Re: Unattributed Ascii-Art?

To Sum Up: As They Say in "The Phantom" Comics, "For Those Who Came In
Late..."

Since I started this thread and there may be (hopefully) a good amount of
discussion, I'll offer to serve as "secretary" and periodically post a
summary of the discussion thus far.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2002 18:33:44 GMT, mew...@softhome.net (JamesDad) wrote:
>I want to respect your work, and I do keep your initials on any ascii-art
>I reuse. However, sometimes I use a piece of ascii-art that had no
>attribution on it when I got it, such as this hug (which I did diddle to
>include my glasses and beard);
>
>       ___                 .~~~~ .                 ___
>  ____(   \              /________\               /   )____
> (____     \_____       / |(@||@)| \       ______/     ____)
>(____ A HUG FOR U`-----(      >     )-----'A HUG FOR U ____)
> (____     _____________@@  .___. @@______________     ____)
>   (______/             @@@.____.@@@              \______)
>                         @@@@@@@@@@
>                          @@@@@@@@
>
>  (View this in a monospaced font like Courier New or else 
>      you'll think this is a Picasso instead of a hug!)
>
>Has there ever been a discussion of a simple way to indicate that a piece
>of ascii-art is from an unknown source? The FAQ states, "If an ASCII ART
>picture doesn't have initials on it, mention that you didn't draw it when
>posting it". Could there (as a simple alternative) be a standard code or
>initials to do that instead? I know I'm not going to be putting "I didn't
>draw this and don't know who did" every time I use a piece of
>unattributed ascii art. Things I was thinking about might include:
>
> UNK : UNKnown source.
> #AU# : Artist unknown. The "#" characters would highlight that it was >
>      not someone with the initials "AU" who did the artwork.
> *U* : again, Unknown source.
> #NBM# : Not By Me
> UNATTR : UNATTRibuted; artist unknown.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2002 19:13:13 GMT, ast...@lastfuture.de (Peter
-lastfuture- Marquardt) added:

> this sure is a great idea... i kinda like it.. not your particular
> suggestions but the idea of marking unattributed ascii art to
> distinguish it from "self made free for use" ascii art :)
<SNIP>
> i think there will be discussed about it and maybe a new standard will
> emerge :) it's definitely a thing to spend some thought on

mik...@bluedwarf.spam.net (MJP) put in his two cents' worth in on
28 Feb 2002 02:52:15 GMT;

> hmm I do like  -=NBM=-  (not by me) or -UNK- though either *could* be a
> sig too.

> OBASCII: Respect (Tomb of the Unknown ASCII Artist)

(very appropriate, Mike; your OBASCII was unattributed)

On Thu, 28 Feb 2002 13:04:08 GMT, mew...@softhome.net (JamesDad) got back
into the act:

> We could even set a date (say, May 1--I thought about April 1 but since
> that's April Fool's Day...) to give someone time to speak up and say "I
> use that already!" or "I know someone who uses that one!" After the date
> chosen, it would BE the alt.ascii-art indicator for unattributed 
> ascii-art, and it would be up to the artist to change his/her form of 
> attributing their artwork to avoid confusion. Four or more letters could
> minimize that risk, too;

> ^QAA-A^ = "Query Alt.Ascii-Art" to find the artist.
> *RHIUDT* = "Raise Hand If You Did This"
> !ANSU! = "Attribution Needed: Speak Up!"
> +AUSU+ = "Artist Unknown: Speak Up!"
> ?DUDT? = "Did U Do This?" 
> ~IRAAAU~ = "I Respect Ascii-Artists: Artist Unknown"
> (FISAU) = "Fill In Space: Artist Unknown"

> ...putting symbols before and after the letters could help highlight 
> that the letters...are an indicator that the letters relate to the clip 
> being unattributed.

> Or the indicator could be all symbols;
> [***] = Like a password field; it's unknown what's behind the asterisks.

> I'm not as concerned about WHAT the indicator is...as I am that there BE
> one; simple and easy to remember...

> OBUASCII: (OBligatory Unattributed ASCII art) Bill the Cat as a Bat

BTW, Hope you like my "Picasso" footer to my ASCII-Art postings; I think
it *has* minimized some confusion.

I had another thought along similar lines to float; with all the diddling
that goes on, someone with a good diddle of another's original should be
given credit too. Take the example I gave of my crude effort at making a
"James Report" header (see my first post). Proper credit could be given by
an initial set like MW/jgs. I don't think putting EVERY diddler would
work; sigs as big as the artwork (MW/jgs/VK/MGP/LV/aa/lgb/SO would be
getting ridiculous), just the most recent diddler (and MAYBE a
particularly exceptional intermediate diddler) would suffice. So
MW/jgs/VK/MGP/LV/aa/lgb/SO would simply be MW/SO. I offer this for your
consideration as well.

OBUASCII: (Extended ASCII-art from my BBS days, converted with 7bit)

+------------------------------+
|People who accuse Christians  |
|of being "Bible Bangers" are  |
|usually far more intolerant   |          ################
|than the people they accuse   |        #####################
|of intolerance. Plus, they    |     #########################
|usually haven't read the book.|    #########   ##############
|  +---------------------------+   ############ # ###############
|  |                          ###############   #################
|  +-------+      ###############################################
+----------+   #################################################
                                       ########################
                                              ##################
                                              ###############
                                            #################
                                           ###############
                                          ################
                                        #################
                                      ###################
                                   ######################
 
==================================================
WASUP! Teaches Zoology:
What did the fish say when he hit a concrete wall?
Dam!
==================================================

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