A previously unexpected benefit of my new database / layout / etc. here at WIST has come to my attention. I can see, if I Google around a bit, various folks who have wholesale copy-pasted huge swathes of the previous version of WIST pages to their own quote pages. (It's not quite spotted by the same trick as dictionary publishers who put in false words -- but it's related, if uintentional.)

Now, I don't mind sharing the wealth. By the very nature of a quotations database, that would be silly. And heaven knows I've garnered quotes from a lot of places, online and off.

But ... there's a reason I have a Creative Commons "By" license off in the margin. If you copy stuff from here -- especially big chunks o' stuff -- I do ask and expect some sort of attribution or link-back or hat-tip. Because the work I've put into gathering this info is a lot more than just copying and pasting stuff. I've spent a lot of time sourcing material, updating it, arranging it, etc. A few props wouldn't be out of line.

And, at any rate, that sort of mass copying won't be as feasible. Previous iterations of WIST had whole letters of the alphabet's authors, with their quotes, on a page. Now only a given author's quote are on a page, and each one has the author citation at the page top. So someone who wants to borrow something has to do a little bit of work to do so. That's not intended to discourage finding and using quotations that you like -- but it's a nice unintended consequence that many, many hours or work cannot be simply copied with a single swipe of the mouse and a few clicks.