Overdos3 is a new site with no real resources and very little time to truly deliver the content we could if this was a full time job, so we end up posting many stories that we find on the internet from other sites. Often the way we produce stories is to take these posts, reference them with a link of some sort and then offer up some form of commentary which puts the Overdos3 flavor on the piece so we are not just leeching off of another site.

This is not the optimal way to do things, but it is the best we can achieve at this point with no parent company or sponsors.

You would think, then, that if little sites like ours aspire to document and link our sources as diligently as possible, that the big guns like Kotaku would do the same thing as well.

You might be wrong about that!

Turns out via the magic of Twitter, that we can get an inside look into the inner workings of the rather incestuous relationship internet sites can have.

When Kotaku posted a story about Left 4 Dead 2 yesterday, they used embedded images from GameVideos, a part of the 1UP Network, without giving any kind of link to GameVideos or 1UP. Now, this is a bit understandable since the videos (video of Left 4 Dead 2 taken with a camcorder) all have the GameVideos watermark in the lower-right corner.

Still, you would think that Kotaku big-wig Brain Crecente would rectify the situation if asked by David Ellis of 1UP...right?

If your answer was no and that Crecente would respond with a rather douchey and snide remark, then you would be our winner of the day.

So, in order to give you all a glimpse into the inner workings of videogame journalism, I now present you with a few twitter responses from Crecente, Ellis and myself.

DavidEllis@crecenteb Can you guys update your L4D2 post to acknowledge that the videos are via GameVideos/1UP? Thanks man.

crecenteb@DavidEllis The giant watermark doesn't do that already?

Videosta@DavidEllis Wow, Crecente is kinda being a douche! Like he doesn't know a link would be more respectful. Guess the mullet clogs his manners.

Videosta@crecenteb Why question what @DavidEllis respectfully asked. Just put a friggin link up and don't be an asshole about it.

DavidEllis@crecenteb Not when the "story" makes no mention of their origin. I really don't think I'm asking too much. See this: http://bit.ly/LBrOh

OK, maybe I am just writing this story to shame Brain Crecente for acting like a jerk and not just fixing the issue without making a scene, and to be honest Crecente's remark is not the height of douchebaggery. It is simply uncouth when there is no need to be.

Starting something on the Internet is hard work. I do not doubt at all that anyone who works at Kotaku works at a faster pace than most. They update their site more frequently than any other that I know of, and often their work is copied on site after site (including this one). What we all need to remember is that we all work hard at what we do. We should never neglect to take the time to make sure that we reference and site the hard work that others do while we are rushing to get our own hard work done.

That is not in any way asking someone to go above and beyond their responsibility, that is asking someone to uphold a minimal of common courtesy.

Update: Now Kotaku has replaced the videos from GameVideos with some from GameTrailers.... Classy!