Virtual Pants

Matthew Panzarino does a top notch job calling out the practice of burying source links:

In the end, you have to have some sense of your self worth and the benefit of what you’re bringing to the story, or the story isn’t worth writing about at all. If you’re sourcing someone and not providing an inline link, it’s because you fear that your readers will go there and not come back because you added nothing to the conversation.

I also agree with Marco’s take on the situation:

The most ethically and professionally sound practice when you have little value to add to the source story is the linked-list approach. Give a teaser quote and a prominent link. Make it clear that you didn’t write the target article, there’s more to be read there, and here’s how to get to it.

As a new column, Virtual Pants will rely upon the links of others in the community to grow and, hopefully, flourish. While nobody is perfect, I will always strive to provide proper attribution. It’s just the right thing to do.