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As AI art gets harder to clock, I feel like we are going to need to have a discussion about attribution and it's probably going to bum some people out.

Because the surest way to avoid platforming, reblogging, or encouraging AI art posting is to know where every image you share originated and that's 1) boring, tedious research and 2) extremely limiting in what you feel you can reblog. But if unattributed images never gets traction, people will start attributing their images.

I've been guilty of this in the past, but for a while now it's been my policy that if I can't verify the origin, I don't share the image. That goes for stuff like screen grabs of headlines too -- more than once I've avoided spreading misinformation by saving a post to research before I reblog, then seeing the post refuted before I've been able to verify it.

And I usually try to attribute photos I take -- case in point, the "woman with shrimp" post gets a lot of attention but not one comment about it being AI, despite it being pretty similar to something you'd get from an AI. That's because I clearly state it's in a museum and link to its catalogue page.

I'm not saying this to scold anyone -- I think yelling at the Internet to cite its sources is very much a losing game -- but because I don't see this discussed much. We're such fertile ground to be fooled by AI art because we've grown accustomed to not questioning the origins of any given image. And of course I also want to encourage both OPs to attribute their images and rebloggers to verify unattributed ones.

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I'm seeing a lot of posts where the overall point is good, but it's still full of dubious information. People act like questioning the sources is a betrayal of the virtue of the point, but, and I cannot stress this enough:

You should still question sources you agree with.

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I'm seeing a lot of posts where the overall point is good, but it's still full of dubious information. People act like questioning the sources is a betrayal of the virtue of the point, but, and I cannot stress this enough:

You should still question sources you agree with.

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Not perfect and not always right but basically:

Is it a screen shot?

Is there a link?

Did you click/read the link?

Was it a real source (AP wire, local news, the original online post - not Fox, not the Sun, not NY Post, etc)?

Did you find any confirmation?

Did it strongly confirm a bias or suspicion?

Did it make you feel angry, smug, disgusted, superior, and/or helpless?

Is it important enough to you that you think it needs to be shared?

Do you have the energy, time, ability to research, confirm, and provide sources, links, and some additional clarifying details?

Generally I have this in mind, not necessarily always and not always observed, and I forget and blah blah. But it's a pretty simple guide to remember, and honestly items 1 and 9 cover me most of the time.

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citationless behavior

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This data is only for Twitter, between January 2021 and June 2022.

The original map is from the site WordTips (archive), and has a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.

The image above was cropped to include only the map, thus excluding the source and the details of the data collection. It was then posted to the r/MapPorn subreddit (which does not require sources for the maps posted), and that is where MapsOnTheWeb got it from (as well as many of the other maps on that blog). The original Tumblr post links this as the source.

The full original image is also included below, with alt text. I cannot vouch for the reliability of WordTips, but it does appear to be the original source.

Most popular swear words by state in the US

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[Image ID: Tweet from Michael McCullough (@/ ME_McCullough) at 5:43 PM, on 05 Apr 23, with 3.2M views reading: "Stop using pop culture references as the first half of the title of your journal article." Reply from Spirit, PhD, LPC, NCC, CPCS (@/ talk2spirit)} at 11:39 PM, on 06 Apr 23, with 50.2K views, reading: "Who Gon Check Me, Boo: A Phenomenological Study of Entitled Gate Keeping of Scholarly Contributions." /End ID] 

Sources: Archive Link to Tweet 1 (the original was deleted from Twitter), Link to Tweet 2 (Archive Link)

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ALT

View on Twitter

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Resources on Research, Fact-Checking, Research, and Misinformation

Here are some other places you can look for research, fact-checking, and debunking misinformation, as well as information on how to do those things. This list will grow as time goes on. Feel free to suggest additions.

Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/): If a specific webpage (including social media posts) is deleted or altered, you still might find a version of it saved on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Anyone can add a webpage to be archived, so if you are including a source, it is a good idea to plug it into the Wayback Machine and archive it if it has not been already archived. That way you know someone deleting a post or editing it won't remove all possibility of seeing the version you got the information from.

Little Details community on Dreamwidth (https://little-details.dreamwidth.org/): A community for writers to get help from others with research and fact-checking. Useful for rather specific questions that may not be answered with a simple web or library search.

Citing Sources for Your Own Posts

For claims, quotes, or screenshots you are making yourself, on Tumblr or another platform, remember that including a source yourself takes almost no effort on your part, while it will take others significantly more time to trace back the original source of what you posted.

