How to spot a reposter

Hey guys! In case you haven’t heard, downloading someone’s art and then posting it to your own blog is bad. If you want to know why, you can learn more about that here and here. Edit: The second link was broken, here’s the proper url.

In spite of this generally-agreed-upon idea that reposting is bad, I still often see reposts in the tag and even on my dash. I can usually spot a reposter pretty easily, but it looks like it doesn’t come as naturally to others, so here’s a step-by-step guide!

1. Low-res images. I’m automatically suspicious of an original digital artwork that’s already pixelated. Conversely, if it’s a photo of a sketch, it’s probably OP’s art (not to say that traditional art couldn’t also be reposted, but usually sketches aren’t posted in favor of a more complete piece). Edit: I don’t know what I meant by this part, it doesn’t really make much sense in finding reposts. 

2. Read the caption. Many artists will make references to the content of the art (with the implication that they made it)(eg. “I was craving the beach AU”, “after [what happened in the comic] they go grab smoothies”) or the artistic process (“please excuse the anatomy”). If there’s no caption, or the caption is too vague/doesn’t imply ownership, it could be a repost. 

3. Check for a signature on the art. If you find one and it doesn’t match the url or names that the poster goes by on their blog, it could be a repost. 

4. Glance at their tags. Reposters are in it for the notes, and will often use as many tags as possible. However, a whole lot of tags doesn’t necessarily mean reposter. Look for an art tag or something else they might use to distinguish their own posts from reblogs. This brings me to my next point:

5. Look for other art. If they’re an artist, they probably either have an art tag (which the post would be tagged in), or they post other art on the blog. Go to their blog and check the tag they use for art. If they don’t have an art tag or any other indication that they make artwork, it could be a repost.

6. If they don’t have an art tag, check one of the (probably many) tags they use on the post; eg. if it was a Chat Noir sketch, they probably tagged with “chat noir”. Check their blog’s Chat Noir tag; they might’ve also reposted other artwork (in which case it’s definitely a repost), or they’ve never posted about the fandom whatsoever (which is kind of suspicious).

7. Look for the original. If it’s been reposted, there’s a place on the internet where it was originally posted. Google reverse image search just needs you to get the url for the image; drag the picture into a new tab or right-click and select “Copy image address” (or something like that), and paste the url into the search. If you find another place that the image was posted, and it was posted there before the suspected repost, then you have a repost. 

And of course, if you recognize the artist and they’re not the ones posting it, or if the caption says “credit to the artist”/“not mine”, you have a reposter. 

What do you do when you find a reposter? First, tell them politely that reposting is discouraged; sending them the two links I used at the top is a good start, and if you find the original art’s link, send that so they know what they reposted. If they respond rudely and/or absolutely refuse to stop reposting, contact the original artist, and they can report them for theft. Whatever you do, don’t send reposters hate! Death threats and general malicious messaging are not okay. 

None of the above methods are necessarily foolproof, but by the time you get to 7, you can usually be fairly sure what you’re dealing with. Most of the time I only get as far as step 3 or 4 (which only takes a few seconds) before deciding that it’s a repost. If you’re ever in doubt, leave a like and move on; if it does turn out to be a repost, you can’t take back the spread of the reblogs.  

Remember, reblogs exist for a reason! You don’t need to repost art just to get it on your blog, and you certainly don’t need reposts to get a popular blog. 

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

I've noticed recently a lot of JP Beyblade artists I follow on Twitter have been complaining about people reposting their art. Some of them have gone so far as to tweet in English, when they've never tweeted in English before...! This is in combination with them having to update their profiles or their banners with "no reposting" verbiage. They shouldn't have to!! Please, if you see people reposting artwork, yell at them. You don't have to be nice when it comes to art theft :') This shouldn't be up for debate anymore. Over time I've seen artists who have stopped drawing altogether because it pissed them off so much that other people reposted their work. So if you want to support artists, STOP REPOSTING THEIR STUFF. And report people if you're able. I know it's hard to do on here, which is stupid, but some other platforms allow you to file complaints. Sending links to the artists so they can report the reposting themselves sometimes helps, but a lot of sites don't have reporting systems in Japanese (looking at you tumblr).

hey fellow artists / creators, if you’re also on twitter there’s an account on there people are using to turn tweets [and by proxy, the art in those tweets] into crypto / NFT that I strongly recommend yall block

some asshat pinged it on a commission I did for a client. I’m not fuckin happy that someone tried to steal my damn art, that someone else paid to have done of THEIR character no less.

