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chi83

Just an FYI - credit for photos, etc for those who don't know

Chi
10 years ago

This is just an FYI as I see a lot of this on the KT and figure maybe people don't realize that it's not good practice as the rules can be confusing. There are many posts with pictures, recipes, etc that were clearly just copied from the internet without giving credit or linking back to where it was taken.

I am sure no one intends to do this, but when you share content without permission or crediting, you are essentially stealing someone else's work and presenting it as your own. And even if you write that it's not yours, you're still taking away other people's recognition by not posting where you got it.

I see it all the time - photos taken directly from Google images and blog posts, recipes copied and pasted verbatim directly from websites, original content copied and pasted (tip lists, jokes, etc) without any mention at all of where it came from, giving the illusion that the post author took it or created it themselves. Adding photos to your own photo account before posting isn't the same thing as crediting the source. It takes about two seconds on Google to find the original source.

It's generally considered ok to post a picture or recipe as long as you credit the source and link back to where you got it. Sometimes though the authors/creators require permission before posting, and there have been lawsuits over breaking this. You should read the copyright notice that most bloggers or websites have to know exactly how you're allowed to share their content before you do so.

There are exceptions (family recipes, things being used with permission), and open/free-sourced content out there, and I'm not referring to any of these, or the many pictures that people share that they or people they know took themselves. Or sources that are truly unknown. I'm also not a lawyer, so I don't know all the legalities of intellectual property but I wanted to share what I have learned in case it helps someone.

If you ever need examples, the cooking forum posters are generally excellent about crediting sources.

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