HOW TO - Posting links to external stories or news items

We often discover items of news or interest elsewhere on the net which we want to share on here, or to ask questions about.

Unfortunately many of the stories or snippets of information on those links disappear from the internet very quickly.

This has become particularly noticable when following old news stories during some housekeeping sweeps through the forum. This is particularly true of local or regional news sites, but applies equally to ebay, rightmove, zoopla, blogs, personal websites etc.

There is also a particular tendency to just post a link to a news site story with no or little explanation like

regionalnewssite.co.uk/sale-of-raf-somew...other-falls-through/

which may be pertinent at the time, does not stand the test of time.

From the point of view of the forum, clicking the link takes you away, which is bad enough, but criticaly it means that the discussions that follow that post lose all their context and become meaningless when the link does not work

So what to do, how should we handle this?

Clearly we need to post more information, but at the same time acknowledge the source of the story

I would recommend something on the lines of

At least one line descibing the potential interest to us and its source. This could be the headline for instance

A link to the story ( we know it won't last long but it is part of the attribution/acknowledgement)

A quoted section from the link containing the bit you wanted to highlight

See the next post for an example. Note that the whole post is a cut and paste from the orignal source, i didn't have to add my own words at all
(this was originaly posted back in March 2016)

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Example

Delayed again! Major development plan for RAF Kirton deferred for third time

humberbusiness.com/news/delayed-again-ma...ry-1272-detail/story

By Scunthorpe Telegraph | Posted: 12 Mar 2016

COUNCILLORS have again deferred a decision on whether to grant permission for a development on the former RAF Kirton in Lindsey site.

Developer Acorn Recyclers wants to change the use of three hangars on the base to allow storage and distribution of agricultural storage operations, together with offices.

In January, North Lincolnshire Council's planning committee deferred a decision after road safety concerns were raised and undertook a site visit.

Last month's meeting saw a decision deferred further until Lincolnshire County Council responded regarding lorries turning right from the B1205 onto the A15 from the site.

At yesterday's latest planning committee meeting, the council's head of planning Phil Wallis said Lincolnshire County Council had responded and said it was necessary for a ghost island (painted traffic island) to be built on the A15.

The applicants had been made aware and asked for more time so the committee again deferred the application.

Ridge Ward councillor Neil Poole said: "An additional 230 HGV journeys have the potential of creating a major incident at that junction.

"We as ward councillors welcome the news that Lincolnshire County Council has now requested a review of that junction and asked for developers to devise a scheme to maximise road safety and minimise the impact of these additional HGV movements."

A planning statement submitted on behalf of Acorn Recyclers with the plans said: "The proposed development will contribute to the council's available employment land supply, provide employment opportunities to the wider community and deliver economic growth in the region.

"The application site is located on the edge of a market town and thus will contribute to supporting a strong, vibrant community by offering employment opportunities in the locality.

"The site is well separated from existing residential properties and thus residential amenity will be retained.

"The development will reuse a brownfield site and provide an appropriate reuse of the existing built form at the former RAF base.

"The application seeks only to change the use of the hangars – no operational development is proposed and thus the character and appearance of this area of the RAF base will be retained."

Source article: www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/