ban blogs that only reblog content
-
Hmm..I reblog some of my subscriber’s posts – because they are excellent and I want to share them and give them a bigger audience.
I didn’t realize that some people would think that I was wrong to do so.
Maybe I shouldn’t reblog? I thought I was doing someone a favor?
-
@jameskallway Excellent idea if WP can implement it. Like any legitimate quote that is included as part of a larger discussion, a reblog should be accompanied by commentary by the reblogger — his thoughts about the reblog and why he thinks it’s important or relevant, putting the reblog in some kind of context, or adding something to the discussion. That would help cut down on those people who fill their blog with reblogs without any apparent reason for reblogging the post in the first place.
However, it does not change the fact that the reblog function is ill-considered, enables rather than protects from scrapers and plagiarizers, takes too much written material, takes all the images without retaining their various credits and attached information, and fails to demonstrate or expedite the proper form of quotation and attribution. It is a disservice to WP bloggers who devote time and effort to creating original material for their blogs and instead aids in the taking of that material by others. Instead of being a tool for those bloggers who work to make WP.com the success it is, it punishes them by ensuring others can easily take their work and make it a prominent post on their own blog with the simply click of a button — without limitation, without comment, without putting it in context or even explaining why it was taken.
-
I am so glad for this forum topic, have wondered about these sites that basically steal your post, and re-post the whole thing, when I looked on the site it was just what you guys are talking about and wondered what benefit it is to the person owning the blog?
I am in favor of “requesting permission to re-blog” nothing worse than writing your post, publishing, then finding it on another blog, have courtesy to request permission, one once did I re-blog a great Rhubarb recipe but at least I wrote to the blogger and asked permission.
Thanks for starting this thread. -
staff used to say if your blog was nothing but a duplicate of a blog elsewhere, that it be set to private. seems logical that if blogs are only reblogs, they should be private as well.
-
@raincoaster That’s a nice sentiment from WP, but people who reblog are usually looking for an easy way to draw traffic and they won’t get it if they mark their blogs private. If WP really feels that way, they should just make all reblogs private by default. Then rebloggers could have them for their own private enjoyment but couldn’t use them to improve their readership.
-
-
I’ve had a few posts reblogged and at first was stunned to find my images and/or words show up on another blog. I don’t think I would be nearly as bothered by it if the reblogger engaged me in other ways too… say leaving a comment on the post they liked enough to reblog (other than the default notification), or any other post for that matter.
-
@raincoaster Then the rebloggers shouldn’t mind at all if all reblogs are made private.
@ifmomsaysok That takes us back to an earlier, very logical suggestion that reblogs be held in moderation until the reblogger seeks and receives permission from the author to reblog his or her content. Asking permission is the courteous and proper approach.
-
@windwhistle I know I would appreciate being asked first. I’ve had content plagiarized before, and finding out was like a gut punch. That’s how I felt the first time I saw something of mine had been reblogged without prior approval.
-
Is this really the first time we as a community have come to the collective conclusion that the reblogging tool needs revamping? Apparently I’m not the only one around here who likes to mix a little cannabis with their blogging. :P
It’s okay, I won’t tell on ya’ll. :)
Anyway, now that I’m done trying to be funny, we have three very good ideas laid out here. I really want something to be done about this, so for the sake of facilitating that and further ideas on the matter, I’m gonna lay out what we got so far.
Problem: Reblogging facilitates and encourages undesirable blogs as defined by WordPress.com itself. Furthermore, it lacks even the most basic configuration options necessary to properly cite the content it reblogs, which also runs contrary to the value system of WordPress and Automattic.
Possible Solutions:
- Allow bloggers the option to enable/disable reblogging on a blog-to-blog basis.
- Allow bloggers the option to to moderate reblogs of their content on a case-by-case basis.
- Mandate a minimum word count for rebloggers. Thinking isn’t optional ’round these parts!
On an unrelated note, the forums need a preview option. Not much fun going through each html tag to make sure you closed them all.
-
-
Reblogging is ultimately just linking to someone else’s blog posts, and you can’t stop people from doing that (unless it’s all they do). The issue seems to be with the amount and nature of the content that’s being reproduced. Some people think it’s fair use and others see it as a kind of plagiarism. Maybe the simplest solution would be to have a section in the Dashboard where you can set how many of your words get reposted — say, from none (i.e. just the title) to the full post — and whether or not your images get reposted.
-
With respect to those who have other thoughts on reblogging and permissions for it, my original posting here on this thread – which started the thread – was about blogs that are set up specifically to reblog other people’s posts. Not about reblogging per se. Anyone can reblog a post, anywhere, at any time with copy and paste. (And generally if you don’t want your content to travel beyond your own blog you should not be putting it online in public in the first place.) That’s not the issue. The issue is that something should be included in WordPress’s terms of service that says that blogs which only publish reblogged material and none of their own material, should be regarded as spamming or similar.
Now I’m going to mark this with ‘Modlook’ so that at least we’ll be sure that staff will see it. I, for one, would like to have a response from one of them.
-
Some blogs that have a lot of reblogged posts are spam, as they are trying to push readers to another URL or to an affiliate link. We do deal with those as needed.
However, there are some blogs that have a large number of reblogged posts as they are run by users who do a lot of reading of other WordPress.com sites and want to share the good stuff they have found on WordPress.com with others. Those blogs are considered to be legitimate and in the vast majority of cases are going to prove to be beneficial to the originating content as they send readers and traffic back to the original.
-
@absurdoldbird
No offense to intended to catrymer or anyone else but I think the tune I hear between the lines is the same old, same old …
♫What every blogger wants is more traffic and follower, right?
Well, that’s what this is designed to do for you. ♫Boomers like you and I have tonnes of life experience and it includes cyber experience. In my offline life I don’t march to a different drum. I am the drummer and I set the tune. I sense you may be the same, hence, … well you can complete the rest … just never let your sense of humor go on vacation now, you hear. ;)
♥TiTi -
-
-
@catrymer I have a situation where someone is re-blogging most of my content and very little of anyone else’s. They post very little original content. So their blog basically is my blog! I am not against re-blogging in principle. I also agree with original commenter that blogs which purely re-blog should not be allowed. But the situation I have outlined is about re-blogging etiquette really.
- The topic ‘ban blogs that only reblog content’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 