Ethical Musings

Okay, so you find something really juicy that you want to share with your readers, fine. You hit the New Entry button on the left-hand side of the MovableType menu and start a new entry (just as I did a hundred keystrokes ago). But the link you followed is from Site A, which points to Site B, which eventually links you to Site C. Do you link directly to Site C and credit Site A for the tip? Do you Link to Site B and similarly credit Site A? Or do you pretend to be "Kibo™ of the Web" and link directly to Site C and ignore the path you actually followed to get there? Or, and I include this merely for completeness, are you actually "Kibo™ of the Web" and therefore the question is completely moot?

I ask, not in hopes of any philosophical clarity, but to boast about my almost unblemished record of doing what I think to be the right thing (the first policy — link to C, give credit to A). Does it matter? Does anyone care?

I think it does, and in a couple of cases already, I've been the first blogger to find something link-worthy (of my immediate circle of blogularity, er, blob of blogularity?), so I link directly to "my" discovery. It's been nice to see the same link be picked up by others (but none, as yet, through this blog, alas) a few hours or a day later.

Reputation being as important as it currently is in the blogosphere, the quality of the link often matters much more than it would for a DeadTreeWorld link, and this is one of the ways that bloggers establish and maintain the reputation that encourages readers to keep coming back to their respective sites.