Hotrodders Bulletin Board Guidelines Copy-Pasting Policy

Our policy on the Hotrodders Bulletin Board is to not allow the copy-pasting of large amounts of text into posts. Instead of copying paragraphs of text into a post, we ask that you simply quote a few sentences, and supply a link to a webpage where the remainder of the text can be found. Here's why:

• Etiquette. It's often considered rude or inflammatory to "shove" copy-pasted material into people's faces. A more polite method is to present people with a sampling of the material, and a link to the full text. That way, if it piques their interest, they can read it, but if not, they can skim right over your summary of it.
  
  
• Database and Reading Efficiency. Every word that gets posted onto Hotrodders.com increases the load upon certain databasing features of the site, specifically our on-site search engines. If we fill up our posting databases with copy-pasted text, search functionality slows down and loses relevancy. Additionally, as threads fill up with large amounts of copy-pasted text, it becomes more laborious to read them.
  
  
• Originality. As you gain experience involving yourself in discussions and informational exchanges on the net, you'll probably begin to see that many of the same exact viewpoints are repeated over-and-over on different websites. This conversational monotony is partially caused by people repeating and regurgitating the exact same information, without stopping to consider it and form their own opinions of it. In this regard, discussions are very similar to cars. If you're copying something that someone else is doing, it's not going to be very interesting. A better technique is to examine other peoples' ideas, and use their perspectives to assist you in forming your own new and original thoughts.
  
  
• Copyright and Legal Concerns. In many situations, it is illegal to reproduce information without the specific consent of the original author or copyright holder. While the development of the internet and the world wide web has served to influence the traditional interpretations of copyright laws, it still holds true that copy-pasting text from one source to another is often in violation of the law. Refraining from copy-pasting text serves to protect us from legal action being taken against the members or operators of the Hotrodders Bulletin Board.
  
  
  If you've found something posted on another website or bulletin board, please feel free to post an excerpt of it, plus a link to the originating site. There's nothing wrong with linking to another site, we don't consider ourselves to be "in competition" with any other automotive sites, and we regularly communicate with many other hotrodding webmasters and forum administrators, and link to their websites.
  
  
  If you've found something posted in an email message, and you'd like to post it on the board, but you can't find a website where the complete text can be found, we suggest you use Google to search for an excerpt of the text. To do this, simply choose a unique sentence from the text, and perform a Google search for that text. Be certain to enclose the text in double-quote characters, as this will ensure that you search for the exact sentence. Examine the screenshot below for an example Google search of a double-quoted sentence.
  
  
  
  Then, once you've located a url where the original text exists, simply quote a few sentences from that page, and then place a link to the remainder of the text.
  
  Here's a final example of the proper way to reference information from other websites, without copy-pasting large amounts of text. The example below quotes a paragraph from a hotrodding article from another hotrodding site, and inserts a link for people to read the remainder of the text.
  
  

  The idea behind this exercise is to build a small English wheel that can be held in a vise, and used to fabricate small patch panels for body repair or modification. The goal was to have the lowest price possible, and use parts that were easily obtainable most everywhere. For the top wheel, we used a Ford rear axle bearing, used by Ford from '49 until the late 80's. Full text: Building Your Own Benchtop English Wheel

  
  
  
  Thanks for your consideration. For any questions or comments about this policy, please feel free to start a new thread in the Site Suggestions and Help forum.
  
  
  Click here to see the main page of the Hotrodders Bulletin Board Guidelines
  
  
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