A big hello from Austin. I’m here at the Netroots Nation Bloggers’ Convention, and I just saw a panel featuring netroots heroes Laura Packard, Chris Bowers, Brian Keeler, and Steve Olson. Now I’m watching a lively conversation between Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas and DLC Chair Harold Ford, Jr. I’ll have more later, including coverage of Robin Carnahan’s panel. (You can watch footage on the Netroots Nation website.)

Right now, let’s get a little meta here. I really appreciate candidates, supporters of candidates, and general readers posting diaries here. It shows that you care enough about the other readers of the blog to try to provide some relevant information to everyone here.

But you have to respect two things, the first of which is your information sources. It’s fine to reference an article from a newspaper or other source, putting a key quote in a larger context of your own point of view. It is NOT OK to post full articles from a newspaper, blog, or other website on this blog. It’s wrong, it’s a violation of copyright laws, and I will delete the offending text as soon as I see it. If you persist, I will ban you from the website. I work hard on my posts, and I don’t want to see them reposted in full without on other websites. I expect the same courtesy extended to any other author, whether it’s a journalist, fellow blogger, or whoever.

As an alternative to reposting news articles or other content, try offering your own take on the story, and selectively quote the article to support what you have to say. (By quote, I mean only a sentence or two – no more than a short paragraph.) Here’s a good example.

One more problem I’m seeing. I’ve seen several press releases posted from campaigns and candidate supporters. That’s fine and all, but blogs are a place where you can carry on a conversation with readers. When you post a press release on a blog, you’re talking AT people, not inviting a two-way communication. I’m not going to delete such diaries, but I don’t think they do much for the candidate.