Before you think, “GOSH, I should post this to Tumblr! It’s sure to get me a million notes!” you should consider something – It’s probably already on there, likely posted by the person who created the content in the first place.
So what should you do instead of reposting that thingy you found and potentially putting someone out? Let’s start with right-clicking on the picture.
See that little camera icon? Click on that SOB and you’ll get a box that looks like this:
Now paste the URL you just copied into that box and click “Search by Image”.
Wow, it looks like that picture is all over the place – including Tumblr! Amazing! I wonder what happens if I click on that first link!
Okay, so it wasn’t at the very top, but scroll down a little bit, and… HARK! A SOURCE! Now you know where the post came from, and you can reblog it from there instead of spreading a redundant post!
Seriously. In this specific case, the reposted images are on pace to surpass the original in note count. Yes, the other post was sourced to Imgur, but Imgur is NOT A VALID SOURCE. Neither is FunnyJunk, nor 9gag, nor Facebook unless the artist posted the work there themselves. The average person probably doesn’t take the time to click through two or three pages to try and root out the original, so you’re doing creatives a massive disservice by doing this, especially in the case where the piece is a collaboration.
This takes literally 30 seconds of legwork. Due diligence, please. I know posts like this have been made before, but apparently it bears repeating.
