I was going to upload a drawing from an artist (kame 3 in this case) before learning their Twitter account and Bluesky accounts are currently unavailable. I checked their other socials such as Pixiv but the drawing I wish to upload isn't there. The only site that I found with the picture "intact" so to speak was rule34...which sources from the unavailable Twitter.

What do I do in this situation? Should I go ahead and upload the image with no source, or get as close as I can to the "original" sources via currently (possibly indefinitely) not-working links?

atacticaladvantage said:
I was going to upload a drawing from an artist (kame 3 in this case) before learning their Twitter account and Bluesky accounts are currently unavailable. I checked their other socials such as Pixiv but the drawing I wish to upload isn't there. The only site that I found with the picture "intact" so to speak was rule34...which sources from the unavailable Twitter.

What do I do in this situation? Should I go ahead and upload the image with no source, or get as close as I can to the "original" sources via currently (possibly indefinitely) not-working links?

• Firstly, check and see if the artist is on the DoNotPost list if you haven't already.
• Secondly, ensure whatever you have saved is found nowhere else.
• Use SauceNAO, Google/Yandex Reverse Image Search, etc. to see where else it has been posted.
• Search the artist's name and profiles to see if they have any other galleries outside of X and Pixiv.
• Whenever possible, check with the artist if this was in fact their artwork and why was it not posted again on their gallery.
• This gives you the opportunity to find out any potential reasons NOT to repost it (e.g., private art, paid/pirated art) or to ask their blessings to share them here.
• Finally, post the highest publicly available quality of that artwork.
• This includes comparing all of your sources (i.e., the one you have vs. Rule34) and checking which has the better quality, eventually choosing that to post here.
• If you have the "original" dead source link, include it as well but with a - in front of it to indicate a dead source.
• E.g., -https://x.com/artist/status/1234567890
• If you have a secondary source, include it as well. Primary sources from the artist is preferable, but secondary sources from third-party websites may be used if no other source is available.
• Sources like Rule34 are generally unfavourable because they tend to have pop-up ads, lower image quality, leaked/pirated paid content, etc. However, they may be used if no other sources are available.

thegreatwolfgang said:

• Firstly, check and see if the artist is on the DoNotPost list if you haven't already.
• Secondly, ensure whatever you have saved is found nowhere else.
• Use SauceNAO, Google/Yandex Reverse Image Search, etc. to see where else it has been posted.
• Search the artist's name and profiles to see if they have any other galleries outside of X and Pixiv.
• Whenever possible, check with the artist if this was in fact their artwork and why was it not posted again on their gallery.
• This gives you the opportunity to find out any potential reasons NOT to repost it (e.g., private art, paid/pirated art) or to ask their blessings to share them here.
• Finally, post the highest publicly available quality of that artwork.
• This includes comparing all of your sources (i.e., the one you have vs. Rule34) and checking which has the better quality, eventually choosing that to post here.
• If you have the "original" dead source link, include it as well but with a - in front of it to indicate a dead source.
• E.g., -https://x.com/artist/status/1234567890
• If you have a secondary source, include it as well. Primary sources from the artist is preferable, but secondary sources from third-party websites may be used if no other source is available.
• Sources like Rule34 are generally unfavourable because they tend to have pop-up ads, lower image quality, leaked/pirated paid content, etc. However, they may be used if no other sources are available.

Thank you for the thorough and well-worded reply. I'll do my best to try and find the best possible sources.