What is the legality of posting hubs consisting of just quotes from other people

1. 88

   Kathleen Odenthalposted 9 years ago

   What is the legality of posting hubs consisting of just quotes from other people?
   
   It seems like I see more and more of these popping up, and I just wanted to know if it was a.) legal, and b.) a good idea as a professional writer. Thoughts?

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2. 61

   Lea Childposted 9 years ago

   a) I believe it is legal as long as appropriate citation is given and the person isn't claiming the quote as their own.
   
   b) I'm not sure if it is the best idea for a professional writer. If the hubs are 100% quotes then the only thing the writer is demonstrating is that they can collect information. However, if they are using the quotes to make a point or write a longer, meaningful hub then I believe they can be a very useful tool.

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3. 88

   Kathleen Odenthalposted 9 years ago

   That was my thinking, yet some of these hubs do well. I guess this is writing in 2014....

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4. 0

   temptor94posted 9 years ago

   They are legal as long as due credit is given to the sources. I wouldn't call it good for professional writing if the entire hub consists of quotes and nothing else. Citing a famous quotation and then analyzing that through a hub is fine. But let's say, a hub has top 100 famous quotes on love, now that's not good writing. It's a good collection of quotes.

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5. 45

   Ericdierkerposted 9 years ago

   Believe it or Not!! Quotes do not have to be attributed. (you see you can write what I just wrote and either put it in quotation marks or not) Attribution and quotation marks simply mean that you are not claiming it for yourself. But check this out: "Believe it or Not!!  Quotes do not have to be attributed" (ed 2014); looks better and carries more weight even though we see the apparent authority is full of ..it.
   A hard researched collection of quotations attributed is really a pleasure to read, for me.
   I write whole hubs with nothing but quotes and they do well for me. All the quotes are mine. But on some I attribute them to me. And I put a bogus copyright notice at the end -- but that is just for word count because it means nothing really ;-)

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6. 0

   sheilamyersposted 9 years ago

   My opinion is the same as most of the other responders.
   
   Although it is legal to write a hub which is all quotes as long as you properly attribute them to the author, it's not a good idea to create a bunch of hubs which contain nothing more than quotes if you want to viewed as a professional writer. Professional writers - the one's who aren't hacks - create their own ideas and write using their own words. If you want to do something like this, I'd suggest using them as a basis for something more meaningful. For example, list the ten best lines from science fiction movies, but tell the people why you think they're the best.

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