When it comes to writing/blogging, I try my best to follow the golden rule for the Simplified Bible:
However, recent events regarding my recent and popular editorial on Kadokawa Pictures have forced me to do what I didn’t want to do and I’ll get to that. It seems that Robert Brown of Robert’s Anime Corner Store took a liking to the editorial and reposted the complete editorial in his email newsletter, without so much as citing the original source or even giving me the heads up. I sent him a note on Facebook politely asking him to properly cite the editorial and the exchange follows below:
Hey Robert,
This is Humberto Saabedra from AnimeNews.biz and Crunchyroll News.
I wanted to thank you for reposting my editorial regarding Kadokawa’s recent behavior on Blu-Ray releases in your newsletter, but I did want to bring up the issue of citation, as you reposted the entire editorial without sourcing/linking back to the original post.
If you ever plan to cite any of my work again, please do so by linking back properly, or better yet, ask me for permission before doing so. This way, people know where it actually came from. Yes, I do handle news for Crunchyroll, but I also handle news for my own site and there is a clear difference between both sites.
I don’t want people to think that Crunchyroll actually condones the editorial, which is why I originally wrote the piece on my site instead of pitching it to Crunchyroll.
Thanks again.
2 hours ago
Appreciate the note Humberto. I did cite the source of the article in the the post, which was taken from another Anime forum and not directly from your site. I usually only include links when I think there is more relavant info in the link back. Not too concerned about what Crunchyroll thinks about anything.
Thanks!
He also wrote this on his side blog:
Good grief, Humberto Saabedra wrote me, via FB of all places (rather than sending me a personal e-mail for some reason – ahhhh you kids and your social networking…) and very nicely requested that if I’m going to use the text of his statement on my blog, he would appreciate a ‘proper’ citation including a link back to his site. Well, here is your link Humberto. FYI, I’m not much for asking anyone’s permission about anything. I did cite you in the article however (twice), and in the future I would suggest that you not worry so much about etiquette of usage when someone is talking you up and giving you a little free publicity. Especially when I do it. Nuff said.
Now, at this point I can only conclude that Robert was being lazy and rather than put effort into properly citing things the first time around, would much rather carry on rather than make the necessary corrections. I chose to message him on Facebook rather than use his storefront’s Customer Service email, since I figured this didn’t have anything to do with his store. It doesn’t take much work to cite a website and point people to the original source. To add insult to injury, he also reposted the editorial on his side blog, once again without linking back to the original source until earlier today. Unfortunately, this also means that he will do the same thing to someone else if given the opportunity, so I’d like to ask your help in hitting him where it hurts. Instead of shopping at his online store, shop at these places instead for anime and figures. I’m throwing in my affiliate links because that way I can continue to write more editorials.
Storefronts that Aren’t Run By Dicks:
Thanks for reading and if possible, please post this wherever you can. It would be a big help.