[ screenshots below from this tweet ]

if you’re looking at this post wondering just WHAT an NFT is:

it’s art theft. it’s literally just art theft.

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

beyblade fandom will you seriously for the love of all that is holy

STOP  REPOSTING FANART 

if it’s not

your

work, and it’s not official, licensed art, you have

no right

to post it here. PEriod. 

“but i sourced it”

No. That still doesn’t count. 

You have no permission.

And don’t harass artists for said permission, it’s gotta be hella annoying. Especially for non-English speaking folks.

“DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION” 

means

“DONT POST MY ART” 

No I am not accepting any opinions. Anything differing from the above is Wrong. 

I agree. I’m annoyed to see a lot of Beyblade fans who reposted fanart without any permission and it’s worsened because a lot of Beyblade fans just repost it without giving any credits.

And do you know what is the worst?

I see some Beyblade fans repost many fanarts, edit/change the fanarts into memes/shitposts/aesthetical graphics, and ADD THEIR WATERMARKS TO THE FANARTS WHO ARE NOT THEIR OWN.

For example :

Notes : I just use this for example because of I found this post as coindence in my Facebook timeline. I don’t have intention to any dramas.

If they want to make memes/shitposts/aesthetical pictures, why don’t they use image from anime (since it’s allowed) instead use another artists’ fanarts?

It’s rude to see them reposting fanart without any permission, without giving any credits, change their arts, and added their own watermarks on people fanworks.

It is literally so painful that Beyblade fanpages on Facebook don’t respect the artists! Like, no, your “edit” isn’t your original work, you just put somebody else’s fanart on additional background and added your own watermark. That’s simply rude! I had my art reposted once, but the owner of the fanpage asked me if I was okay, and I said sure, just add the “reposted with permission of the artist”. This is how you do it. There is “don’t repost without permission” on artists’ profiles for a reason.

Yes, what they did to the fanarts are rude and disrespectful to the artists.

Their efforts to edit fanarts are never be same with the artists efforts.

Reposting fanarts without permissions and credits are bad. Add their watermarks on people fanarts are worst.

Although they edited fanarts by themselves, but the fanarts never be their own. The fanarts always belong to the artists and not for ‘the editors’.

Facebook and Pinterest are the worst place for reposting nowadays. I see most of fanarts are reposted on Facebook and Pinterest. Tumblr is also has a lot repost arts, but is still less than Facebook and Pinterest.

I’ve educated some of reposters on Facebook, but most of them always :

JUST DON’T REPOST THE FANARTS.

Sadly, one of the biggest Beyblade fanpage on Facebook reposted fanart without any credits. Some of ‘editors’ fanarts also have a lot of followers and most of their followers aren’t realized that repost fanarts are disrespecting to the artists.

I have same experiences as some of Japanese fanartists are soft blocked and hard blocked me because of me being an International fans.

If International fans don’t have any respect to Japanese artists, I’m not surprised if Japanese artists are lost respect to International fans. If they want to be respected, they have to respecting another people at first.

I love that everyone is still hellbent on ignoring “do not use without permission” on Aoki’s art posts…..  Like he put in English… he didn’t Need to.  but y’all keep posting it ??? 

it probably mainly means commercial use but for real, i’d still leave his artworks alone to respect the fact he takes that extra step to say it in english TO US SPECIFICALLY

I understand the desire to post his works here whenever new beyblade art comes out to share it with everyone else. But since he is very clear about not wanting it to be reposted, and it would be awful if he stopped making art because we didn’t respect his wishes, maybe we can just create posts that link to the new artwork instead?

Let’s share links instead! To make sure everyone knows his page too!

