SOURCING YOUR POSTS: EASY AND IMPORTANT (IF YOU'RE HIP AND JIGGY WITH IT YOU WILL READ)
Ok, so this is something that half of you probably have experience with, and half of you probably do without realising itās a big deal. But not sourcing your posts is pretty uncool of you.
What does sourcing your posts mean?
It means providing the initial source of origin for the content you are posting (generally, here on Tumblr, thatās image/photo posts). So, giving a link to the person who made the thing youāre posting.
Why is it uncool not to source posts?
When a person makes something independently - such as fanart, fanfic, cosplay, photography, and hand-made merchandise - and especially when itās derivative (not of a series original to the creator), theyāre not getting a whole lot back from it. Often times they are even spending a LOT of time and money to make it without any compensation. The only thing they can hope to get back from it - if itās not being done for commission or contest prize, of course - is recognition.
Giving somebody credit and recognition for the work theyāve done is free and easy for you to do, but it takes away so much if you donāt do it. Basically, youāre saying that the few minutes of time it would take to add a source to someone elseās work before posting it to your own blog is more important than the hours/days/money that they spent making it. Not cool.
My picture doesnāt have a source though.
Yes it does. It didnāt magically fall from the Internet sky into your hands. Getting an image from Google Image Search, or finding it on a forum, or having it saved on your hard drive since before you can remember does not mean that it does not have a source. You just need to find it.
How do I find an image source?
Finding sources for images is easier than ever with Googleās Reverse Image Search.
http://www.google.com.au/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
Clicking on the little camera will give you an option to put in an imageās URL, or to upload one from your computer. It will then try and find that image again; from the results you can look until you find the source.
If I canāt find the source, does that mean I canāt post it?
Not necessarily. You just need to make it clear that youāre aware the post is not sourced and that youāre looking for it. Tagging or mentioning āsource neededā spreads the word; then if someone knows the source, or where to look, before you know it people will have links for you. Doing this means youāve learned a great new source where you might be able to find more cool content.
Iām ok, I source all my posts.
Do you? The following websites/links are not sources:
any I Can Has Cheezburger sites (failblog.org, 9gag.com, etc.)
Why? Because most of the time, the content on these sites has - you guessed it! - been taken from somewhere else, sans source. These websites more or less encourage people to take things they like off the Internet and upload it back on their servers (so they get visits) and couldnāt care less about finding proper sources - and will often put their own source over the top. Rude. Essentially, these websites make money off of other peopleās work without the original creatorās permission or even knowledge.
Just grabbing the URL/address of the page where you found it is not always a source, either. So often I see source links leading to general DeviantART galleries or some random page on a personās Tumblr. On DeviantART, click on the name of the Deviation you want to link to before copying the URL. This will help to make sure your link will always link to the right place.
This sounds like a lot of work.
More work than the time studying, practicing and working took for the creator to make that image youāre now going to take and put on your own blog? Of course not. Donāt be a tool. Do the right thing and care about sources.
Iām sure many of you already put these into practice, but you can help spread the word by reblogging this, encouraging people you see not sourcing to find accurate sources, and not reblogging posts that arenāt sourced.
Thanks for reading!
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
origamiaround
baratheonpilled
annaxmalina
