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Underground > Policy & Help >

Barbelith Linking Etiquette

12:06 / 23.12.02

Hello, I was wondering if I could get some opinions about this... have been busily working on the QG website, and being that the inspiration for the designs --and QG itself, really-- is Barbelith and I want to talk on the site about the inspiration/process for each of the designs... and I also have a section for distributing comics and zines made by Barbelithers... okay, that's the preamble.

*In blogging, is it pretty much accepted to link around at will?
*But also, are there special circumstances for Barbelith that I should be thinking about?

E.g., for the eponymous "No Kiss Kiss Bears For You, Queer Granny," I should like to say that grant brought this news item to the board with this hilarious title, and Fool drew the bears, and Perfect Tommy (doubting thomas that was) said that she needed a bun.

*Do you think it's pretty much accepted to refer to Barb ficsuits off board?
*Say I wanted to link via Fool's name to his website, which may exist under his RL name or other identity. Do you think I should ask for permission to link in such cases? Another such case would be Flyboy, who inspired "Music Saves Lives" and who keeps a blog and wrote his Shifter comic under his RL name.

Also e.g., for the comics and zines, most of these are going to be published under people's RL names. So RL names would be used. But then what about ficsuit names, some people might not like to be the two to be connected...

Would be grateful if you all could talk this out a bit, help me work this out...

16:01 / 23.12.02

I'm not sure you're asking about linking as much as about referring to people by username and by meatname. Is that right?

If "UserX" has linked to an image on here that they drew and signed "Josephine Blodko," then I think linking to that same image with the credit to "UserX" would be fair game, but referring continually to "UserX" as "Josephine Blodko" in descriptions and other references wouldn't be right.

In my case (and a few other cases, like Ganesh), my username here is the same in almost all of my internet dealings (in my case, it's also my meatspace first name, but Ganesh is known to his patients as Dr. Xxxx. [There, the secret's out. Sorry, Ganesh.]) So I think if you're referring to something done online that you came to via a Barbelith name, it's right to refer to that person's Barbelith name in discussion of it.

In the case of linking to someone's site that's done under a different name, though, it'd be a good idea to ask permission before "outing" multiple names.

Miss Manners, why aren't you cybernetic??

17:23 / 23.12.02

I'm not sure you're asking about linking as much as about referring to people by username and by meatname. Is that right?

Both, because seriously for my other website I am having to ask *everybody* for permission to link --including TicketMaster, which is no skin off my nose; but somebody please just tell me that it's not really necessary to ask TicketMaster if it's okay with them to help them in their plans for world domination?

So does the below sound right?

Not requiring permission:
*linking to another site from your site, but only referring to persons by the names that they use for themselves on this linked site

*referring to persons by Barbelith ficsuit in text on your site--no links, except perhaps to Barbelith itself

*referring to persons by RL name in text on your site--no links

Requiring permission:
*anything that "crosses the beams" w/r/t multiple identities--either in text or via linking

But I think that you couldn't be responsible for second or third degrees of separation --e.g., I wouldn't anyone to refer to me on the board by my RL name, but in reality anyone at this point could connect up all my identities in about 20 seconds?

17:25 / 23.12.02

Man, the trouble I spare myself by refusing to be more than one person...

The Return Of Rothkoid

20:51 / 23.12.02

but Ganesh is known to his patients as Dr. Xxxx.
Ganesh is a porn doctor?

Persephone: I think the "asking to link" thing, as far as it pertains to companies is spurious toy-chucking on their part, really - while I don't have the links to hand, I remember someone last year... whose name has maddeningly escaped me - that got a cease-and-desist-linking letter from an accountancy firm. So he just threw them into the copy every second word, and kept on truckin'. No further action happened. As far as companies go, as long as you're not being negative about them, or linking McDonald's with a FUCKING ANIMAL KILLING SCUM WHO RAPE OUR PLANET, THE CLOWNISH BASTARDS! selection of words, they should be all right with it. I've had companies mail me to say my blog was pointing to the wrong part of their site, when I've been aiming for particular pages, so I think it's a very grey area.

As for posters, I think asking is best, mebbe?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:59 / 24.12.02

I think asking probably helps you avoid even worrying about it, though I'd say your suggested list of "rules" seems sensible.

And Rothkoid- doncha know nuttin'? Dr Xxxx is no porn doctor... he's a FUCKING SUPERVILLAIN!!! (either that or Vin Diesel. Or maybe Asia Argento. But with an extra "x".)

Matthew Fluxington

17:42 / 24.12.02

Tricky topic - I think it depends greatly on your relationship to the person, and if you know them well enough to know that if they want their real name known. In my experience, I exclusively use fictionsuit names on Barbelith, and on my blog I use real names if they happen to be good friends and I know they wouldn't care.

I honestly don't care if people here know if my name is Matthew, particularly since it takes a minimal amount of effort for most anyone here to find that out just by visiting my blog. I would discourage people from using my real name here, if just to keep confusion to a minimum. I noticed recently a thread in which someone refers to Flyboy as Joe, and someone ended up asking "um, who's 'Joe'?". We should avoid that sort of thing, for sure.

19:56 / 26.12.02

Hey thanks, that's cleared up.

Regrettable Juvenilia

17:31 / 01.01.03

We should avoid that sort of thing, for sure.

In every case except ones in which Girls Aloud are mentioned!

No, but seriously - it's tricky, and I'm going to speak from personal experience here cos someone already mentioned it and not cos I'm hopelessly solipsistic or anything... In my case, my blog has my 'real' name on it, but the URL says 'flyboy' and I still intend to carry on using the name here - I've already linked to the comics from here, using this name, and in fact even before that there was the 'Rap is Gay' piece on the zine which had my birth name on it (as it tends to with Barbelites). Um, anyway the point is, I am now reconciled to having a fairly transparent identity here, even though it is potentially problematic (ie, you can find me & my posts here really easily if you're my dad, or anyone else...). The biggest impact it probably makes is that I'm less inclined to say things I really don't mean here, although actually, I'm quite happy to adopt ridiculous rhetorical positions in person so it's not that important...

The point, I think, reaching for it, is that if people are making no effort at all to keep two names separate - like say if Warren Ellis was posting here under another name but referring to his comics as his own - then you don't really need to worry about it... However, if you do know people well enough to feel a responsibility but aren't sure, it's probably best to ask...

Matthew Fluxington

21:59 / 01.01.03

In every case except ones in which Girls Aloud are mentioned!

Whoops!