Computer: Blog
"Original link" designation for blogging   (+2, -3)  [vote for, against]
The opposite approach to "link taken from..."

A weblog (or blog for short) is a type of webpage, consisting of short items, often links to other sites or pieces online, posted in chronological order. Given the way in which a link can do the rounds of blogs and mailing lists, bloggers often take links from other blogs. It is customary to acknowledge where one got the link from, at least if it's not all over the blog world. Such a notation may be a postscript at the end of the piece on the site, reading something like "(link via Pustulent Memes)".

It may be a good idea to have a notation for specifying the opposite; that one didn't get the link from any other source, but stumbled across the site by accident, or found it during a web search, or that one is the original finder of the site (or one of several parallel finders, as the case may be).

What would be a good notation for this case. Something like "original link" sounds a bit pompous. Perhaps a character meaning (to those in the know) "I found this myself", without any negative connotations.
-- acb, Apr 14 2001

Wise Words And Pictures http://www.wisewap.com/
Some are funny, like ackxhpaez, for example, others... well... [thumbwax, Apr 14 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Columbus links America http://www.indians....welker/columbu1.htm
[Op, Apr 14 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(?) More on Columbus 1) http://www.theti...0,,3-126037,00.html
Did you know Columbus first came to America in 1485? [Op, Apr 14 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

What's wrong with 'I found this page while looking for <foo>...'? Or whatever description fits...
-- StarChaser, Apr 15 2001


Me or acb?
-- StarChaser, Apr 15 2001


What if the log just amassed hit counts on specific sites, and ordered them chronologically based on the address of the first pixel on screen (i.e. upper left corner)?
The form:
Published link: pg.com/medicine/psychiatry/alternative/ECT
Search by: google.com/search ..... ECT+billion+defendents
----actually, this could be the last site visited prior to the Published link, including your own agent.
Pointed to by: [utility report of top several sites pointing to the Published link]
-- reensure, Apr 15 2001


I like to see a HTML tag that let's you give a link a refrence something like <A HREF=http://halfbakery.com LINKSOURCE=http://www.everything2.com>halfbakery, it's great!</a>

I think this can be done with XML, but a universal standard would be nice.
-- futurebird, Jul 01 2001


You forgot the quotes. I dunno if it's done with XML, but whenever you click on an ad banner, it's done like that. If it shows you a URL at the bottom, take a look. It often has the root URL of the site you're in and the destination both. It's how they get paid for their click-throughs.
-- StarChaser, Jul 01 2001


Well, the only person who would be able to use the "original link" designation would be the person who put up the web page, right? Everyone else just got it from someone who got it from someone who...
-- wiml, Jul 01 2001


The complaint is, many people take all their links from sites like MetaFilter, and present no original finds. Or something. I end up making a long post about where the link came from, eg. I found this on so-and-so's site, who found it on someone else's name's site, etc.
-- jetgrrl, Jul 26 2001


How do you find a website if not through a search engine? Why do you bother with a long pedigree?
-- StarChaser, Jul 27 2001


[starchaser] I find them through... newsletters, other weblogs, sites that announce X site of the day. Usually, the process of finding a link is fairly interesting, and it gives respect to the people who found the site before you did. Sounds weird, but it's true.
-- jetgrrl, Jul 27 2001


So there are sites which consist solely of links to other sites? Why?
-- angel, Jul 27 2001


Sure there are - one which I have a shortcut to is above. It's fer hipsters. On my gorgeous little current homepage I have 36 links which are clickable on pic or name of Artist, Musician, whatever. Did I give credits for links? Of course not. I won't get a dime out of it as I'm not part of what Chase so aptly described. Did I give credit for photos? Well No - . It was time for me to get the site up and out of the way so I can move onto my next project(s). Those pics are just plain 'borrowed', however at some point I'll compile the whole list out of respect and copyright blah.
One thing of interest to me is how some folks don't realize that Mr. Gates owns Corbis Stock Photo. Smart move on his part. What people are most likely going to 'take' which has a 'value' (based on exchange of funds for equipment, experience, so on and so forth) of some description is photos. Having worked in Stock Photo as a Distributor for a few years, I can understand the foresight on his part.
As for links to other pages on my site, well - if one conveys a thought or idea and/or for all intents and purposes 'owns' the very name I wish to share info about - then they should be linked to and allowed to show a new set of eyes what it is that drove them to create a shrine to their hero or somesuch.
-- thumbwax, Jul 27 2001


Jetgrrl, ok, so you find them through other people's websites or newsletters. How is this an 'original find', or substantially different from finding it in a search engine? You're just taking it from a different type of list. Everything you described means someone else saw it first...
-- StarChaser, Jul 28 2001


[starchaser] I acknowledge where I found the link if it came off a newsletter or another Web site. I think some people just don't like it when someone starts a blog and just takes all their links from MeFi, or other some such site. Also, linking to where you found the link drives traffic (hopefully) to these other sites. It's all a sort of goodwill thing.

Also, most blogs aren't just links, they are a mixed bag of personal observations, news, and interesting sites on the Web
-- jetgrrl, Aug 01 2001


If someone just scammed all my links, it would point them up as a feeble loser, so it'd work out...
-- StarChaser, Aug 04 2001



random, halfbakery