle Postroad would've linked.
Or heck, a Bomb Pop. Remember those?
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:52 PM on December 7, 2006

I vote for []< /b> as the youtube link.
posted by seanyboy at 5:01 PM on December 7, 2006

Woah...... That's rubbish. Try that again...
I vote for []< as the youtube link.
posted by seanyboy at 5:02 PM on December 7, 2006

No, it shouldn't get deleted. What if the poster was drunk, and he just wanted to share this story with us? A well-constructed post that everyone likes should get deleted instead.
posted by interrobang at 5:04 PM on December 7, 2006

Ah seanyboy, a sideways TV! And yet I am so taken by team lowkey's u= for YouTube as well. How can I pick a favorite??? Damn! My heart is so torn! Oh wait... I just realized I have absolutely no authority to make any decisions for Meta... whew.

My heart will go on!
posted by The Deej at 5:18 PM on December 7, 2006

Looks more like a movie camera to me than a sideways TV. I like it.
posted by diddlegnome at 5:46 PM on December 7, 2006

It must be art, diddle... we bring our own interpretations to it.
posted by The Deej at 5:55 PM on December 7, 2006

Which way must a pitchfork be turned for it to be upside down?
posted by bingo at 6:31 PM on December 7, 2006

Why is it not such a crime when someone writes "via boingboing" or "via digg" or any other particular blog?
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:47 PM on December 7, 2006

yeah but what will be the mefi symbol for pie, yes pie
posted by nola at 6:55 PM on December 7, 2006

Did someone say pie? (warning: cartoon with loud music)
posted by clevershark at 7:04 PM on December 7, 2006

I had a long comment ready about my personal problems. Well what with my numerous addictive behaviours 'n such. In fact, the shamelessness of me, I had printed it out! Can you imagine that - I had printed it out! Simply so that my therapist, psychiatrist, opthamologist and her juniour could see it. That single side of double spaced type had everything I'd ever wanted to say, things that could never be said aloud were laid out in black on white. I was going to 'publish' here, then I thought, Cory Doctoworowoe might be interested. I could have died.

Luckily I wiped my arse on it in a restroom 4 miles from Fresno. Just flushed away. Like my dreams.
posted by econous at 7:13 PM on December 7, 2006

Um. Do you know how obnoxious it is to start a question that way?
posted by mkultra at 7:20 PM on December 7, 2006

"yeah but what will be the mefi symbol for pie, yes pie"

Π?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:28 PM on December 7, 2006

you should really be more like kfx econous. i'm sure you're troubled prose would have been a fine example of how hard it is to be a human.
i mean, metafilter is where we're supposed to take our personal problems, right?
posted by localhuman at 7:30 PM on December 7, 2006

~
posted by strawberryviagra at 7:30 PM on December 7, 2006

ass.
posted by casconed at 8:02 PM on December 7, 2006

24-hour UpsideDown Pitchfork Party People!

Also, econous is growing on me. A gimmick poster, perhaps, but it's a gong-ringer of a gimmick!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:09 PM on December 7, 2006

"...econous is growing on me"

A shot of penicillin ought to clear that right up.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:20 PM on December 7, 2006

I didn't know about this girl's clip. It is good. As is the edited version of O'Reilly's clip. And I found out about a new blog.

How nice! I think links to websites are nice. Come to think of it, that's why I like MetaFilter.

This is the worst callout ever. Not in the MeFi "(superlative) (noun) evar!!1!" sense, but in the "worst callout ever" sense.
posted by ibmcginty at 10:02 PM on December 7, 2006

Um. Do you know how obnoxious it is to start a question that way?

Um, no, I really, like, didn't, but thanks for telling me, Mister Obvious!

God, you people are, like, so judgemental.
posted by scrump at 12:29 AM on December 8, 2006

God, you people are, like, so judgemental.

Welcome to the Hotel Metafilter.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:56 AM on December 8, 2006

You can logout any time you like, but you can never leave.
posted by Tenuki at 5:36 AM on December 8, 2006 [2 favorites]

Is there a rule against meta-meta? Does this meta diserves a pitch for party because...
posted by NewBornHippy at 6:09 AM on December 8, 2006

Um, no, I really, like, didn't, but thanks for telling me, Mister Obvious!

OK, I'll bite- why do it, then? Are you so eager to hobble your argument right out of the gate by asking it so condescendingly? Some might consider that... judgmental.
posted by mkultra at 6:21 AM on December 8, 2006

for askme:

i - women's issues

=^..^= - about my cat

8***** - I have a rash

more?
posted by taz at 6:41 AM on December 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

OK, I'll bite- why do it, then? Are you so eager to hobble your argument right out of the gate by asking it so condescendingly? Some might consider that... judgmental.

YES.

Oh, God, it's so nice to find someone who finally understands me.

*weeping*
posted by scrump at 7:04 AM on December 8, 2006

I just want to say something offtopic about this:

i'm sure you're troubled prose...

I've seen "your" used as "you're" literally thousands of times in my life, but that's the first time I've ever seen it the other way around.
posted by davejay at 9:37 AM on December 8, 2006

I'm quite anxious about bringing you home for the holidays. See, my father is very stern; he's an editor. And you, well frankly, you're troubled prose.
posted by verysleeping at 10:59 AM on December 8, 2006

At Metafilter, we're all just the words we use.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:00 PM on December 9, 2006

So I post this story. Then haters immediately attack it indirectly by demanding that it must be removed and others attack me (the poster) or the little girl (and not her message).

[maybe if the haters had attacked my writeup it would have had more meaning]

Since then both of my YouTube links, The Coolest 8 Year Old In The World Talks About O'Reilly, and Bill O'Reilly takes on YouTube, rose to be the top 2 video links at Technorati.

I am not claiming that I did this, just that I was part of a swell.

At YouTube, I think there was a problem. The girl video had become so popular that they should have put it on some front pages but they seemed to have blocked it for a while (the video should have been in "top honors" but there was no was to see this).

My guess is that the YouTube people saw this as an inflammatory video and wanted to hold off on main paging it until they had contacted the Bastard Fairies and got them to say that this is not the opinion of a real little girl. E.g. the rewritten header about the video is now:

OFFICIAL STATEMENT: THIS VIDEO FEATURES A TALENTED YOUNG ACTRESS PLAYING A FICTITIOUS CHARACTER. IT IS A COMMERCIAL FOR THE BAND 'THE BASTARD FAIRIES' AND DIRECTED BY AN AWARD WINNING DOCUMENTARY FILM MAKING TEAM.

Even so, that hasn't saved her from from racist remarks, harm or death threat, or calling her a (would be) prostitute in the comments at YouTube.

The currently 11550 YouTube comments are here but they will tak a while to download.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 10:21 PM on December 17, 2006