YES!! Thank you all for the excellent additions!! <3

yeah!! thank you for addressing the issue too. honestly what i do is just habitually go look at aoki’s gallery to admire all the drawings on my own. no need to spread them against aoki’s will!

It’s 200% about commercial use….Aoki created a culture here and it’s about money, like ‘don’t print my art on T-shirts that don’t benefit me financially’ otherwise we could all just forget it and stop drawing his characters, because that could be considered character theft…no one in the fandom is doing that stealing his art and claiming it as his own, we’re all sharing it because we love it….Aoki is not a struggling artist, he’s not a fanboy, he’s the creator of a public television show and mangas so it’s just about money = don’t let others gain money that is legally mine. It would be ethically wrong to repost if it were a small internet comic but these are legit brands, it’s like posting other famous mangas or anime, it’s, I don’t want to say public domain but it’s part of culture now

I understand the disclaimer is most likely for prohibiting commercial use. Still doesn’t change that he’s specifically posting only on his personal website, and putting the disclaimer on there (in his non-native language). Even if it’s “part of the culture” it still seems really rude to repost it. Japanese fans don’t seem repost his work, so why do we feel entitled to? They talk about it and link to it, but I have never seen it reposted by anyone except non-Japanese fans. I just really think it needs to be looked at the same way we look at people reposting other folks’ fanart. It’s not yours, he’s not making money off of that specific image, and he chose to post it where he did - and to not post it elsewhere. It’s not like these are being printed in along with the manga (that I’ve seen as of yet) or being used as promotional images. It’s his art that he made because he wanted to. This fandom is still really bad about posting (and not crediting) other people’s work. So I think by extension, we should at least examine how we treat the creator’s own artwork too. It’s not that hard to share the link for everyone to enjoy without stepping on anyone’s toes. 

a bit to the side of the topic but you don’t see japanese fans reposting things because it’s a big taboo in japanese animanga circles in general to repost or use any official art for anything. that’s why you don’t see them posting or using screenshots on social media (and they actually sometimes block western people who do use them. i was blocked by some on twitter in the past because i had a cardcaptor sakura screencap for my icon… or at least i don’t really see any other reason for why japanese artists would block me hah, i do think they fish out ‘suspicious’ looking people sometimes) so actually if we talk about culture, part of aoki’s culture would be to not take his official work and put it anywhere. it’s a western thing that if something exists on the internet, it’s up for grabs to plaster anywhere which is just not true.

It doesn’t matter if they are small, or big and famous. If an artist asks that you don’t use and repost his art, YOU DON’T USE OR REPOST HIS ART. It’s that simple. Doesn’t matter if it’s about money or not, you don’t get to decide. He decides.

I love that everyone is still hellbent on ignoring “do not use without permission” on Aoki’s art posts…..  Like he put in English… he didn’t Need to.  but y’all keep posting it ??? 

it probably mainly means commercial use but for real, i’d still leave his artworks alone to respect the fact he takes that extra step to say it in english TO US SPECIFICALLY

I understand the desire to post his works here whenever new beyblade art comes out to share it with everyone else. But since he is very clear about not wanting it to be reposted, and it would be awful if he stopped making art because we didn’t respect his wishes, maybe we can just create posts that link to the new artwork instead?

Let’s share links instead! To make sure everyone knows his page too!

YES!! Thank you all for the excellent additions!! <3

yeah!! thank you for addressing the issue too. honestly what i do is just habitually go look at aoki’s gallery to admire all the drawings on my own. no need to spread them against aoki’s will!

It’s been years and the meme that was created from my video and never credited to me anywhere is still all over google/facebook/reddit etc. and I am so mad. Something I made was viral, but nobody knows it’s mine! And the screenshot is so poor quality, it’s insulting! I struggle so much to get views on Youtube, and if that meme had been credited from the start, I could have been in a different place today! Stop hurting creators! Stop reposting, or at least credit! This is the original video this meme came from.

but why is reposting BAD?

i thought i’d make an faq filled with every excuse in the book about reposting, for those who still don’t understand why it’s bad…or for people who don’t know what to say in retaliation to these! so here we go. 

first of all, an artist doesn’t even NEED to explain themselves. in the same way with someone who says “dude, make sure that soda is diet” or “please don’t tickle me”. they don’t want you to do it. you don’t need to test them by ignoring them. the reason doesn’t matter: it’s the person’s wish with THEIR things. if you had any respect for others, you’d just take it at that. 

