User blog comment:Random-storykeeper/Comments as citations/@comment-1455034-20140411000018/@comment-3060206-20140411004916

Scrolling to the comment on the blog post is the only sure way of knowing the comment is real. I think images are fine, but they have to serve a good purpose. They're not really any good if there's already the excerpt from the comment in text, of which enlarging the image to find the same text is redundant. Likewise, it's possible to pull off funny stuff like:

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss291/underwaterwriter/commentmanipulation_zps31b8682b.png

Not saying this is the best example, but the point is that if it's that easy to change text around, then that still doesn't make it any more reliable than just pasting the text in the editor and changing it up a bit. The only sure way of making the comment a source is actually seeing it on the blog post it came from.

Of course, linking to the comments directly would be a lot better, but it is often not possible unless you keep the direct link when you receive a reply notification. But maybe there's a pattern to the conversation URLs that makes it possible to get a more direct excerpt for the citation that we need.

I don't think using screenshots is a bad idea, but they should serve a good purpose otherwise they don't really have any use. But the main parts to put in a comment citation (I think, and am trying to implement in the test template) are:


 * The blog post the comment comes from (already done)
 * The date and time of which the comment was posted (maybe date only if the time changes based on time zone)
 * The date the comment was retrieved and used as a resource.
 * A bit of a text excerpt with the important bit relevant to the text that requires a citation.
 * For Venus fly trap (Feed Me)'s trivia, it would be like: The plant head [from Jelly Beanstalk] did become the feed me [sic] design though! And maybe a link to an image of the full thread for context.

The point would be to try and make it as easy as possible to show the comment on the site, despite not being able to direct link.