There's a thing called Postel's Law that states "Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send." The idea is that when we design systems we should expect and plan for variable (and sometimes plain wrong) input while at the same time being as stringent as possible when sending output. I take this to be Alan Levine's expression of the same principle when it comes to attributions: "We do not need mechanisms to deliver gratitude, we ought to make it our regular action. Putting aside expectations allows the serendipity of receiving unsolicited thanks much more powerful." So - similarly - I don't expect people to fall over themselves expressing gratitude. The idea - or the art - is what matters. At the same time, when I get something from someone, I typically use a 'via' attribution, so people know where I got it. And it's for the same reason as Alan Levine - I want to give people a route they can travel through to maybe get some serendipity. Following links is the soul of the web; being conservative on the web means being liberal with attributions.
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