Quick: if you’re part of a mailing list and there’s a splendid discussion, a really informative back and forth dialog that transpires, can you copy and paste both sides of the discussion on your weblog without requesting permission?
This very topic arose on the LinkedIn Bloggers mailing list — a list that has some minimal member requirements and closed list archive — and generated what I thought was a surprisingly wide range of answers.
I spent some time on list trying to clarify my own thoughts on this matter, detailing where I believe it’s acceptable to quote others without permission and when I believe it’s imperative that you seek and receive permission before quoting even a single sentence. I’d like to include my thoughts here on my weblog too, for more general reference purposes and to hopefully spawn some dialog on this topic too.
The discussion started out with the following question…
“I presume everyone agrees that you have a right to post a conversation to a blog entry [where you were one of the participants]. How do you handle the other person’s part of the conversation? Do you ask permission? Do you attribute? Do you notify them?”
Here’s my response…
This very same situation came up with a thread I’ve been monitoring in SEM 2.O moderated by Andrew Goodman. I asked him if it was ok to repost some of the thread and he said fine as long as there was a link to the main discussion list page. I wonder though, if participants in the thread need to “sign off” as well?
Comment by Lee Odden — September 19, 2005 @ 8:48 am
Well, Lee, I have to say that I think Andrew’s wrong in this instance (and that doesn’t happen too often) because I obviously believe that everyone on the list who is being quoted needs to grant permission for their private discussion to make it into the public eye.
Comment by Dave Taylor — September 19, 2005 @ 8:52 am
Just say no to list poaching!
There’s a public listserv I’m on that often comes up with some good food for thought. If I’m just referencing the topic, I say something like, “today, the listserv[link] was full of conversation about X. Here’s my take on it.” If I want to refer to or quote from an individual post, I always ask the person first. It’s a matter of respect, I think, even though the listserv posts are open to anyone to read. This of course goes even more so for private listservs.
Another thing that shouldn’t have to be said but, since it just happened to me again recently, I’ll say it: Content posted to a blog is not free for the taking, either. Another blog, or a magazine, or any other media, can’t take someone’s blog post and use it without permission and attribution. Duh.
Dave, I’d be curious to know what you think about the privacy of e-mail in response to a blog comment–I had a private exchange with a blogger about a post, and my e-mail ended up on his blog. I was very taken aback to have something privately sent show up in public (with attribution) without first being asked. (If I wanted to make a public comment, I would have on his blog.) I consider e-mail to be private unless permission is given to use it, but obviously, not everyone does.
Comment by Sue Pelletier — September 19, 2005 @ 3:00 pm
You make good points Dave and Sue. What I’ll do is just cite Andrew’s own comments since he’s the only person I’ve asked and received permission to cite and present my take on it since that’s what many of my blog readers want anyway.
Here’s something I noticed recently. A friend forwarded an email to me and I noticed in his signature there was this line:
OK to blog? [ ]Yes [ ] No
with an “X” in the Yes box. I had not seen that before. Particularly with people who blog, is something like necessary? Is it appropriate?
Comment by Lee Odden — September 19, 2005 @ 5:26 pm
Sue, thanks for your note. I think that someone who takes email and turns it into a blog posting is violating netiquette, at least, if not common privacy expectations. I’d email him and express your unhappiness with the sequence of events.
Also, Lee, what you highlight is an interesting idea and I’ve seen it too, but my concern is that it’s too easy to forget you have it as your signature and then leave users confused: does what you show mean that it IS or IS NOT okay for me to blog the associated message?
Comment by Dave Taylor — September 20, 2005 @ 8:02 am