I've asked someone if I can link to his page and not had a response - what next?

[fiddlerintheloft]

I thought etiquette was to ask first but i think the sensible thing would probably have been to say, 'I'm linking to your v helpful page, hope that's ok' - given that it's in the public domain anyway. But now I'm stuck because I have asked, he hasn't answered (most probably because he doesn't check emails very often/is away) and I think it'll look rude if I go ahead without his permission. So, I can't upload the post that is sitting in my drafts folder... Any ideas? Do you usually ask permission first?

[Trills]

I'd assume that if someone has put something on the internet then they want people to see it.

[BIWI]

How long have you waited for him to reply?

I think it was courteous of you to ask, but I'm not sure that it was really necessary. However, if you've only asked very recently I think you do need to wait for a 'reasonable' (how to define that?!) amount of time for him to reply. If he doesn't reply, I'd then send him a little note just saying you had asked, he hadn't replied, so you're going ahead - if he doesn't want you to, then can he let you asap?

But as Trills says, it's already in the public domain, so I don't really see why he would disagree!

[fiddlerintheloft]

Yes, I assumed so too. I suppose it's just about whether for any reason he might object to being linked to my blog, though it's pretty inoffensive . Was just being polite by asking but I guess I'll just email again and explain that it was just a courtesy email and link anyway. Just wondered if there was some unspoken bloggery rule about these things.

[fiddlerintheloft]

BIWI - I only emailed him 24 hours ago. And you're right, unnecessary to ask really. We live and learn...

[FlamingoBingo]

You don't need to ask to link to something on the internet at all - it's what people want! Link to it and, if you want to, email him to let him know you have, but there's really no need to

I tell people when I link to them because I hope it'll make them come and read what I wrote!

[lowimpactmama]

It was v nice of you to ask but there's definitely no need to ask permission to link. Linking to a publicly available link, be it on a blog or on something like Youtube/the Guardian etc, is fine. It's not because it's public domain (which means something is no longer under copyright, which is a very different thing - can you tell I work with copyright in my job ).