Comments on: Please don’t reprint entire CIDU (or Crimeweek) posts on your blog

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:57:30 +0000

Lola, CIDU came first, in 1994. I created the crime site for About.com in 1997, and one day the following year I decided to add a link for CIDU to th crime site. That very day, as it turned out, Yahoo (I think it was Yahoo) listed CIDU as their Site of the Day, and both sites ended up with huge leaps in traffic.

A few years later, About.com decided they could save money by replacing many high-performing writers, so I continued the site on my own as Crimeweek. The plan now is to merge Crimeweek into the blog for the magazine I work for (Crime, Justice and America) — but since that’s on hold right now, I decided to take a break from the daily crime-writing grind. Considering I’d barely missed a day in more than 11 years, I figured it was about time.

By: Lost in A**2

Lost in A**2 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:29:38 +0000

Thanks, Bill.

By: Lola

Lola — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:54:59 +0000

I was so excited to see Crimweek mentioned. That was how I found this site lo those many years ago. Surely this meant that it was being updated again. But, no, I just checked and it’s not.

I’m curious, which came first? And why has Crimeweek become the unloved stepchild?

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:55:11 +0000

Lost, it’s always been considered unacceptable, and this is why: If somebody links directly to a graphic on my site, in other words has the graphic appear on their site using http://www.comicsidontunderstand.com/whatever.gif, they’re using server space I’m paying for without giving me any benefit in return (such as having people visit my site, having people see ads I choose to post, etc). They could instead simply post a link to my post (http://comicsidontunderstand.com/wordpress/2009/03/07/please-dont-reprint-entire-cidu-or-crimeweek-posts-on-your-blog/#comments), which in fact is what the majority of people do.

By: Lost in A**2

Lost in A**2 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:30:15 +0000

Bill, your comment on linking directly to the image on the
originating server makes me curious. Why do you think
it wrong? It’s always seemed to me the best (and easiest)
way to avoid copyright infringement.

By: CIDU Bill

CIDU Bill — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:28:57 +0000

I know, Arvy. Apparently it got set up automatically by the WordPress software. I don’t have the first clue how to set one up myself, though, let alone how to customize one in any way.

By: Arvy

Arvy — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:18:01 +0000

Bill, you already have an RSS feed:

http://comicsidontunderstand.com/wordpress/feed/

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:56:24 +0000

Jestempies, I doubt the RSS feed is the entire post. And if an RSS feed happens to be an entire post, I have to wonder why anybody would think it’s the right thing to do.

Also, linking directly to a graphic on somebody else’s server is and always has been wrong.

As far as putting ads in my RSS feed… I don’t even know how to SET UP an RSS feed.

By: Jestempies

Jestempies — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:00:01 +0000

I suggest you put ads in your RSS feed.

By: Jestempies

Jestempies — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:55:32 +0000

I think people can republish as much as you post in your RSS feed, generally speaking, as long as they attribute it to your site.

I mean, even Google Reader does it. Here’s my public shared items page which publishes content from posts I mark as “Share” or “Share with note” in Google Reader — http://www.google.com/reader/shared/12114834408142898199 . If I shared one of your posts, it would appear on that page.

Of course I understand that there’s a fine line.