I don't mind at all when images from Retrospace are used elsewhere. In fact, it brings me a sense of satisfaction seeing a Retrospace pic on another blog - imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Plus, these images aren't really my property - as I've elaborated in another post, they are scanned from magazines, comics, etc. and are really the property of the creator of the material. A 7-Up advertisement from 1972 is the property of 7-Up, so I have no right to be outraged when my scan of the advertisement turns up on someone else's blog - it wasn't really mine to begin with!
That being said, it is infuriating to see a picture from Retrospace slapped on someone else's blog with no credit given. Sure, I didn't create the ad, but I did go through the effort of buying the old magazine, scanning it in, and uploading it for public viewing. It's common courtesy to at least reference the source of the image.
How do I even know these images are mine? Maybe the blogger owned the same magazine or comic as me, scanned it and coincidentally posted it shortly after me..... not a chance. When you scan something, the way the image is cropped, the exposure, and details such as fading and rips can identify an image as yours, and not someone else's independent creation.
I think that some folks can be forgiven for being noobs. I did the same thing myself many times before - clueless to the fact that I was screwing somebody else who spent a good deal of time and effort to provide the image. However, most of the time, it's from bloggers who just don't give a shit, and everything's fair game for them.
The solution to this is to watermark the photo with a Retrospace logo; however, I will never do that because I feel like it takes away from the eye candy. There's also a way to make the picture look different if it's embedded on another site - but this doesn't prevent someone from just saving the picture themselves and posting it without giving credit. After all, I WANT MY IMAGES SHARED - I just want credit where credit is due.
In the end, the Internet is like the wild, wild west, and there's really nothing we can do about it..... that is, except bitch and moan in posts like this. What's your opinion on the matter?
