Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen | solitude.dk

Back in October I let out a lot of steam concerning reblogs and why they suck. My main problem was — and still is — with the fact that current reblogs copy content instead of referencing it.

The important part here is avoid creating a second permalink for the reblogged item. The permalink in the reblog should point to the original blog entry you're reblogging, not to a second permalink on your own server. Unless you're adding your own comments of course, but then you are no longer reblogging (so there is no problem). The permalinks should also be marked up semantically so that services can distinguish them from other links.

Following that line of thought you should not host comments or accept trackbacks to a reblog. Comments and trackbacks should go to the original blog post. You're referencing content stored somewhere else, you're not copying (if you are, you still suck). Just as we're doing on the list of videos at videoblogging.info.

This good way of doing a reblog can be applied in general to blogs or websites that collect content from more than one place. I have been thinking about embedding the photos from Scatter Joy in this blog. If I get around to doing that I will not copy the content from Scatter Joy. I will of course have to “copy” thumbnails and descriptions physically to this blog, but that's not the kind of copying I've been talking about. Each photo will not get it's own permalink on solitude.dk, the permalink will point directly to the Scatter Joy website. If (when) I get started on doing some more regular videoblogging I will most likely handle it in the same way by having the videos in a separate weblog, but still embedding them on the front page of solitude.dk, because I see this place as a portal to all of my activities (or I'd like to see it that way).