I'm new to blogging and still feeling my way around the courtesies and protocols of the genre. When I post an item I found somewhere else, I usually credit and link to the source where I encountered it — a figurative tip of the hat. Sometimes I dig deeper and link to the original source material, and sometimes to both ("hat tip [originator] via [mysource]"). These links are courteous to my comrades in the ether, and provide a richer experience for the reader. Traditional news organizations sometimes complain that the whole blog world is an endless exercise in ripping off their...