I’m afraid this post isn’t going to be very entertaining. I apologize for the interruption in regularly scheduled service and mean no offense or intend any alienation with what might sound like a pointless rant to some, but really, in the end, I’m actually looking for a little help.
The longer I use Tumblr, the more selective I’ve grown about following people who consistently credit artists, cite their sources, and properly attribute quoted text as opposed to passively pretending that it’s their own. As other fine people have said before, the artists deserve their credit. They and their work deserve to be accessible to others should someone encounter a piece of their work and wish to seek out more. By simply posting an image without any accompanying information, you prevent people from reaching that particular artist and you prevent the artist from increasing their audience. Online museum collections, Flickr Commons accounts, and even lovely Wikipedia/media also deserve to be credited. So do fellow bloggers, both here on Tumblr or any other platform, who have taken the time to assemble interesting posts about this or that. Each one of these things represents the time, effort, and passion of other people and simply plucking something from another source and plonking into a Tumblr post without context is an insult and disservice to them all.
I know plenty of people might vehemently argue that once something is out on the internet, it’s fair game, but I simply disagree. Just because the internet is rife with images adrift in the aether without any context, doesn’t mean that it’s okay to contribute to it. Perhaps none of this matters one whit to you, but it does to me, so do what you will, here’s what I’ve decided to do:
Aside from taking the time to do all those things myself, I’ve decided stop perpetuating the problem by refusing to reblog posts where the aforementioned things weren’t done. I’d also just as soon not clutter my dashboard with posts, no matter how interesting or aesthetically pleasing, that don’t also provide at lest some of what I consider to be vital information. This means that, with very few exceptions, the list of people I follow has steadily shrunk.
So! I am seeking recommendations of blogs to follow with the caveat that they must be consistent about doing those responsible little things that I’ve just prattled on about. If you know of any Tumblelogs [including your own] that you feel might interest me and are faithful to their sources, I invite you to please let me know. I’d love to broaden my horizons and increase the diversity of my dashboard.
Any suggestions?
