# astro, a request: stop copying links from FARK **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 25, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789 "2004-07-25T12:34:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/41 "2004-07-25T20:50:08Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > But, what confusion can arise from not attributing the link? _This_ sort of confusion. Reasonable or not, someone did object to the practice and started a pit thread about it. That could, possibly, have been forseen and it so avoided. Also, in some cases, it might seem to imply ownership of the site linked. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/42 "2004-07-25T22:21:14Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > It’s clear that you latched on to the word plagiarism and neglected everything else I wrote. No, m’dear, it’s clear that several of us found your even _vague_ reference (as in “skirting the skirts”) to “plagarism” in the same vicitinity as some guy posting freakin’ _links_ to be non-relevant and so you’re ruffled about it. But oh well. Pretend otherwise if you like. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/43 "2004-07-25T22:47:45Z")
What a stupid Pit thread. I don’t care who gets a link from where. If it’s worth posting to the SDMB then post it, for pity’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/44 "2004-07-25T22:57:08Z")
In other news, still no cure for cancer. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/45 "2004-07-25T23:17:09Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > In other news, still no cure for cancer. **astro** posts too many links on **SDMB** from **FARK** jailarity ensues! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/46 "2004-07-25T23:33:35Z")
> [@5 time champ](#): > > **astro** posts too many links on **SDMB** from **FARK** jailarity ensues! 😉 [Fark has allowed me to achieve Cosmic Consciousness!](http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cpeek001/eek30.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/47 "2004-07-28T15:13:53Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > [It’s a trap!](http://www.parnasas.com/PopArena/Articles/potato/1newgraphics/akbar1.jpg) I, for one, welcome our new Fark thread-copying overlords. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/48 "2004-07-28T15:29:52Z")
A bit belated, but **manhattan** , that fucking killed me. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/49 "2004-07-28T15:40:28Z")
**Elysian** Pits **astro** for too many links from **FARK** to **SMDB** , said Pitting blows up in **Elysian’s** face – France surrenders 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/50 "2004-07-28T15:40:45Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > In other news, still no cure for cancer. And **Duke** still sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/51 "2004-07-28T16:17:13Z")
Are some of you guys really saying that every time someone posts a link, it should be attributed? Every link’ll start looking like those e-mail forwards with eighteen pages of e-mail addresses of previous victims! > [@Elysian](#): > > It’s another thing to read a nationally recognized site listing a conglomeration of links and then post a link (or many links) to another site as if YOU had found that obscure site in the first place WITHOUT mentioning that you found it on the recognized site. Anyone who knows what an URL is knows that there is but one person who “originally finds” a link, and that’s the person who made the page. Does every link really need a paper trail leading back to the site’s creator? Besides the creator, _every_ link comes from somewhere else, and that’s accepted throughout the Net. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/52 "2004-07-28T16:24:26Z")
I agree 100% with the OP. It’s nice to see at least one other person who is bothered by this behaviour. Just recently I posted a pit thread about a member posting thread copies from SomethingAwful. It’s not wrong per se, but it is a very disingenious way to develop your online personality (especially when you don’t give credit to the original source). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/53 "2004-07-28T16:26:43Z")
Speaking of Fark cliches, here’s a coupla piccies I made for those rat bastards: [Farkyland](http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jul/20047288471453196264451.jpg) [Admiral Anteater](http://free.inkfrog.com/pix/laurelmudd/ackbar_anteater.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/54 "2004-07-28T16:39:08Z")
The problem isn’t plagiarism. This was probably a bad choice of words in this thread, as it was in my thread. Taking links from Fark is NOT the same as finding them on your own. There are people who work for Fark. They spend time and money actively moderating links and deciding what gets posted. By [you] simply re-copying those links, you are denying them the traffic they deserve for their efforts. Oh, and although I haven’t posted any Fark-related cliches, I am the proud owner of account #134. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/55 "2004-07-28T17:08:29Z")
Asking for attribution is fucking idiotic. Did you get that? I-D-I-O-T-I-C. What happens when I post a link from Fark, except it was on Slashdot first? Oh, wait, except the guy that submitted it to Slashdot got it from kuro5hin, and the only reason that kuro5hin had it was because someone saw it on BBSpot, and the reason it was on BBSpot was because Brian Biggs saw the link on IRC. There is no magical first person to post a link, so forget about the nonsensical notion of attribution for posting a link. > [@](#): > > By [you] simply re-copying those links, you are denying them the traffic they deserve for their efforts. And by reading Fark, unless they are linking to someone’s homepage rather than deeplinking directly to an article, you are denying other people the traffic they deserve. Yahoo deserves to have you go to [http://news.yahoo.com](http://news.yahoo.com) and click-through multiple pages to find the article, because you deny them their deserved traffic if you go directly to the article. Yahoo spends money and effort putting all their news links on one page, don’t deny them their due by deeplinking past their news homepage! ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/56 "2004-07-28T17:08:43Z")
> [@Trigonal Planar](#): > > I agree 100% with the OP. It’s nice to see at least one other person who is bothered by this behaviour. > > [snip] > > There are people who work for Fark. They spend time and money actively moderating links and deciding what gets posted. By [you] simply re-copying those links, you are denying them the traffic they deserve for their efforts. Thanks **Trigonal** , I didn’t think I was alone here. I agree with you completely, of course. You probably expressed it better. I’m not pissed about it, **astro** , I just wish you wouldn’t do it so often, and when you do, tell me where you got it. And you’ve agreed, so I really don’t see what else there is to discuss. **Troy** , like I said above, it’s a matter of degree. Like I said previously, I wouldn’t have objected unless it was a huge percentage of **astro** ’s posts, which it was, and that he didn’t mention where he was getting it, which he didn’t. I obviously don’t want every link to have a papertrial! Like I keep repeating, **astro** posted links in his op, the link was the only thing in his op, he did it over and over again, and he got (nearly) everything from FARK. That’s just a bit overboard. I keep repeating this and people still object because they think I said it was plagiarizing. If you’re going to be that willfully stupid, go ahead, I can’t change you. And since I keep repeating myself and no one reads it, or understands because they have bugs that are apparently eating parts of their brain ( 😕 ) I am going to have this thread closed. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/57 "2004-07-28T17:12:06Z")
This thread is teh ghey. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/58 "2004-07-28T17:14:14Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Asking for attribution is fucking idiotic. Did you get that? I-D-I-O-T-I-C. One more time: ASTRO WAS POSTING OPS THAT WERE ONLY COMPRISED OF LINKS. OF THE LAST 25 OF HIS POSTS 10 WERE LINKS AND LINKS ONLY. ALL OF THOSE LINKS WERE FOUND ON FARK. IF HE IS GETTING SO MUCH OF HIS SOURCE MATERIAL FROM ONE SITE HE SHOULD ATTRIBUTE IT. And you are a fucking illiterate moran! ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/59 "2004-07-28T17:17:42Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > And you are a fucking illiterate moran! 😃 Man I love Fark. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789/60 "2004-07-28T17:28:20Z")
> [@Trigonal Planar](#): > > Oh, and although I haven’t posted any Fark-related cliches, I am the proud owner of account #134. That rocks. Oh yeah – Hilarity ensues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astro-a-request-stop-copying-links-from-fark/256789.md?page=4)