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A couple of those are cited like this: > - Anonymous (sourced from Reddit replies to the original 2009 Dirty Coding Tricks article) So not anonymous at all th

A couple of those are cited like this: > - Anonymous (sourced from Reddit replies to the original 2009 Dirty Coding Tricks article) So not anonymous at all then. reddit comments have usernames attached to them, URLs that can be linked to, and even an on-site messaging system that can can be used to ask the author for permission to use the content. Heck, every comment has an "embed" link below it to conveniently embed the properly cited comment right on your page. Is this a thing that's okay to do? Take someone else's content from someone else's website, copy-paste it into your article, and claim it was "anonymous"? Would this author be okay with it if I copy-pasted their articles to my blog? What about if I stole all of the comments posted to their articles to make my site look more active?

rjbwork 11y ago
No, it's not okay. The media, especially gaming publications, have been doing this stuff for years now, and it's ridiculous. Some publications have wised up, but many haven't. It's greatly amusing when someone just gives up all pretense and just scrapes a subreddit, then SEO blog spams every single post - because then the members will upvote stories about how terrible the website is. I unfortunately can't find anything specific at the moment, but 2 of the big ones I remember was /r/makeupaddiction and /r/gaming. EDIT: For the curious, here's the mod post about the /r/makeupaddiction incident https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/39o74y/mod_notice_your_pictures_are_being_used_without/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/39o74y/mod... I'm unable to find the others at the moment, though there is a list under the top comment on the thread I've linked.
- bigiain 11y ago
  Something something something ethics in games journalism!!! (Oh, hang on, male sounding name - as you were...)
  - anonymousab 11y ago
    "According to a reddit comment, which we've stripped the username from" is quite silly regardless the genre of your article. There's nothing wrong with being accurate - in this case, it provides users with a way to follow up on the item in the story. But maybe the article writer asked, and the user preferred not to be named, for all we know.
    - bigiain 11y ago
      Depending on which bit of Reddit, its also entirely possible the only way of reporting that "non-anonymously" might have been to say "According to a Reddit comment by BigDick4YoMama", which quite likely isn't what your editor wants to see in your articles. (But you are right, and I deserve the downvotes I'm getting here - it was a pretty poor attempt at humour…)
ivanca 11y ago
Just to be fair the original reddit entry [0] no longer has that comment in it (it was probably deleted) so maybe they just went with "anonymous" after being unable to find the actual source. [0]http://www.reddit.com/comments/9ch0s/dirty_coding_tricks_nine_reallife_examples_of/ http://www.reddit.com/comments/9ch0s/dirty_coding_tricks_nin...
- ketralnis 11y ago
  There are two cited that way, and neither appears in that link. I don't think both were coincidentally deleted, I think that's just the wrong comments page Besides, he has to have fetched them at some point and he should have taken the cites at the same time. "I found it somewhere on reddit" just isn't enough. It makes me wonder where he stole the other ones labelled "anonymous"
benihana 11y ago
For anyone who loves a good rant, Maddox talks about this topic: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=buzzfeed http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=buzzfeed
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  His rants are excellent. Under the coating of expletives hides a goldmine of no-bullshit common sense.

rjbwork 11y ago

No, it's not okay. The media, especially gaming publications, have been doing this stuff for years now, and it's ridiculous. Some publications have wised up, but many haven't. It's greatly amusing when someone just gives up all pretense and just scrapes a subreddit, then SEO blog spams every single post - because then the members will upvote stories about how terrible the website is. I unfortunately can't find anything specific at the moment, but 2 of the big ones I remember was /r/makeupaddiction and /r/gaming. EDIT: For the curious, here's the mod post about the /r/makeupaddiction incident https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/39o74y/mod_notice_your_pictures_are_being_used_without/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/39o74y/mod... I'm unable to find the others at the moment, though there is a list under the top comment on the thread I've linked.

bigiain 11y ago
Something something something ethics in games journalism!!! (Oh, hang on, male sounding name - as you were...)
- anonymousab 11y ago
  "According to a reddit comment, which we've stripped the username from" is quite silly regardless the genre of your article. There's nothing wrong with being accurate - in this case, it provides users with a way to follow up on the item in the story. But maybe the article writer asked, and the user preferred not to be named, for all we know.
  - bigiain 11y ago
    Depending on which bit of Reddit, its also entirely possible the only way of reporting that "non-anonymously" might have been to say "According to a Reddit comment by BigDick4YoMama", which quite likely isn't what your editor wants to see in your articles. (But you are right, and I deserve the downvotes I'm getting here - it was a pretty poor attempt at humour…)

ivanca 11y ago

Just to be fair the original reddit entry [0] no longer has that comment in it (it was probably deleted) so maybe they just went with "anonymous" after being unable to find the actual source. [0]http://www.reddit.com/comments/9ch0s/dirty_coding_tricks_nine_reallife_examples_of/ http://www.reddit.com/comments/9ch0s/dirty_coding_tricks_nin...

ketralnis 11y ago
There are two cited that way, and neither appears in that link. I don't think both were coincidentally deleted, I think that's just the wrong comments page Besides, he has to have fetched them at some point and he should have taken the cites at the same time. "I found it somewhere on reddit" just isn't enough. It makes me wonder where he stole the other ones labelled "anonymous"

benihana 11y ago

For anyone who loves a good rant, Maddox talks about this topic: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=buzzfeed http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=buzzfeed

TeMPOraL 11y ago
His rants are excellent. Under the coating of expletives hides a goldmine of no-bullshit common sense.