If it diminishes your point to offer readers the context, then that is not a good faith representation of that information. If you don't know the source, then it is good to practice to be skeptical and research before sharing.

Taking a screenshot or copying information from a webpage? Copy the link. (And if the only information you want to share is text, then it may be preferable to copy-paste it as a plain text excerpt, or at least add alt-text or an image description with the screenshot.) While you are at it, save an archive of the page to the Wayback Machine or another archive site so people can still find it even if the original post or link to the site is changed.

If your source is something other than the internet, it still helps to include enough information for others to check the source if they wish. (You don't have to include your sources properly formatted in an scholarly style for a social media post, but it is a good idea to at least know which information such a citation would require, as it can be a good guiding principle.)

Art should be sourced and credited, whether it is visual art, writing, a comic, or any other medium.

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[Image Description (from the original post): Screenshot of a Discord settings screen, with the left sidebar including "Devices", "Connections", "Clips", and "Friend Requests". The Clips tab is selected. The main part of the screen, on the right, is titled "Clips", with the label "Beta" next to it. The setting underneath reads, "Allow my voice to be recorded in Clips", and the explanation reads, "By turning on this setting, your voice may be included when someone in the same voice channel uses clips." The setting is toggled on. /End ID]

The screenshot in the reblog is a bullet point under "Information you provide to us" in Discord's Privacy Policy.

[Image Description (for the screenshot in the reblog): Screenshot of text after a bullet point, which reads, "Content you create. This includes any content that you upload to the service. For example, you may write messages or posts (including drafts), send voice messages, create custom emojis, create short recordings of GoLive activity, or upload and share files through the services. This also includes your profile information and the information you provide when you create servers. We generally do not store the contents of video or voice calls or channels. If we were to change that in the future (for example, to facilitate content moderation), we would disclose that to you in advance. We also don’t store streaming content when you share your screen, but we do retain the thumbnail cover image for the stream for a short period of time. We may build features that help users engage with voice and video content, like create or send short recordings." /End ID]

Just an FYI for those wondering, but Discord's now exposed the "Allow my voice to be recorded in other people's Clips" setting to everyone, even if you can't make Clips yourself on Discord. :)

Just go to User Settings > Clips to find it (though if it's not on Stable versions yet, you may need to wait a couple days. This screenshot was taken on Canary version Edit: It should be on all versions now - both Desktop and Mobile.)

If you don't know what clips are, read Discord's Clips Support Article :)

(TL;DR - Think of them like Twitch/YouTube Clips, but for Discord Screenshares inside Voice Channels & DMs/GroupDM Calls).

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In service of that purpose, I've added links to the posts that are included in screenshots here.

The last screenshot, in particular, is cut off in a manner that entirely misrepresents the actual opinion expressed in the post. The screenshot in the original post is not as blatantly misleading, but it is of a reblog, so see the link (as well as the timestamp) for the context of the post being responded to.

Post from the screenshot by OP @/onewetual-archive-deactivated20: From May 12, 2021. https://www.tumblr.com/prismatic-bell/651038043254456320/free-palestine-is-an-antisemitic-statement-it. Archive from the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20240110015417/https://www.tumblr.com/prismatic-bell/651038043254456320/free-palestine-is-an-antisemitic-statement-it?source=share.

Post from the screenshots in the reblog by @/yubels-deactivated20210922: From July 6, 2021. This reblogger included a link, but the original post is either deleted or at a different URL. Archive from the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20220706063849/https://prismatic-bell.tumblr.com/post/655964409600114688/your-opinions-on-drug-users-are-disgusting-and.

Post from the screenshot in the reblog by @/amvs: This is the very misleading one. From October 30, 2023. https://www.tumblr.com/prismatic-bell/732579907957374976/ive-been-trying-for-days-to-suss-out-any-kind-of. Archive from the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20231031190932/https://www.tumblr.com/prismatic-bell/732579907957374976/ive-been-trying-for-days-to-suss-out-any-kind-of.

Make your own judgments from there.

(There may be additional context to xir statements, such as time periods and users interacted with, that also influence how you might interpret these posts. But that's true of everything, and thus beyond what I will be providing.)

@/prismatic-bell is a zionist among other things so please stop reblogging posts that's got xir unneeded commentary on it.