BUT for some people, they don’t want to respect others at face value, and want their reason. (which, i might add, is rude.) so let’s get into that: 

no. 

you’re not giving artists exposure. for people like myself, freelance artists, you’re hurting us. about a year ago, i sent my portfolio off to an indie game. in it, i had a piece of work that had been reposted (that i didn’t even know about). i was told much later that they “looked into it” and saw that my work was posted by someone else, which means now they have no idea who the artist was, and THEREFORE can’t be sure my work was legit. i lost a potential job to a repost. 

doesn’t matter if you say “i didn’t draw this”. sometimes, they don’t even look. they just look to see if it’s on any site other than your own. and that’s terrifying for artists. so don’t endanger our livelihood for instagram likes. 

besides, you’re not even giving exposure if you didn’t credit, cropped out the signature, or somehow made the resolution so low to where you can’t even see the signature. which brings me to…

some people still don’t want it reposted even with credit. the last answer should show you one of the many reasons why. 

and it’s MY art you posted. you can’t take something i did and do whatever you want with it. imagine if you took someones drawing, photocopied it, and spread it all around the town without their permission. they’d have every right to be angry, right?

i have to post my art onto my websites to build a fanbase, something crucial to an artist. it shouldn’t be on ME to not post it in the first place, it should be on YOU to not repost it. you’re just echoing victim-blaming arguments. 

you’re basically saying “if you don’t want to be bullied, don’t exist.” which is a terrible thing to teach people, rather than “be nice and respectful towards others.” yes, i know our world isn’t perfect. but that’s no excuse to contribute to vile things. 

good for you! good for them! but did you know there’s more people in the world other than just you and your friend? we have wishes and feelings too, so you don’t get to project your own emotions onto what WE should be feeling as well. i love peaches. some people don’t like them. that doesn’t mean that now they have to eat peaches because i don’t mind them. 

go steal the mona lisa and tell me how that works out. 

everyone can VIEW it, yes. artists want others to view their work! we just don’t want you to do stuff with it we asked you not to do. 

putting my work on items and selling it is totally illegal. van gogh’s work is owned by companies now, who have authorization to print it on things. and i’m just ONE freelance artist who is, you know, still alive and not giving permission to do that. you can’t compare a dead artist from the 1800s to a digital artist in 2017. apples to oranges, my dude.

because saying “the artist” really tells people who i am and lets them visit my websites! thank you so much! 

but all sarcasm aside, that doesn’t do anything other than show you were too lazy to find the artist. same thing with “source: the internet” and “who drew this xD” or misspelling my url on purpose or putting the credit under a cut. OR cropping the image to cut off my signature! you didn’t give me credit. 

i’ll have the social media i want to have. not up to me to make more accounts on more things just so you won’t disrespect me. 

reverse google image search is so great.

also, if you didn’t know the artist, that’s a HUGE reason not to repost it in the first place!! you didn’t even know if it was okay since you never got to see their position on that!!

take down your video with stolen fan art. take down your entire fan art twitter account. i don’t care “how hard it was to save those images” or “how many views you have now”. you got all that attention from someone else’s hard work. searching for art will never be as hard as making it. if it were that easy, you’d be drawing all the art yourself. 

yeah, i feel you. it’s the same thing as when you ask your mom if you can borrow some money, she doesn’t answer, so you just steal it from her purse. no answer means the answer you want to hear, right?

wrong. don’t take “unresponsive” as a yes. that’s disgusting. 

one day you’re gonna come across an artist who has no chill and wants to sue, and can actually do it, since some people put their work under HEAVY copyright. and i’m gonna kick back in my chair with a nice capri sun and watch it all happen, since you have that kind of attitude towards people. 

yes, this whole thing seems a bit. well. “salty”, as some would put it. and i have every right to be irritated over this. all these questions are asking “WHY should i respect their wishes? give me a reason” or “but here is my excuse rather than just taking it down”. time after time, artists are villainized just for telling people not to repost. 

