Posted on 05/11/2011 9:44:13 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
As more and more FReepers (old and new alike) post articles, they really need to pay attention to what they are doing. I know there is a need to excerpt many articles, but remember - you have up to 300 words or no more than 1/2 of the article if it is less than 300 words.
May I make some basic suggestions when excerpting? In addition to the above mentioned FR guidelines, please copy and paste the "who-what-when..." of the article. Earlier today, someone posted an article about a student getting arrested at school for an item found in his equipment bag. The FReeper failed at excerpting and did not even mention what that item was. Was that due to rudeness or laziness? I don't know.
Use snips if you need to. Oftentimes relevant and important info is found deep inside the article. Or maybe at the end. Post that, if you please.
OK, so I posted my rantity vanity. But I toned it down some.
lol
Huh?
Also, if it is your own article, don’t excerpt it. :-)
I’ve congratulated many a FReeper for lousy excerpts and wished them luck with their 12 post thread.
I normally just move on if they insist I click the link, anymore.
There are way too many words in this thread.
thanks, but i only look at the threads with pictures
Well, this is what I thi....
(Excerpted. Read more vacuous musings at myoverrratedblog.com)
Who is this newby poster cripplecreek? I’ve been here since 2004 and still consider myself a newby.
Might I also add.... if what you are posting is a link to a video or other site, please give some background info and outline the topic/story a bit. Many cannot look at videos at all times. Thank you!
Holy cow, that is just classic! Another good one would be the art critic in the museum examining the giant birth certificate on the wall instead of the psuedo-Pollock. I love N.R’s work.
Freegards
Addendum:
Excerpting your own blog in order to get blog hits will bring you grief.
A lot of grief.
Professionally coordinated and endless grief.
Grief of Biblical proportions.
Yeah, it’ll be bad.
(2) [Mainly for those who whine about any link to the poster's blog . . . ] I don't mind giving the "blog hit" if the poster has proven that he earned the hit. If we like an article, even if the whole thing is posted, we should follow the link and give the writer the hits. I don't follow ad links, because I don't want anything that's for sale, but I'm willing to give the blog hits, and I think that's fair.
Really?
Yes, but if not then I will still excerpt it even if the source is not on the excerpt list. Bandwidth costs money, long articles with hundreds of refreshes adds up to money JimRob doesn’t need to pay for. Use their bandwidth instead to read the whole article.
It’s also nice for presentation. No one wants to wade through 50 paragraph manifesto to get down to the comments. It makes it alot easier of the gist of the article is put in the excerpt and left to the user to go find more or not. Especially if you’re like me and want to get the point of things to decide if I want to investigate further. It saves time that way and I can get alot more read.
I agree though, use the 300 word limit, and put the point of the article in if possible and pertinent details.
Yes.
Always knew Adden was dum.
Less than 8?
300 words are great to start a good discussion. Those 300 words don't have to be from the top of the article, they can be 300 words you found interesting from the article.
Of course excepting all the uhs, buts, and ands from an 0bama speech won't give you 300 words.
Really?
It is possible to post more than ten words on
I think it is great if I post ten words.
(Excerpt) Read more at mytotallyawesomewonderfulamazingblog.blogspot.com
Rather than putting the emphasis on how much is or isn’t excerpted, the initiator of a thread can help the readers even more by using Comment #1 to summarize what they think is important about the story they have linked.
Two of the most irritating posting habits around FR:
1. Links to articles with no description of what is contained in the article.
2. Even worse, links to videos with no description of the subject matter and value of the video. You can’t scan a video. I almost never follow video links unless there is some description of what is in the video.
Those two can be included in either the heading to a thread or in comments of a thread.
Many folks have set out with a mission to herd the cats. I have yet to see it done.
Can’t blame ya for trying, though.
Yep. Lol
I also excerpt when it’s not required. Often times a piece will be endless filler. No need for that, eats bandwidth and makes it harder to read too.
Herding cats or herding blogpimps. Its a never ending task.
I plan on linking this thread to future thread posters who use the lazy 10 word excerpt agenda.
Agreed. I’m a news junkie and look at every post on FR. Don’t have time or interest in everything posted. It’s nice when things have descriptions so I don’t miss anything. Don’t have the time to waste following mystery links either.
Of course, if you have given up the article copyright, then it's only your article in the sense of authorship. In the legal sense, you may then still need to excerpt it for posting on FR.
on the line immediately above the article's title?
More advice for posting articles:
Don’t just search the title, also search the major keyword. Often the same article will be posted by ten different sources with ten different titles.
Add keywords. Name of country, government department, main person’s last name. Tons of threads never get seen by those of us that look for articles by keyword.
Go to the original source. If HotMess.Blog posts a short blurb about an article from a newspaper, post the original article, not the blog blurb. I hate that. We all hate that.
Absolutely! I can't watch videos at work--I don't have the software--and I always forget to look at them at home.
If bandwidth of text is an issue I would expect Jim Robinson to address it. Instead I see Jim being against bloggers trying to use Free Republic to drive traffic to their blog.
Are you series? This is hugh.
Meanwhile....I think a moose bit my sister.
Ugh... ;)
BTTT
Another annoyance is linking to the home page of a blog or news source instead of the actual article. A link to a home page will break the next time the blogger posts or the news source goes to a new lead story. Instead, one should click through to the article by itself and then link to that page. Or look around for a an explicitly labeled permalink
and copy its target URL.
They excerpt to get us to click on their site so they get hits...
Often excruciatingly entertaining as well.
syllables
book learnin wordin
need quite less
hmmm.
...this? (see post 44 for those that are confused. I pimped my own FR post to 2 entries down.)
Not, apparently, for the blogpimps themselves.
I can list several who were driven insane and had foaming public meltdowns.
Which was indeed excruciatingly entertaining to observe.
It could all be avoided by simply posting the full content.
It's crazy, yes it is.
The original was published a year and a half before the advent of the Won.
BTW, here's another famous self-portrait to tape up next to the canvas for additional inspiration.
 Frida Kahlo |
It's of a famous Mexican commie and personal friend of Trotsky.
,p>
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