Mar 25, 2014 / Blogging Etiquette

Reexamining the Reblog

A reblog of one of your posts: a compliment or an act of theft? Here, we discuss the process of reblogging.

The last time we discussed reblogging, your opinions in the comments were mixed: some of you felt that reblogging was a great compliment, and others felt that it was something akin to theft.

We here at The Daily Post love a good etiquette debate, so let’s wade back in, shall we?

Many of you mentioned being bothered by your content appearing on blogs consisting entirely of reblogs, with no apparent connecting theme and no original commentary at all.

No wonder! It’s true that some of the most famous blogs are essentially carefully curated aggregators, but they are still infused with the blogger’s personality. They have an easily identifiable “About” page, and their links are collected along the lines of the blogger’s specific interests, so it’s obvious these blogs are written by a person. Good curators typically also include at least a few comments on why each post was shared.

Blogs consisting of nothing but reblogs without any obvious real person behind them make people feel they’ve been used for spam. But just because these annoying blogs exist doesn’t mean reblogging is all bad!

C.T. Murphy makes some excellent points in his post, “Why I Reblog.” He likes reblogging because, as he explains:

. . . I read more broadly than I write. I love blogging and the community I have been a part of for the variety of topics. I have the voracity to match. That’s why I read wide and often; that’s why I try to share my own comments and opinions. Every time a blogger clicks publish, they are putting themselves out there. If the post is good enough, then I want to make sure they can feel confident enough to write another.

But he does admit that it’s unfortunate when his readers’ comments and likes appear below his reblog, rather than on the original post. He comes up with a considerate and elegant solution to this:

That’s why, effective immediately, all reblogs will have comments and likes turned off. I’ll make sure to post a direct link to my comment in case anyone wants to reply to me directly, but I ask of you to do so at the original source. That way I can better guarantee people will click since that’s the most important part of the post.

I think that’s a wonderful gesture to better ensure that the writers you admire are benefitting when you reblog their content. You can turn off comments for individual posts and can also disable likes on a per-post basis.

Some other good tips to keep in mind:

  • Don’t reblog without comment — add your own thoughts! If others see their work appear on your blog without any mention of what spoke to you about it, they’re likely to wonder why you’ve reposted what they’ve written at all. Adding your own thoughts makes a reblog a meaningful contribution to a cross-blog conversation.
  • Pay attention to sidebar warnings. Some bloggers don’t want their content reblogged and say as much in their sidebars. Others have specific requests on their front pages as to how and when they like their content to be shared. If you want to reblog another blogger’s post, it takes only a second to check their site for such information.
  • Pay attention to context. Is the post you want to share about a very sensitive or personal topic? Does the blog itself appear to be mostly personal in nature (for example, does it have share buttons and/or comments turned off)? If so, it might be a good idea to check with the blogger before you share their post.
  • Check that your reblog appears correctly. The WordPress.com reblogging feature is designed to display an excerpt of the original post and clear attribution with a link back to the source. Double-check all your reblogs to make sure that the link back to the source is obvious, and that the entire original post does not appear (this can occasionally happen if the post is very short).
  • If in doubt, ask. While it’s not necessary to get permission each time you reblog someone’s work, it never hurts to do so. This way, you can be 100% certain you’re not stepping on anyone’s feelings.
  • Respect the wishes of other bloggers. Should someone contact you and ask you to remove their content from your site, take it down promptly and confirm with them that you’ve done so.

We should all remember that anything we post on a public blog, we share with the entire world wide web. Keep in mind that even if your blog is read only by your closest friends, if it’s public, the words and photographs on it can be picked up, shared, commented on, promoted, and dissected by everyone from your neighbor to CNN. Because of this, you should never post anything publicly that you would be devastated to find was being shared by someone you don’t know.

If your content is too personal for sharing, consider setting your blog to private so that you can control who’s able to read it.

When it comes to reblogging the work of others, it’s good to recognize that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Most bloggers love to have their work shared far and wide, as long as they are credited. If you run across one of the more private bloggers who doesn’t warm to this type of attention, respect their feelings about it, and show your appreciation through a like and a comment on their own blog instead.