like i said, the artist not wanting you to repost it SHOULD be reason enough! we’re so tired of having to fight people just to have respect for our art. we have to deal with tracing constantly, so can you please take reposting off our plates? i know bad things will always happen, but that’s no reason to make it worse by contributing. 

artists are generously putting our art out there for free. if you want to keep seeing our art for free (btw we don’t HAVE to, all the big artists could just up and leave and go to patreon), maybe show us some respect? because we get pretty dejected when we see strangers getting attention from something we did, and it makes us want to remove everything we show you guys. you say “don’t post it then!” but would be mad if all fan art disappeared. 

if you want to keep the art, respect the artist making it. there’s a real person behind that drawing. 

content creators- sick of people reposting your gifs/gfx/art?

now you can introduce CONSEQUENCES for their actions! follow this quick and easy tutorial to find out how.

why reposting is bad | how to determine if a post is an art repost or not | how to image-search (fan)art for its original source on tumblr

remember, everyone! respect content creators and support us by REBLOGGING our work! we make this shit for free.

a text transcription of this ppt is under the cut.

Keep reading

content creators- sick of people reposting your gifs/gfx/art?

now you can introduce CONSEQUENCES for their actions! follow this quick and easy tutorial to find out how.

why reposting is bad | how to determine if a post is an art repost or not | how to image-search (fan)art for its original source on tumblr

remember, everyone! respect content creators and support us by REBLOGGING our work! we make this shit for free.

a text transcription of this ppt is under the cut.

Keep reading

⚠️ PSA: Everybody Hurts (When People Repost)

Hello @thebestaqua32​,

Thank you very much for your Ask.  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you are reaching out to ask me for permission before actually doing so.  Unfortunately, I do NOT allow my work to be reposted by anyone other than myself, on any platform, whether it is Wattpad, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

What follows is by no means directed towards you, dear @thebestaqua32​, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about something many creators (writers and artists alike) have been dealing with for a while now, and me, myself, recently.

Over the course of the past 3-4 weeks, I have found instances of my work being reposted to no less than 3 different platforms, once with attribution in difficult to see fine print with no links back to the original source of my work, and twice with absolutely no credit at all.  As you can probably imagine, it was quite upsetting to me that pieces I’ve worked so incredibly hard on was being distributed in such a manner, and a lot of time and energy was expended in order to rectify the situation — time and energy that could’ve been otherwise used to create more content for my lovely readers and followers.

Unfortunately, reposting without permission from authors and artists is a common occurrence, and some may not realize the damage doing so can inflict.  I seek here to try and explain why reposting in this manner hurts everybody, not just the content creator.

Argument #1: 

This is something I’ve heard many reposters say in defence of their actions, and while publicity is definitely a good thing for content creators, that is only the case if the people consuming a piece could be bothered to check its original source — that is, if exposure is a guarantee of user traffic being driven back to the creator’s website, social media accounts, etc.  And oftentimes, especially in this digital age of “see it and forget it” fast-consumption, most cannot be bothered to do so — the action that is one-step removed proves to be too much of an effort, even if it is merely clicking a link.

Please also consider this: many creators depend on commissions to make a living.  This avenue of revenue has only become more important in current times because we are in the midst of a pandemic.  People are literally relying on these funds to pay their rent and feed and support themselves and their families.  The ability of a creator to support themselves is thus dependent on the size of their fan base or their numbers of followers.  If people cannot be bothered to check the original source of a piece of writing or artwork, this essentially cuts down on their potential earnings.  You cannot commission a piece from someone or support them if you don’t know of their existence.

This is especially so if things are reposted without proper credit at all, as was the case with one of my works.  The worst part was that the stolen piece was taken from a project where the proceeds from all commissions were being donated to charity.  In doing so, the thousands of people who liked this post had no way of finding out about this charity project, which means that even if they would’ve been interested in donating, they would not have known how.  In essence, this translated to less money being raised to help those who really needed it in dire times.

