copy&paste vs links

Every form of social media - including forums like this one - contains "news feeds" these days** - sometimes with an opinion piece in the form of commentary, sometimes just with a heading and a link.

I think it is down to individual tastes which version people prefer for getting their news and there is no way of settling on a certain style, unless GNHQ makes it a rule.

At the moment I am super bored with clicking on links (especially if they load very slowly) and marginally less bored with reading opinion pieces. Speaking generally!

**Unless it's a word game or a discussion on how best to clean an oven!

Hear, hear!

Quantity of posted links is usually in inverse proportion their value.

I think that providing an interesting snippet from a link then adding a link to the whole article is quite a good idea - people can read the snippet then decide if they want to follow it up and read more - or not.

(she would say that, wouldn't she!)

Yes I agree,Maryeliza, horses for courses as they say, maybe we need a rating system ( think I may have said before]
Something on the lines of : Not for the faint hearted.
Some knowledge required. Post at your peril . Etc etc , perhaps then we would all be a bit nicer to each other .?

* Bridgeit* You seems to be confusing your opinion on how you’d like a thread to go with how we all would like a thread to go. Some of us like links that provide facts ( as in the truth with an evidence base) to opinions based on nothing much at all.Fine for a thread on favourite pizzas or nice places to go on holiday but on some threads facts and evidence can be rather useful in helping to formulate an educated view.

I agree that hundreds of posted links may do that, but posts that seem long and not worth reading can be bypassed and on to the next posted comment.
Or, can be read in their entirety and then commented on as all can read them, whereas in a link it’s not obvious to the casual browser of the thread (what exactly is in the link.)

Lemongrove , No topic remains interactive, interesting & free flowing if there are too many posted links etc, folks like to interact with their own opinions & share, learn etc from each other.

Hmm, I frequent a few forums where c&p’ing the whole or majority of an article will get the thread nuked for possible copyright issues.

I have the habit of posting links; it also means later posters don’t have to ask for sources/citations for your information.

Yeah, right!

Stop stirring the pot lemongrove. This has nothing to do with any specific contributor or with Brexit.

What this thread has actually been started for is to further put off Allygran from cutting and pasting articles, as comments have been made to her about this subject (Brexit) from the thread police!
I feel that had Allygran been agreeing with Remainer stance her posts would be greeted with enthusiasm by all.
I hardly ever click on links, but will start reading a long post and if interested keep reading, if not, stop reading and move on.
I do wish bossy posters would stop telling others how to post their thoughts/facts/opinions.

I like a link with a brief explanation of what it is about which then allows me to choose whether to read it all or not.

The “queen of links” DJ used to deluge us with them and sadly I often found there was too much to plough through.
A précis would have been helpful.

A relevant snippet followed by a link to the article should be sufficient.

At one point I had cut and pasted small but relevant paragraphs together with the source, but was requested to put the link in too, so now I try to do that.

oh yes crystaltipps agree wholeheartedly! An opinion, backed up with a link if the cut and paste would be lengthy. Don't mind long posts though, sometimes difficult situations cannot be explained succinctly, but reams of cut and paste does my head in, as the young things say, and I don't even skim read it, just scroll on past. Likewise, a neat italicised copy of what another poster has said, to either agree or disagree with them is good, and can help to keep the thread going, but when it is line after line of he said.....she said......I lose interest.

crystaltipps me too.
That's why I started this thread - I feel as if I'm drowning when I see those almost page-long quotes.

I like to include a pertinent quote from whatever I'm posting a link to so that people can get a taster and decide if they want to follow it or not.

I don't mind the odd long cut and paste so long as it is easy to see what is c & p and what is the poster's own thoughts. But only occasional ones, not a whole succession of them.

It's a formatting problem for me in some cases...

A couple of threads have been ground to a halt by lengthy uninteresting cut n paste. Adds zilch to any meaningful discussion. I doubt whether anyone reads the whole tract. I loose the the will to live when one of these appears.

I honestly can’t be bothered to read huge cut n paste posts.

A few lines to explain the poster’s point of view, with perhaps a short quote, then the link so that we know it’s from a trusted source and we can choose to read the link to give us more in depth detail if we want to.

Ohhps meant to say Back up

Yes good point Monica a back to an opinion is far better than a posted lengthy article.

The link should be subservient to the preceding text.

I guesss as I’m interested in opinions, I prefer a post that relates to the topic in a personal interpretation way, rather than a board meeting decision making way, if you know what I mean. I guess some topics are about facts,some about emotion, most are a mixture of both.

I think it depends on how long the quote is going to be, a few lines copy and paste I think is fine, but a whole article I would prefer a link.