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  1. I’m fairly new to blogging and was supremely flattered when I realized someone had reblogged a post of mine on their blog. I went to their reblog and thanked them. Two days later, the reblog was gone. Poof! I thought nothing of it until it happened a second time. Kinda made me wonder if people reblog just to attract traffic from other blogs and then remove posts when nobody’s looking!

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  2. Someone reblogged my post recently and while I appreciated it and considered it a compliment, it just didn’t look good on their site. My blog images are only 500px wide and I think their blog enlarged them slightly causing them to look blurry. I doubt anyone would be enticed to visit my blog after seeing blurry pictures. For that reason I would prefer a link to my blog.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Although I do not personally mind if someone reblogs my posts when I am credited, I can understand why some individuals may consider it a theft. I also prefer if the reblog has a comment, since that helps me understand why someone else enjoyed the blog post. I’ve only reblogged once, and I personally didn’t like the impact on my blog, but I think that as long as the other person is writing their own blog posts as well, it isn’t really a problem.

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  5. @Elizabeth
    Oh the irony. I see two approved pingbacks on this article. The first pingback is from my own post and the second pingback is from a blog scraper site full of stolen content. I’m reporting the site to Google as a spam site. Hopefully you will do the same and unapprove the scraper blog pingback.

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  6. Thank you for this information. I am a new blogger and was wondering what the acceptable etiquette is regarding reblogging or sharing others work on your own sight. This was helpful.

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  7. Great post and thanks for sharing. I’m a fan of the reblog if it brings more viewers to my work. 🙂 now if I could only get more people to reblog my images!

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  10. I think theft is going really, really far as a term for something that actually gives credit to the original poster and sends visitors to the original site. I’ve found many cool blogs through other folks’ reblogs, and some people have found me because I’ve been reblogged by others.

    In an age where all anybody has to do to “steal” your blog content or photos is right click and then copy and paste, this is a good tool for keeping reposting fair to the OP.

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  11. There is a really simple solution: just take the reblog option out of reader. People that legitimately liked the post, and want to reblog it in order to interact, ect. as described above, would only have to click to the post and reblog from the actually blog. But if the individual blog did not want to be reblogged, and had turned it off, then a person could still link to the post and interact. But it would solve the scraper blog problem. With one simple change, you could keep everyone happy…those that like reblog and those that don’t.

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  12. I’ve only been reblogged once and I have to say that I don’t like it. I think people should write their own content, and if they want to share someone else’s, they should just link to it when they write about it. I’m no SEO hog or anything like that, but my content is mine, and whatever traffic my writing gets should go to MY site, not someone else’s.

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  14. Reblogs provide an opportunity for a post to be seen by others who may not have been chanced to see perhaps by not having access to such blogs. It should however recognize the original blogger

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Great ideas. As a professional writer, I am very conscious of plagiarism – even in part. I rarely re-blog but when I do, I write an intro to add my own thoughts and make sure that I specifically mention the blog. Something along the lines of:

    A few weeks ago I discussed XXX and I came across this interesting analysis on XXX blog. This person presents a contrast to / backs up my views on the subject.

    I also make sure that I comment on the original article and look to discuss it with the writer.

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  16. I believe the re-blogging ettiquette of turning off comments and likes and direct them to the original writer should be encouraged. Especially in blogging sites like tumblr.com where there is a mass of reblogging without a thought of giving credit to the original writer or source most of the time.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. I’ve reblogged a couple of times, and I’ve been thanked by each blogger for doing so. I always comment on the reblog before I do it. I don’t actually like to reblog too often, since I really would rather be posting my original content. However, I’m not going to get terribly upset if anyone reblogs my content, since it’s a public blog and the subject matter is not terribly personal.

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  21. I find it a tad ironic that my reblog of this post is still waiting moderation. All points raised in my reblog are legitimate concerns, some have also been expressed by other community members in this thread. Thanks for listening.

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  22. Being quite fresh and green to the blogging world, I don’t understand the point of reblogging. Couldn’t you just post a link to the person’s original blog?

    And the idea of my photos automatically going into someone else’s library is just wrong on so many levels. I was debating for a long time about putting a watermark on photos, read a few articles and decided to do it if only for the reason someone liked them and knew where to find more – sharing the love, not stealing it 😛

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