Misattributed

If you look back at some of the early posts of this blog, you'll realize that I like reading webcomics. I love them. Every day, I open up that day's webcomics, and get to explore a little bit more of a world that someone else is building, or see someone relate something funny or witty or insightful.

Some comics are amazingly beautiful works of art, while others are just words on a chalkboard. Some update very rarely, some don't update at all anymore, and many of them update with a regularity that I could only wish on bus drivers.

A number of them make a living off their webcomics, through ad revenue on their website, through donations, or through merchandise. So, on those rare occasions when I decide that something is worth sharing from a webcomic, I always try and post a link to the page on their website. After all, its only right that the artists get recognition, isn't it?

So imagine my dismay when I browse reddit, or scroll through my facebook feed, and see a link, to a comic that I recognize, with their names stripped out, with anything that could let people see more of their work torn out. Obviously, this is often done by some of the less reputable pop sites that have sprung up, so that they don't have to give up any of their precious clicks to another site. Most of the time, I try and do the right thing. I post a link in the comments with the artists website, smile and move on. I like to think that, if nothing else, I allow one or two people to discover something new and exciting.

I still wonder though...why do people do it? Why do people have an obsession with claiming something as their own? Is it pride and greed, wanting to be able to claim to have made something yourself, but too lazy to put the work in? Is it laziness, not wanting to put in the effort to properly attribute your work to someone else? Hopefully, at least part of the time, it's ignorance, people just passing on images found on the internet, their origins forgotten.

Maybe it will eventually be accepted practice, artists making images and then releasing them into the wilds of the internet, creativity for the sake of creativity, each image judged on its own merit. It has a certain appeal, I must admit, but I'll never stop attributing where I can. For if people can't find the stirring work of Gavin Aung Than, or the hilarious musings of Dante Shepherd, or discover the weird and fantastic world of Evan Dahm, or any of the other numerous wonderful artists out there on this wide world web, then something is very wrong.