Hey Kate thanks for the quick response! I think quoting another blogger is a different story… First, it’s like citing an academic reference – you never ask permission for that, the work is published, and in the case of blogs, published publicly, therefore ppl r free to quote it, right? Maybe different for research purposes than to use in one’s own blog, but i consider wordpress’s pingback function a cool “handshake” (i loooove it, but AK uses blogspot, so 🙁 )

But agree re: consent as a courtesy 🙂 esp for semi-closed systems such as MOOC disc forums in an xMOOC