Every once in a while, I manage to post something that seems to strike a chord and it starts to spread through the tumblrsphere with the help of the reblog feature. This is something I love about tumblr.

Then of course there is the downside of that. Once a post gets past through 4 or 5 tumblelogs, comments get attached to the original text, new authors get credited, and worst of all, you find yourself reading text in a blockquote within a blockquote within a blockquote within a blockquote (and so on). You end up reading two or three words per line, making whatever was attempted to be said almost completely unreadable. The irony of course being that my most popular posts tend to be about typography…

So the point of me saying all this? I know there is always the inevitable backlash whenever anyone brings up the idea of etiquette on the internet, but perhaps some reblogging etiquette? I have a few simple ideas so that you can avoid clutter, get your point across, and credit the correct source.

1. If it’s an original post, go back to the source to reblog. Don’t reblog from the 4th guy to reblog it. Credit the actual author.
2. If it’s an internet meme that’s being passed around everywhere, reblog it from the site you saw it first, and drop the multiple blockquotes and comments attached.
3. If you want to reblog an original post with a poignant comment, make sure it’s clear which is the original post and which came after. If the comment is seven blockquotes deep, do a little bit of cleanup and credit the original author first and then the author of the followup comment.

I always appreciate a reblog, but I especially appreciate a reblog done well.