(Amended entry)
There are a number of websites out there like ProZ and Translators Cafe that offer a meeting place for translators. Most of them have two main features of interest: an exchange between translators on questions of translation and business practice, and a job search function.
I noticed yesterday that one such site, Language Forum free translation, has a page listing a large number of recent articles from language weblogs, all posted by a ‘Senior Member’ called rssbot, and it appeared to me that registered and logged-in members could post reactions. In particular, an entry of mine on machine translation had a comment by one tupac, saying he had found something wonderful called Babelfish but misspelling it. You clicked on a title, were then taken to a page where you could make comments, and thence you could click a link to go to the original weblog.
The site describes itself as non-commercial but it obviously increases traffic to its owner(s) – in a similar way to the Belgian site that recently borrowed German blawgs. The site is run by Bernhard Huber.
Actually, at a higher level, the blogs come under this heading:
bq. The news from related translation sites
The last news and other stuff, from other language and translation sites. Les dernières nouvelles et d’autres choses d’autres sites de traduction. –Automatic RSS indexation, the forum is not responsable of the content of this pages–
bq. Misc. , Divers (6 Viewing)
News from various sites about translation and linguistic, nouvelles de sites de traduction et linguistique divers
Sub-Forums: nakedtranslations, Spanish<>English Translators, Xlation Blog, Les coups de langue de la grande rousse, BlogLatin, How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons, Language Log, Language hat, Logomacy, Lagomduktig
Anyway, I’m pleased to report that Transblawg was removed immediately I wrote to ask for it to be removed. Apparently comments are not allowed, but still, I don’t want my feed exploited on other sites, and the risk of comment somewhere in a forum there would mean I’d feel obliged to keep an eye on it.
I found the site by accident, although the owner had actually written to me in September to ask for a link.
A similar situation arose recently when a Belgian website called Izynews was providing feeds of German legal weblogs. There were discussions on a number of blawgs, for instance Udo and Clemens (in German). The latter refers to ways that work at present to stop RSS feeds from being incorporated against the owner’s will:
bq. Wer Perlen vor die Säue wirft, wird schon wissen, was er tut und muss damit leben.
bq. Ist es ihm nicht gleich, muss er auf Mittel zurückgreifen, die Nutzung per RSS/Atom einzuschränken: entweder mit eigenen technischen Mitteln, oder in kollektiver Arbeit, worauf die Argumentation von Die wunderbare Welt von Isotopp hinausläuft.
bq. Insofern scheint mir konsequent, dass ich Frames sprenge, die GALJ einbinden, Denials auf bestimmte Referrer und User Agents, die den Inhalt so klauen, dass der Leser die Herkunft nicht mehr erkennen kann, setze oder einen Original nur bei recht.us/amrecht-Popup einsetze.
Hello, I would like to precise, that exclusivly, last posts beginning were displayed, and exclusivly content provided by the RSS feed. Nothing was leeched or so. That is actually the target of an RSS Feed.
Thanks
Regarding Izynews, I must add that Izynews itself is providing a service to its users, mainly to read RSS feeds with their email client via IMAP. There are a couple of RSS reader add-ons that were designed for email clients, but mostly for Outlook. Those who don’t use Outlook and would like to use it for RSS feeds have to rely on a service like Izynews. The problem arose when Izynews started charging fees to their readers. There was a basic set of feeds that were free, but as soon as the user wanted more he had to pay a per-feed-fee. This is when some of the blog owners you mentioned started “banning” Izynews from their sites. I for one see it differently. I am sure that Izynews users are aware that what they are subscribing to is not an Izynews “channel” but someone else’s RSS feed, and they are provided with a link to this feed. Furthermore, if those users decide to pay for a service they are free to do so, IMHO. Just my 2c.
Displaying full feeds in a forum and offering local comment functions essentially forces the author to respond to comments both at the original blog and at any and all fora that live on full feeds – an untenable situation. All parties lose: Commenters at the fora do not get the benefit of author responses. Authors do not receive the feedback that stimulates the blog. The fora lose readers when the readers realize that the core discussion takes place elsewhere–the original blog or a more lively forum.
At a minimum, the fora should offer the visitors to participate in the discussion at the original site, by linking to its comment function, in addition to linking to the blog.
These views leave aside the legal aspects. At this time, practicalities and courtesies seem better designed to move the intellectual space forward than the harsh law which deals in bans and penalties. From that perspective, Bernhard’s prompt removal of Margaret’s feed seems respectful and appropriate.
@Sonja: I take your point, but I do have problems with the use of my feed. We will just have to see how newsfeeds develop in future. I use clear headlines so anyone using my feed need not call up the full article if they’re not interested. I don’t mind other bloggers and others copying my articles if they attribute them to me. But I don’t really want my feed associated with a big translation site of the type I mentioned. Some are better than others, but all of them are mixed in quality by their very nature. If my blog appears with its title in any form except a link, in this case as a ‘Forum’, it looks as if I were an active part of the site.
There’s the interface with commerce too – even if non-commercial, a site may acquire fame and its owner get the indirect advantages that come from running a popular website, on the basis of my material! I suppose that’s a less serious complaint.
What you say about Izynews and how its users see it may well be right – I haven’t looked into it in any depth.
Incidentally, I’m in Jurablogs and it’s good. It may reduce the numbers of visitors to my site, or it may increase them, since I’m not really a law blog.
@ck: Yes, Bernhard did indeed remove it very promptly indeed. And he probably didn’t have any idea how I would see his use of my feed.