Not trying to justify this person, but unfortunately Tumblr is an effin heaven for this kinda shit. People start a themed blog and post images, most often without crediting, to offer other people a place to check for specific things. The most Internet-art savvy mods do include crediting (and when used well, with crediting where it's due, Tumblr is a pretty good place in which to showcase art and spread the word) while the rest of people consider it obvious that they don't claim ownership on the pictures posted, and think that it is enough to put them in a safe spot. For this I consider it a matter of ignorance, more than real malice.

There are so many inexperienced kids on Tumblr that, probably, the best idea for artists is to include watermarks/urls in their pictures; that way, if the Tumblr 'thief' doesn't credit, people will still know whom the picture belongs to.

uh... does this really count as "stolen"?

A lot of the artists are of course ace enough to put their name or web address on their images, looking through the selection.

Yes, I realize artists don't like their work posted without asking, being one myself, but that's what signatures and watermarks are for. On the Internet, sharing communities like Tumblr DO exist, and since they are sharing the work and not claiming it, I would consider it free publicity. The artist is posting these images free online to begin with, and these people are sharing them. In the age of a great many sites to blog, reblog, post, share, etc, you have to realize this is going to happen if you share your work.

Most any artist can do is ask them to delete the post or whatever, but they're not stealing, they're sharing (albeit without the original links, so far as I can see).

Aaaa there's one similar to this, called "FinerFur" that does the same exact thing -- they wound up posting a commission of mine that I did not want posted anywhere else, I "submitted" to them asking them to take it down (since they had no option for messaging) and I don't think they ever did, which is really rude and unprofessional, imo. If the commissioner wants it taken down, take it down. : |
I normally wouldn't mind, they DID link back to the artist (though they don't always, from what I see) - but the picture itself got a bit of flak and I had something akin to a mild panic attack over it. A bit of an over-reaction, yeah, but it's something I really have no control over no matter how stupid the reason is. 9___6 I feel targeted easily, I guess. Herp.

I really dislike tumblrs like this. Not sure there's really anything we can do to stop them, though.

Itfurrytime links back to artists when they can.

http://itsfurrytime.tumblr.com/post/10326000220/unfortunately-a-bunch-of-furries-got-super-butthurt

Also, tumblr is weird. I've seen stuff that's been reblogged, and the source isn't listed anywhere other than the FIRST POST. Sometimes it's a pain in the ass to find that first post because of crappy journal layouts.

I guess I can understand being frustrated about this, but ultimately I think this is one of those cases where you're not going to be able to "win." I can't imagine tumblrs asking for permission or anything like that. However, personally I'd view this as more minor than wanting to put something in a FA/DA gallery or such. Tumblr is designed for passing along things that aren't theirs, kind of a "Look at this, it's neat!" site. The artists generally seem linked to in the main post (while it generally says something like "Sourced from furaffinity.net" the link goes to the artist's page, and that generally seems like it always says the domain rather than the subdirectoy).

Finally there is a recent post addressing the issue: here which specifies that the art can be removed if necessary. However, I'd encourage people to really examine this issue because I don't think it's going away anytime soon.

Personally I view this a little differently than other reuses of the artwork just because the tumblrs are generally just there to pass along artwork recommendations to people they think would like it. If you are concerned about images getting reposted, I'm make a very clear indication on the submission itself that it should not be reposted (while your copyright should include that, it will help clarify things to state it explicitly). However, to save yourself the headache, I'd only worry about it on a handful of images, make it clear that these few cannot be reposted anywhere due to whatever reason the reason is, and if possible, watermark them a lot. It may not be great for viewing them, but if you really want to stop people from reposting, that's your best bet.

The problem is most people reposting on tumblr don't see what they're doing as wrong, because they're not claiming the images of theirs, particularly if relinking them and they're not really gaining anything from reposting, even though the artist might. I think it's easier to respect "Please don't repost or reblog this anywhere due to its sensitive content" or something like that than "Don't repost any of my artwork anywhere under any circumstances." The former will tell someone that this image is off limits for a "good" reason, the second says everything's off limits because the artist is strict, and I'd be more likely to go against the latter - it leaves more room for rationalizing things and it doesn't give me anything I can show off.

I run a furry-themed tumblr blog. I repost things from Furaffinity with the bookmarklet, which includes a link back to the image and the artist name. I also reblog anthro-related artwork I see around tumblr, often from other furry art blogs. Often, these don't have sources because people don't know the sources.

No one is required to ask permission to repost your artwork and, even if you state that you don't wish to have it reposted, no one has to abide by that. This is the downside of posting your art on a public place (or on the internet at all). Frequently, people will have a conniption because there is no visible credit, but the image will have a click through with the image (like finerfur often does).

Also, in regards to those who have put in requests to have their art taken down through the tumblr ask box should be aware that tumblr often eats messages (no one knows why, it just happens sometimes). So there's always a changce that the blog owner simply didn't receive your message.on the other hand, they could just be a jerk.

(any typos or such are blamed on my phone's tiny keyboard)

Free publicity. Next.

Using watermarks never really hurt anyone. These days, I think it's a necessity.

I dunno, I think this is blown out of proportion. Tumblr is mainly an image sharing site and while many people try to put credit, often they just don't know what it is. If you don't want your art up, then just ask them to take it down, and 99% of the time, they will. No one is taking credit for it, so I definitely don't see this as art theft.

I'm not going to get into an argument for either side because this always turns out messy, but one thing I never understood was why there are so many people who enjoy the artwork artists make, but are also so eager to mock them and go against their wishes if they express they don't want their work reposted, much less not respect them enough to ask their permission to repost their work to begin with.

It's just not something I get. Somebody makes something and posts it. You like it, and you tell the artist thank you by just kind of taking it and doing whatever you want with it? I don't get it, I guess. Why wouldn't you want to be nice and respectful and ask first when somebody has shown you something you enjoy for free? Artists are being nice enough to share what they make, but you don't have to be nice enough to ask first?

Even in this post, there's a lot of 'Well I'm gonna do what I want and if the artist doesn't like it, piss on them! I'm gonna do it anyway!'. Why? Why would you want to treat the people who make things you enjoy that way?

Don't mind me. It just confuses me that people are so flippant about the feelings of people who do cool things and share that with people.

All that said, this is why I put the URL to my FA gallery on my pictures even though I feel like it detracts from the piece, because people are lazy and don't always credit.

You know, tumblr people, telling people that they are "butthurt" and mocking them does you no favors in getting people to be happy about you reposting their work. It only makes you look worse. :)

I follow that tumblr, and most of the time, if there is credit to be given, it will be a majority of the time.
Seriously, Im pretty sure if you say, "OHAI, that picture is mine, could you remove it/credit me" they would.

The reason they're so pissed off right now, is because the person running that tumblr, is getting epictons of hatemail, which really doesn't help anyone, except make the artists look like children.