Over the last year or so I've posted some content directly and exclusively to e6 just because I didn't have the energy to mess with my other socials. If I go and upload those same images to FA/Itaku/wherever else, can/should I retroactively include the relevant posts on those sites as sources or should I just leave them be?

Adding more image sources is not only okay, but highly encouraged. On e621 we want links to the image on all other sites whenever possible.

aaronfranke said:
Adding more image sources is not only okay, but highly encouraged. On e621 we want links to the image on all other sites whenever possible.

Sure thing, thanks! The only thing that was tripping me up is that these other posts will be much newer than the original uploads to e6, so calling them a "source" seemed disingenuous.

iuno said:
Sure thing, thanks! The only thing that was tripping me up is that these other posts will be much newer than the original uploads to e6, so calling them a "source" seemed disingenuous.

I feel the wording could be better in terms of "source", but I always think of it more as "other places to source this image" rather than that particular link being the original image before it was uploaded here. Otherwise, the argument could be had that each post should only have one source, which also doesn't prove true for most posts with sources.

I know as a self-uploader, I tend to post here first, and then add the links in post when I upload the piece elsewhere too (as I have different locations for different types of posts). Honestly, I think the more "sources" the better, as sometimes links die, and then there's no source at all for posts that only use one source.

bleachedasian said:
I feel the wording could be better in terms of "source", but I always think of it more as "other places to source this image" rather than that particular link being the original image before it was uploaded here. Otherwise, the argument could be had that each post should only have one source, which also doesn't prove true for most posts with sources.

The particular verbiage is inherited from danbooru, where posts can only have a single source (which I'd assume is meant to be where you actually got the image from)

I recently added a "source" for an image that's been on here for several years without one, even though it's a smaller version than the one we have here. I still don't know where that copy came from and I probably never will, but at least now there's proof that it was drawn by the artist it's been attributed to.

As long as the link is good, the answer is always yes