I'm confused about using direct quotes in Hubs

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   mary615posted 8 years ago

   I read a Hub where several direct quotes were included.  One came from a website, one came from a book.  One direct  quote was used in the "call out" section but no mention of who said it.
   I'm wondering if these quotes would be considered duplicate content? 
   I have always avoided using quotes for fear of getting a warning.

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   1. 82

      Faith Reaperposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Mary,
      
      Quotes are acceptable as they are just that ...quotes.  However, one should be mindful to use quotation marks and indicate who they are quoting.  If the author is unknown, then that should be indicated.  If one is quoting someone without using quotations, as written as if they wrote it, then that would not be right to do so in that instance.

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   2. 94

      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Mary,
      
      It looks like others have given good answers, but I'll just chime in and confirm that using quotes sparingly and with proper citation is perfectly ok. The one thing to be mindful of is that the majority of your Hub should be original material, so quotes should always only make up a small percentage of the total text.

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         mary615posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Christy.

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   chef-de-jourposted 8 years ago

   All quotes should be in quotation marks and the name of the person shown under or next to the quote. As to the number of quotes you can get away with, this is difficult to ascertain. I suggest using them sparingly and only in the right context.
   
   I did quote a letter at length in a hub about Anne Frank and was given a duplicate content flag. I therefore 'edited' the letter and cut the number of words down to a bare minimum but retained the meaning. The hub was then ok to be published.

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3. 74

   WriteAngledposted 8 years ago

   Long quotations can be put into an image so as not to trigger duplicate filters.
   
   I am more bothered by the seemingly standard practice on the web to use quotations and name the supposed originator of the the quoted material but not cite the actual source, i.e. book, journal, transcribed or broadcast speech, etc.
   
   To quote in this way is pretty well useless as there is no way to verify that the person named actually said or wrote those words. I have come across numerous examples of the same quotation being attributed to more than one person and equally numerous examples where I have not been able to find the original source of a quotation.
   
   Personally, I would love to see that sort of irresponsible quoting punished!

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      mary615posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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   mary615posted 8 years ago

   One direct quote used in the Hub was taken right out of a book is the one I was most concerned with.  The name of the book and the author were mentioned in the text, though.  Oh, well just to be safe, I will avoid using quotes.

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      RonElFranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Mary, there's no need to avoid quotes. I write a lot of historical hubs and use quotes all the time. Of my 70 hubs very few don't have quotes, and I have never had a problem. The key, I think, is the ratio of the amount of quoted material to the total text of the hub. If it's mostly quotes, then you'll probably be in trouble; but if there is a lot more original text than there are quotes, you should be fine.

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         mary615posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Ron.  I may get brave and try using quotes again.  Appreciate your thought on this .

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   samikanposted 8 years ago

   nice topic

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   tillsontitanposted 8 years ago

   It seems you have gotten the correct answer from others here.  I hope you won't avoid using quotes when they add to your hub!  Hugs.

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   1. 82

      mary615posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      When I wrote a Hub about my dog going blind, I found the most beautiful poem written by a person who was going through the same thing.  I really wanted to include that poem, but I decided against it.   I would have included the author's name.
      Now, if I edit the Hub to include it, it will go back through QAP, and that is kinda scary.

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