quick and dirty guide to recognizing stolen content on tumblr
there is RAMPANT art and photography reposting on this stupid website, and it occurs to me that folks might not know how to recognize it. here are the mental gymnastics i go through every time i see a sus post
1. is there a caption? most creators tend to leave one. maybe it's so their url is prominent, or to express their thoughts about the piece, link their shops/websites, etc. most reposters leave the captions blank
2. look for credit in the picture. is there a name, handle, or watermark? does it match the url?
3. check the original post. often you'll find that the original poster actually linked the artist. go forth and reblog that version!! for some godforsaken reason people keep REMOVING CREDIT on this website and i will MANIFEST INSIDE YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DO SO
4. check the tags of the original post. beyond the main fandom/character/subject tags, creators tend to have a #my-art tag or something similar. photographers often use #photographers-on-tumblr/lensblr. sometimes they'll also have thoughts about their work there. this doesn't always work, but personally i never see reposters adding tags like this
5. look at op's other posts and bio. is there anything about being an artist or photographer in the description? does the art they post look the same? usually this is where you'll Know if it's a serial reposter, because their blog will be FULL of reposted shit with no captions that all have different styles. also half the time their blog description straight up admits it
6. check the notes to see if someone added the proper credit. at this point, if you know it's a repost but still wanna reblog it, at least give credit where it's due. see if someone else already did the work for you
7. reblog and add a link with creator credit. if you know it's a repost, and you can't find credit, consider doing your part to help creators get their well-deserved recognition. usually you can just google the watermark in the picture. otherwise reverse image search on google or tineye is your friend
8. if the original creator is on tumblr, reblog their version of the post. if you've gotten this far it's not hard to search their blog for it
9. consider letting the artist know their art has been stolen and send them the link. this way they can take action and file whatever claims they need to get it taken down
10. finally, support original content creators! look at the #artists-on-tumblr and #photographers-on-tumblr tags, follow your favourite creators and reblog their work. seriously it can make a huge difference
if you read this far, THANK YOU. making sure content creators get their credit is literally the bare minimum we can do to be respectful of the countless hours they spend on their work. especially when that content is freely accessible
