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102 sats \ 7 replies \ @deSign_r 23h \ on: Putting a watermark on a meme - due credit or memes must be free? Memes
open source everything
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Credits different from acknowledgment or references.
- Credits is a professional practice or contractual obligation for attribution. Expected from those making use of the source
- Acknowledgments are more about gratitude for indirect support, mentorship, funding, emotional encouragement. Not required or expected from the creator
- References are similar to acknowledgments, more syntetic and coincise and used explicitly in public academic environment.
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my sensation is that credit isn't the same as open source, but I agree with what I think you are expressing: memes are not meant to be credited.
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I agree with @SimpleStacker in general:
Meme origins are usually so shadowy that I don't know if it's possible to accurately give credit to their creators.
Open source everything, for sure, but I'm also a fan of crediting / acknowledgements. If I know who the author of the meme is, I usually try to credit them or simply repost their original post. Memes are usually nothing more than reposts anyway.
I'm flattered to see my memes out in the wild, but I do usually watermark them nowadays due to the fact that neither crediting nor acknowledgements (as per your definitions) are not common practices within this realm.
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This gets to the real core of my question: is there something about a meme (as opposed to an article or an idea or an artwork) that is better when it is watermark-free and allowed to morph in society?
Symbols are one thing: the cross, the dollar sign, even the concept of the hashtag...these things are used and obviously credit isn't needed every time they show up.
Artwork is more complex than a meme, I think. Something like Starry Night or View of Toledo is clearly something that should be credited -- although when people riff on them...like a mona lisa with a mustache it becomes less important maybe?
Memes are in between: they more expressive than a symbol and can be used in a wider range of contexts, but things like the midwit meme or laser eyes or rick rolling feel like they lose something if they have attributions on them. It's almost like memes need to have the attribution stripped from them in order to really succeed.
It's a tricky line. I usually put a pretty obvious whale 🐋 on my bitcoin movie posters, the more meme-like images I make I try to find an excuse to work my whale or scoresby into it in some slightly subtle way if I'm going to watermark it. But honestly, I don't know that I can claim my images are meme-level.
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I think it simply ends up being about the creator's ego... does the creator want to be credited or recogized? if yes, should take care of placing a watermark or sign the piece accordingly, depending on what it is. If not, public domain.
True is that signed pieces are, for some weird reason, valuable.
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