So please, please, please do not think that the act of reposting hurts no one because that is simply not the case.  There needs to be a direct link between people that engage with the content and the creator, which is why reblogging on Tumblr is excellent (feel free to reblog any of my content here if you wish, dear @thebestaqua32​) and retweeting (without quotes!) on Twitter is great.  These are among the best ways to support us!

Argument #2: The act of reposting could potentially contribute to the decline of a fandom.

Imagine you spent hours, days or even weeks working on something — pouring your heart and soul into a piece — and when you finally shared it to the world, not much happened.  Maybe you got a few likes here or there, a couple of comments if you were very lucky.  How would you feel?  What conclusion would you draw?  Some might feel discouraged, others might stop creating altogether.

Imagine then, that same post receiving tons of comments and likes and legitimate shares because someone with a bigger following reposted it on their own social media account without your knowledge.  Imagine what you would’ve done with this information — the feeling that others loved and enjoyed your work and wanted to see more.  Perhaps it might’ve encouraged you to continue creating.

Case in point:

I wrote this letter.  And if I weren’t alerted to the existence of this post, I would’ve never known that thousands of others had liked my work.  Also, that’s 124 comments I didn’t get the chance to read.  Furthermore, this was a piece that was written for the charity project.  Imagine how many potential donors we might have received if people knew about its source.

Feedback is absolutely crucial to creators.  It enables us to discover what others did and did not like.  Not only can it serve as a compass of sorts to guide our artistic progress and work (and create pieces that can cater to the needs and desires of those who consume it), it is also a point of communication between members of a given fandom.  It builds community.  And without a strong sense of community, a fandom flounders and could eventually fizzle out.

Without content creators, there is very little for people to consume.  Please support all of us by not reposting our work, especially without our knowledge and/or permission.

With that being said, please accept a giant THANK YOU from me to you for reading till the very end.  It is very much appreciated. 🙏🏻💕

guys, please read this. never ever support accounts that repost WITHOUT permission. fanfics and fanart / blog content — please ask for permission before you use it. even if you “credit” the source, without permission it’s still disrespectful and considered theft.

do not reblog fanart or fanfics that have been reposted even if it has credits listed. check if they got permission first. i still see reposted art here on tumblr from people who should already know better. just credits = not good. it needs an actual proof of permission. (｡•́︿•̀｡)

do no reblog art from this person.

they disregard artists. the artists’ rights. the artists’ wishes.

mlqc fandom, PLEASE be extremely mindful of what you reblog.

i always talk about art theft because it’s important to protect the artists who give us content. i’m sorry if you hate seeing my posts about this, but you guys can easily unfollow me because i will never stop trying to stop blatant art theft whenever i see it. tho i always do things privately, at this point i have no choice because they have chosen to just keep posting art while ignoring the artists and their wishes. i don’t think i need to explain much from our messages above. i also don’t think i should keep quiet about this.

whenever i message people about reposts, more often than not, it’s just an honest mistake. i’m always grateful to the people i’ve sent messages to in the past (re: taking down stolen art) who were really understanding. it creates a lot of anxiety for me to keep messaging people– not knowing how they’re going to react, but i still do it because it’s the right thing to do.

now this person has blatantly shown she doesn’t care what the artists think of her posting their work. after my last message, i waited for her to reply, but instead she posted more stolen art and this:

i guess this is supposed to justify her just wanting to post whatever she wants without asking the artist or respecting their wishes when they say ‘do not repost / please ask for permission first’.

now, going back to their message to me, they also sent me a link about hypocrisy. and here it is:

i actually have an idea about who this might be. i remember sending some people copy/paste messages asking them to take down a helios fanart because the artist said so + it was posted without permission. because of so many reposts, that artist has already deleted the aforementioned fanart from their twitter. it was a photo to be used for her friend’s story.

please read everything under the cut because this is important.

Keep reading

PSA Regarding Art Theft

Hey guys, it was brought to my attention that this topic needs to be discussed again. I’ll be very serious when I say this shit needs to stop. The otome fandom is really small compared to many, and therefore it’s something I think we can get a handle on if we put ego aside and just take responsibility for our actions.

