March 15, 2007

A brain-teaser for Bluebook nerds.

Here.

11 comments:

SWBarns said...

This gets my vote.

Althouse, Ann, InstaPundit, http://instapundit.com/archives2/003345.php (March 15, 2007; 9:06).

I would throw in your name because you are not the "InstaPundit." If Prof. Reynolds had posted, his name would be unnecessary.

Thanks for reminding me how much I hated bluebooking.

Simon said...

Deja vu!

Instapundit's lack of titles defies my rules! LOL. Under my rule, as close as it can apply, it would be as follows:

A. Althouse, Christine Hurt Faults... at INSTAPUNDIT (http://instapundit.com/archives2/003345.php), 3/15/2007.

Simon said...

For a better example, see the citation to the Becker-Posner blog in footnote four of this essay (PDF warning).

hdhouse said...

of course http://instapundit.com/archives2/003345.php is obvious.

HOW ABOUT THE IP ADDRESS of both the poster and the blog?

As blogs and posts defy normal attributions (handwriting, hard copy trail, etc.) we are left with what? IPs?

2L_editor said...

I am assuming that the official title to Instapundit is Instapundit.com because of the header. Applying the Bluebook rule 18.2.4, here is how I would cite it.

Posting of Ann Althouse to Instapundit.com, http://www.instapundit.com/ (Mar. 15, 2007, 09:06 EST).

In the next edition of the Bluebook, they should update the rule to allow for the author (even for solo blogs), title of the post if one exists, and the use of the permalink over the link to the blog's main page.

Ismael Tapia II said...

As Senior Managing Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review, I have to commend 2L_editor for being the first person to do this correctly. The Bluebook always formats names in the form [full first name] [full last name], so "Althouse, Ann" or "A. Althouse" would never be appropriate. The only change I would make to 2L_editor's cite is to leave out the ".com" from the blog title--despite the header, the blog is widely known as Instapundit.

KLDAVIS said...

2L_editor said...

Posting of Ann Althouse to Instapundit.com, http://www.instapundit.com/ (Mar. 15, 2007, 09:06 EST).


You (and Andy by agreement) are incorrect, technically.

It should be 9:06 EDT.

-kd

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Simon: Althousian history. [Thanks for the embedded link!]

2L_editor said...

Karl,

Nice catch.

Simon said...

Ruth Anne - it's a blast from the past going back and reading that post - I believe that's the comment thread where I adopted the maroonbook for citing Justices' names. A year later, having actually submitted an article, I'm ready to surrender to the bluebook. ;)

Peter Friedman said...

The real question should be how the citation would read if it follows the rules prescribed by the ALWD Citation Manual (see http://www.alwd.org/cm/). The ACM is now in its third edition, has been adopted as the citation in the legal writing programs in the majority of U.S. law schools, and was created by the professionals who teach legal writing in U.S. law schools to correct the deficiencies perceived by those professionals in the Bluebook, which is a student, not lawyer, created manual focused primarily on citation practice in law journals, not the citation practice of lawyers. The ACM is intended, essentially, as a "restatement" of professional citation practice.