Ask Permission, Credit Your Sources

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Long time visitors to my web site probably already know that when I post information and images on my website or blog, I always try to do two things.

  • Ask permission to post any proprietary/private information or images
  • Credit the source (as long as the source doesn’t desire anonymity)

    • There are many reasons for this approach and I’ll list them here in no particular order.

  • Asking permission is easy
  • I have never been turned down, though a museum once asked for a couple of hundred dollars for use of an image (I found an alternate source)
  • Adding credit is easy
  • People deserve credit for their efforts
  • Doing the “right” thing makes me feel good
  • Even a tiny piece of the historical record, needs source of facts documented
  • People are more likely to help you in the future, if you credit them in the present

    • Over the years, I have freely shared virtually all the information I have gleaned over the years about the many topics that I have investigated, from Tropical Fish to Vintage Computers. About the only time I withhold information, is if I think the data might reflect badly upon a living person, and would serve no other useful purpose.

    There have been several cases where I found weaknesses or bugs in the systems I have replicated. I have always published my findings, though in a couple of cases, it probably wasn’t necessary and I considered holding back. One example, is when I found a couple minor discrepancies between my rev 0 replica and the real thing. In the end, I decided to publish, even though it might reflect poorly upon my replication efforts.

    There have been a number of instances over the years where discoveries or information that I published on my web site has been used by others without giving proper credit. Most of the time, these cases are minor, and not worth bothering about. An recent example is when someone hijacked an image of Mimeo to use as an iPod cover. That “case” amused me more than anything, because there were plently of legit Apple 1 images that could have been hijacked, instead. A couple of recent cases involving a couple of different people have disturbed me a bit more than normal, which is prompting me to write this “editorial”.

    The bottom line is: ask permission and credit your sources. You’ll be amazed how a little bit of common courtesy will be paid back in a thousand ways.