[GeneD]

I do appreciate that, and I now understand why the original post had to be excerpted. It's troublesome trying to figure out what we can and can't quote fully from. Really this list ought to be put in a central place somewhere for all of us, possibly on the Help page, unless perhaps I've missed it (it's been a while since I've gone there).

I might propose too that when we have to excerpt we perhaps give a summary in our own words of the remainder of the piece, in the lead comment, or perhaps with sites like USAToday.com we can just write a digest in our own words in one paragraph. I think some of us are capable enough.

As to using pieces from WSJ.com, we really shouldn't unless we get them through its skimpy "free" page, or its giveaways to bloggers, or from OpinionJournal.com. We should do this out of principle: a news Web site that cordons itself from the world is an irrelevance (i.e., TimesSelect), and we should encourage the free distribution of news by snubbing pay distributors like the Journal (which I have trouble with for other reasons anyway).

Again thank you for the post, and I hope I didn't cause too much trouble, and Merry Christmas!

[PAR35]

The easiest thing to do is to either bookmark it on your browser or on your FR links page. The list does change from time to time.

It helped a lot when they put the automatic function in the posting program.

I do agree that if someone posts an excerpt or a link only, they should take the time to provide a summary in their own words.