When I'm not actively writing my books, I spend a lot of time looking at articles. Whether I am looking to curate for @asapers, @thedailysneak or just looking for bloggers to promote in my entry for the @pifc (Pay it Forward Curation contest), I am often looking for good articles.
This is also the time when I'm most likely to end up passing a tip off to @steemcleaners or @steemflagrewards instead.
That's because people who abuse the system are actively pitted against the people I'm trying to curate.
Here is a bit of what I'm looking for
Original work
This is a MUST! Long bits of text I will be putting through one of the plagiarism checkers. (I have even been known to right-click translate first and then find plagiarism!)
Short (and sourced) quotes are completely fine, but make sure it's only an accent to your work and not the bulk of it. For example, in my recent TMJ article, I quoted several bits of text for authenticity sake - symptoms from the Mayo Clinic, for example.
Sourced (and free) images are also acceptable provided that's not the only point of your post. It's not reasonable to expect to profit from someone else's work without you putting some decent effort into it yourself... which takes me right to the next main point today...
Added value
I'm not going to be curating a single photograph with your exit data. Sure, the exit data tells me that it's probably your own work (great!) but why did you post it? What do you want me to know about it? At the very least, tell me what it is and where you took the image! I might want to be able to visit your location and look for the object myself!
If you want me to curate you - a single photograph had better be accompanied by a decent article. (I admit that even my own photo posts aren't always up to the standard I have set to curate - but then, I'm looking for the best out there, not just "good enough" - which is sometimes all I can manage if it's been a long week.) Half a dozen photos would be best, with text about them.
Adding value is even more important if you're using other people's work in your post.
My music forays are a case in point here. Obviously, the music isn't mine, but I've taken several different pieces and compared/contrasted them - adding value and hopefully introducing you to some new pieces of music. Furthermore, it is my hope that in featuring these pieces, I'm driving a few more views to the artists who posted the videos. (I do take care to always use the original link, whenever possible, so it's the artist/presenter who gets the click value.)
This takes me right along to my next point...
Sources!!!
I have lost track of how many times I've looked at an excellent post only to find they haven't sourced their images or (worse) it's clearly not a free image. I won't curate those, sorry.
If you use anything that doesn't belong to you, share the source! Doing anything else puts you at risk of being flagged - or worse, if the original copyright holder finds you and has power behind them.
Generally speaking, this means your images should be sourced from free-to-use photo places such as Pixabay, Pixels, PXhere - there are many of them. Sometimes, Flicker has them, Wikipedia Commons has them too, but be sure to read the fine print to make sure you're actually allowed to use it.
For limited, educational purposes, you might risk another site. I had to use WebMD for my TMJ picture. I could not find a genuinely free image for this, but needed it for educational purposes - so I decided to take a calculated risk and use one image from WebMD - a large site who is also educational in nature. Now, if I had used all their slideshow images, I could easily have a problem, but I used just the one required, sourced it and expressed that it was for educational purposes.
Still, I wouldn't use someone's personal blog for an image without specific permission from the blogger.
BTW, listen closely: Google is not a source!!! Google only shows other people's images so that others can find them - they are not the source of the images!
(Another note: It's not really okay to use Alamo or other stock pictures where the watermark is still across them - i.e. you haven't paid. True, steemcleaners won't hit you for it, but you are still in violation of the terms of use from the stock picture company.)
How to source an image or link - It's easy to write up your sources for Steem. Follow the following formula (but omit the spaces.)
[ source ] ( url )
Next time...
I do plan to write up another two articles, I think... on this theme. One on the top ten things that will cause me to skip your article. The other on my top five or ten types of posts I like to curate! Keep on Steeming!
Lori Svensen – A'mara Books & Viking Visual
Banner by @shai-hulud