Moreover, because it’s a smaller fandom you can bet that if you’re reading this rn and feel guilt over knowing you went (or regularly go) to Pixiv or wherever else and took an artists work without asking and then came over here and posted it for notes, people know you did. Maybe not all, but some, and that’s enough and word spreads.

No one is saying you can’t repost art here, or across platforms. It’s amazing to give artists more exposure and let people enjoy the beauty of their hard work across multiple languages. But if you can’t even put in the effort to google translate a message to get permission but post it anyway, you should be ashamed. And MUCH more so if the person politely declines and you ignore their wishes.

Creating art of any kind is scary. It’s sharing a piece of yourself out in the world and honestly opening yourself up to critique even if it’s unwanted. Can you imagine posting something you worked really hard on and maybe it’s so personal your friends and family don’t even know about your hobby. And then all of a sudden some asshole has posted it without you knowing and it’s showing up all over sites in a language you can’t read and people are saying things at 30 different links and you can’t understand 100% and maybe it’s mean comments, maybe they’re making fun of you, ?? you don’t know!!

Maybe some weird knock off site is selling fucking notepads and shitty thin sweaters with your art on it now. Maybe some of the people in your real life use Pinterest and one day they’re coming to you showing you your secret fan works and saying “this looks like yours??? You’re into this???” And you JUST WANT TO DIE. It’s anxiety inducing and overwhelming and literally a loss of control over something that is supposed to be YOURS and personal and joyful.

THAT’S what you are opening someone up to when you repost art without permission. You don’t fucking know the artist, you don’t know if they’re using a pseud and in secret, you don’t know if they’re insecure or anxious or scared of having lots of people view their stuff. You don’t know if they’d be suicidal over having their work stolen. You.DONT.KNOW. That’s why you ASK. It’s not complicated or difficult. It’s common decency.

And maybe it’s scary the first few times you do it because you aren’t fluent in the language and you don’t know if you’ll just be ignored but I promise just about all will be happy you asked, and very polite, and most will be okay with it. And hell, maybe you’ll make a friend over time. Even if you’re just badly google translating back and forth.

You’re posting this art because it meant something to you in some way when you saw it. So respect that process, respect the person who brought it into existence. Cheese and crackers— just fucking ask.

And for the rest of you, you’re fucking responsible too.

Because for every one person that reads the above and agrees with it, there’s always going to be the asshole that says “hah, fuck you, I do what a want you can’t stop me” and this is where the rest of the fandom comes into play. You are just as implicit in this process.

I’ve had my work stolen more times than I can count and I can’t tell you just how much more sickening it is that i saw the people who were regularly in my notes, the people in my DMs saying how much they appreciated me etc or that they were huge fans, these same people were turning around and reblogging literally the same thing word for word and giving praising tags to my plagiarizers. And I wanted to yell HOW CAN YOU NOT EVEN CHECK OR REALIZE??? HOW CAN YOU JUST QUICK CONSUME AND REBLOG AND NOT EVEN THINK. It hurt. It hurt a lot. And it made me feel like I shouldn’t even bother anymore, because I kill myself over my work just to have someone else get tons of notes and all the praise.

Be more critical of what you consume. These reposters keep going because of YOUR ENGAGEMENT. If someone is NOT an artist yet is consistently posting art work after art work, ask yourself where it’s coming from? Who is the artist? Is this ethical? Did they ask permission? Are they even naming the artist and linking back? If not, STOP FUCKING REBLOGGING IT. If there are no notes, the reposting will stop. Someone’s mental health, and not to be dramatic but you never know—someone’s life, is more important than you reblogging a fucking picture of a 2D fake character that looks hot.

Anyway, I’m done preaching. Love you all that read through the whole thing. And if you are someone who steals art for likes and will continue to do so, or if you thinks it’s okay to steal something someone worked hard on without their permission, then unfollow me and never talk to me until you find some maturity. xoxoxo

thank you for addressing this! (°▽°)

i know a lot of people are unaware still as to what counts as "art theft" -- so please take the time to read the whole post!

just remember, even if you credit the creator, as long as they didn't give you permission to use it-- it's still considered theft. let's try to be extra careful with how we handle and consume content! always check what you're reblogging please~ ♡