Who Gets Props in Blog Posts?

At the risk of over-analyzing the Blog Echo Chamber, I am faced with an interesting netiquette problem. I'm preparing a blog post and my research takes me to Blog X that has written content I'd like to use. So I link to it. But I discover that this prized piece of info was actually linked from Blog Y... that was linked from Blog Z, that ultimately came from an online news article. Each blogger along the chain did an excellent job of linking which I followed in proper sequence back to the source without skipping.

In reading over what I've just written, it seems very logical and socially proper to give credit to Blog X by linkg back to them. Butwhat if I want to provide the most accurate interpretation of the content and just like a story that gets passed from person to person, the interpretation is changed or the meaning is completely lost? I would certainly want to link directly to the source, but the chain of bloggers don't get any credit.

What's right here? Is it really about giving or receiving credit or ?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Man, I feel your pain, I have been in similar situations. Here's what I would do, say something like I found this(link to blog z) via blog x. That way you give credit to how you found it, but you give a direct link to the actual source. The other option is to just link to blog z without mention of the others, either way, is probably ok. I'm like you though, I would rather link directly to the source, rather than send anyone chasing through several blogs to the actual source.
7:35 AM
DJ Chuang said…
This is the concept of "hat tip" that you may occasionally see on blogs that link to other sources or articles or interesting ideas. Yes, you can link directly to the source, but also give a link to where & how you first found out about it, b/c they helped you find it. And the mutual reciprocal link back helps everyone's Google ranking :)
12:33 PM
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