This is a topic that has touched a nerve for me on more than one occasion, so now it’s time to point it out.
You could probably categorize blog posts into several different types. In broad terms I’m thinking things like links, opinion, how-to and such. I want to focus on just on type of post though, reporting. Since we are in an election year let me (ab)use that as an example, imagine seeing a blog post with the title of “Fred Thompson calls Ron Paul a poo poo head”, which then goes to explain how the author feels about that. These reporting types of posts are pretty common and vary widely in topic and scope.
What I want to pick on is providing references for these posts. Going back to our name calling example above I’d like a link (usually to a news agency) that reported on said event. Now even there you have to be careful of course because I’ve found some news reporting sites that seem to do nothing but confirm their stories by linking to other stories that they’ve written. The key here is provide some sort of trail that can be followed up on. If the blogger is reporting on something that they witnessed first hand then they should indicate that. If it was second hand then say so, ideally with a link to the person/site that they heard it from. Again, it goes back to that idea of trail that can be followed back to some sort of first hand source.
Why this bothers me sometimes is that I’ll come across a blog post that makes a semi (or very) sensational claim, without providing any links or details on where exactly this information came from. It just appeared out of thin air and because I posted it to my blog it must be true. Give me some way to find out more and follow up. If I don’t have an easy way to follow up or verify your claim I’m much more likely to disregard it and add a few more points to your “likes to be over the top” score.
This isn’t a problem limited to blogs of course, that just happens to be the place I’m seeing it the most lately.
5 replies on “Providing References in Blog Posts”
I usually use the lack of information trail as an excuse to delete the blog from my RSS feed. There are SO many blogs out there. If a weblog can’t provide me with a link to the original concept, then there is no point reading them anymore.
If they are reporting on something unique and it turns out to be true, someone else will link to them and I’ll see it eventually.
If they can’t be bothered with providing sources, then they don’t deserve my limited time.
@Laura-
There are definitely some blogs that do post useful/interesting stuff from time to time but I don’t subscribe to for one reason or another. I’ll do that same thing you mentioned and just rely on others to link to the really interesting posts on those blogs.
The whole time I read this, I thought, “but where are the links in this?”
@Adam –
Yeah, I knew there had to be at least one smart alec out there 🙂
I completely agree. “multiple sources say” sends me up the wall. Laura has a great idea.