From my icon journal: on crediting icons
Some thoughts on credit I posted in my icon journal (fading_coal) b/c of seeing a few journals/communities that don't ask for credit or even strongly oppose asking for credit since icons are based on the work of others and possibly illegal. Actually, using a screencap by itself is fair use; I know this b/c I have a screencap in a published academic book (The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction and Television--this isn't a plug; it's just to back up what I'm saying), and my editor explained it's b/c a screencap is one frame out of millions. In this particular case, the entertainment company in question denied my request to use a promo image (and pay for it!), but my editor suggested we go with a screencap since it was important and was legal, and we'd just live w/ the lesser quality. Now, manipulating images from caps I don't know--probably no more illegal than fanfic, and attitudes toward fanfic vary according to studio and producer/creator. Another reason I like credit for icons is the same reason I want credit for fanfic; I've done my best and worked hard. I don't always succeed at creating something good of course, and I'm more pleased with some of my efforts than others, but that's another matter. (And with Multiple Sclerosis, it seems sometimes it takes me as long to make an icon as it does to write a short story!) But the real benefit of credit for me is when I see an icon I like in someone else's post or comment, I can look at her/his User Pics, see who made it, and go check out that person's icons and either hunt that one down, finding other ones I like at the same time, or simply ask if I can use that one that I found in so and so's LJ. It's how I find some of my favorite icon-makers--via credit on someone else's LJ's User Pics page. When I see an icon I really like, I'll spend a ridiculous amount of time chasing it down in the maker's icon posts, and dl'ing several other of her/his other icons in the process. And in my heart of hearts, I hope that just every once in a while, not very often, but once in a purple moon or something, that someone might spot an icon of mine the same way and check out fading_coal. But just so you know, if you don't happen to have credited something of mine, I can't hunt you down (MS has really reduced my previously really slow running speed), I believe strongly in gun control, and even if I had any sort of weapon I'd undoubtedly miss, and really, given the choice b/t pursuing a credit-omitter and taking a nap, I'll be sleeping. OTOH, if you explicitly present icons or resources I've made as your own work, then I'll get peeved and use what verbal acuity I can muster to publicize your actions and flay you with lancets of wit. I'm a retired professor, and plagiarism über-seriously pisses me off. Thoughts?