To My Readers…
…should anyone care…
I’ve had a little back and forth with one of the bloggers (I won’t draw any more attention to them unduly – I’m not trying to put anyone out of business) who makes it a habit to take the work of the New York Times columnists protected under the financial umbrella of TimesSelect and printing the columns verbatim (without, need it be said, permission to do so).
Said proprietor accused me of hypocrisy for linking…and I’ve concluded that is a correct accusation. It’s not hard to find a copy of these ‘bootleg’ Times columns, and as much as I’ve come to loathe the Times editorial page under Gail Collins, I do agree they have a right to drive down their readership through draconian pricing policies and I shouldn’t send traffic to sites that are, frankly, ripping them off.
So, no more links to bootleg Times pieces…if I quote from them in the future, you’ll just have to find them on your own. Fair enough?
After their recent annual shareholder’s meeting, you probably won’t have to wait too long to get that information free and clear again. It looks very bad right now – and when Morgan Stanley (a significant minority shareholder) is making noises about taking them private, well, you do the math.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/business/media/19times.html?ex=1303099200&en=e8c7efe2bf72ba71&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Shareholders withheld 28% of their votes for the current board of directors. Yikes.
Quote away, Mark. And I also will not bust your chops over spelling or grammar.
I always link when I can and it does feel strange when I can’t, but after thinking about it, it seems that providing the link is not really part of crediting the source anyway.
It’s just become second nature for bloggers to provide the hyperlink. If the Times wants to take away that blogging convenience, it’s not our fault.
I just credit the source in the old fashioned way, and roll on.