I would like to institute a new policy whereby we limit the amount of text that can be cut-and-pasted into board posts. Here's why:
1. It's against the law. It's usually illegal to grab large chunks of text like that and reproduce them, even if the original author is cited (which doesn't always happen). Enforcement of this law is not particularly common, but it still does leave us additionally vulnerable to a lawsuit.
2. It's morally wrong. Illegal or not, nobody should have their work posted without being credited. And, some people would prefer that their work not be posted at all.
3. It's inefficient. Every single word that we add to the board slows down our search functions a tiny amount. This is fine for good long tech posts, but when people are cut-and-pasting in large amounts of text, it begins to become problematic. It also slows down page load times.
4. It's unprofessional. The pro way to do it is to quote 2-3 sentences of an article, and then put a link to the full article. Like this:
Ideas?
1. It's against the law. It's usually illegal to grab large chunks of text like that and reproduce them, even if the original author is cited (which doesn't always happen). Enforcement of this law is not particularly common, but it still does leave us additionally vulnerable to a lawsuit.
2. It's morally wrong. Illegal or not, nobody should have their work posted without being credited. And, some people would prefer that their work not be posted at all.
3. It's inefficient. Every single word that we add to the board slows down our search functions a tiny amount. This is fine for good long tech posts, but when people are cut-and-pasting in large amounts of text, it begins to become problematic. It also slows down page load times.
4. It's unprofessional. The pro way to do it is to quote 2-3 sentences of an article, and then put a link to the full article. Like this:
Full article here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20041115-9999-1s15nhra.html
Ideas?
