Re-Tweeting - Who Gets Credit?

[TheaterDiva1]

I have a Twitter account, and the other night, I went to retweet (repost) a link someone posted.  The person I got it from got it from another user, who I think got it from a few other people - and all user names were included.  When I hit "Retweet," the message came up like this (identifying info removed):

RT @PersonImFollowing RT @PersonMyPersonIsFollowing Really cool but brief message with link here (via @AnotherUser @StillAnotherUser).

Normally, when I retweet, I mention the user I got it from.  However, because of the extra people involved here, I'm already over my character limit by 4, so I had to remove stuff so I could post it.  Since the message itself was so short, there wasn't really anything I could take out, but since it went through so many users, I thought I could take out some of them.  My question - which user should I mention - the person I'm actually following or the person who originally posted the message?

[MariaE]

As far as I can see, there are 4 people being credited here? I don't twit actively, so I'm not sure how retweeting works.

Anyway, typically I'd take away the middle men and credit the person you're following and the person who originally posted, leaving out anybody it might have gone through on the way. If there's only room for one of them, I'd credit the person you're following. If anybody cares, they can then follow the trail back to the original poster.

There's nothing wrong with crediting the person who originally posted instead though.

[nolechica]

I RT the person I got the message from and the originator if I have room.  Exceptions being celebrity or news entity RTs.  Then I retweet the originator.

Example: I follow Adam Lambert and the media that cover him.  If it's news from him or them, I RT them.  If it's a retweet of a tweet about him, I RT the person I got the info from.