[continued from previous message]   
      
       Here are a few important considerations:-   
      
       *   If the picture contains a few letters in one corner which don't   
           seem to be part of the picture, they're the  artist's initials.   
           DO NOT remove these initials -- would you cut away the part of   
           a Van Gogh painting containing his name?  Leaving the initials   
           on is a small price to pay for being able to use the picture   
           for free.   
      
       *   If you're going to use a picture in your signature file, or in   
           a place (such as a log-in screen) which means you're going to   
           be using it a lot, you should really e-mail the artist (or post   
           to the newsgroup, if you don't know their address) and ask for   
           permission, because otherwise people may get the mistaken   
           impression that you were the one who drew the picture.   
      
       *   If you find a picture you want to use, or post, but it doesn't   
           have initials on it, a common method of marking has been to use   
           the tag: Unknown. More recently the tag: [nosig] has been used.   
      
       As for posting other people's ASCII art,   
       after a discussion in news:alt.ascii-art       _     ___   
       the following rules were agreed upon:         #_~`--'__ `===-,   
       1.  If an ASCII ART picture has initials      `.`.     `#.,//   
           on it, leave them on when posting it      ,_\_\     ## #\   
       2.  If an ASCII ART picture doesn't have      `__.__    `####\   
           initials on it,  mention  that  you            ~~\ ,###'~   
           didn't  draw  it  when  posting  it.              \##'   
       3.  If somebody  posts a picture without                  [nosig]   
           initials and you have an original copy   
           with initials on, feel free to re-post the original version.   
           *   The re-post ought not to be taken personally, as we all   
               know that ASCII art often loses proper credits.   
               Responses to the re-post are not necessary.   
      
       One contributor suggested the following:   
      
       1.) Ultra polite:...ya make yer own ascii and use it.   
       2.)  Very polite:...Ya contact the author and ask if ya   
                           can use it...   
       3.)       polite:...Ya use it but you keep the Credits   
                           in there like they should be.   
       4.)         rude:...Ya use it and strip credits.   
       5.)    Very rude:...Ya use it and claim that it Is   
                           _Your_ very own creation...   
      
       You choose ... I think the default choice is #3 but you should   
       make up yer own mind....   [Krogg]   
      
   ========================================================================   
   [11]  What way works best to ask for a picture of something?   
   ========================================================================   
       Give your request the subject:  `REQ:' or `[req]'   
       Whatever you're looking for a picture of, in the message describe   
       more exactly what you're looking for. Generally, the more specific   
       you are, the more likely you are to get some response.   
       If you just say something like:   
            `can someone draw me a fish, please'   
       then you may not get many replies, because people may not know   
       what size or feel they're wasting their time by drawing something   
       you won't want. If you don't have Web access, mention this fact,   
       otherwise you may get replies consisting only of URLs for the   
       kind of pictures you're looking for.   
       If someone is rude back to you directly, then please be patient,   
       since it may just be a troll trying to wind you up.   
             __   
           .'  ))  __-:!:-                If you have a picture   
             .'  .'  ))                   and want it Ascii-fied   
           ((__,'  .'  .ASCII! -:!:-      see Question 14 and 15.   
           -:!:- ((__,'^*   
      
   ========================================================================   
   [12]  What should I know before posting to alt.ascii-art?   
   ========================================================================   
       It doesn't matter if your ASCII art isn't particularly good; we'd   
       like to see it anyway. We won't be rude about it (although you'd   
       better tell us what it is, or we might ask :-), but if it shows   
       potential, you may find that other people will `re-diddle' it --   
       change a few characters, make it a bit better, and re-post it.   
      
       HOWEVER, there are a few things you should check before you   
       post to news:alt.ascii-art any piece of ASCII art   
       (see also Question 13).   
      
       *   Are you sending it as PLAIN TEXT?   
           Turn off "send MIME message" and select "PLAIN TEXT only".   
      
       *   Is it under 72 characters wide? Most news readers can only show   
           lines which are under either 72, 76, or 80 characters wide, so   
           if your picture is wider than 72 characters it may get wrapped   
           [see Question 4]. Also remove any unnecessary space characters   
           from the end of each line of the picture, to prevent lines from   
           being too long (and getting wrapped) without your realizing.   
      
       *   If it IS over 72 characters wide?   
           Then a warning in the subject line [wide:110] or whatever the   
           original picture width and Check Your Post Output Line-Wrap   
           settings.   
           Previous versions of this FAQ used a system to prefix posts   
           such as: [pic] [info] [req] [big] which may be used as a guide   
           when providing warnings.   
      
       *   Have you used any TAB characters or Control Codes?   
           Inserting control codes (ASCII characters 0 to 31) in a picture   
           can sometimes achieve interesting effect on your computer screen   
           or news reader, such as reversing text or changing its colour.   
           DO NOT post any of these pictures to news:alt.ascii-art, post to   
           news:alt.binaries.pictures.ascii instead for two reasons:-   
      
           1.  the effects that the control codes have on your news reader   
               are almost certainly going to be  different  from those on   
               the thousands of other news readers that other people use   
      
           2.  on some news readers, control codes can cause  messed up   
               displays, messages not appearing, or (in some cases) the   
               news reader crashing.   
      
       *   If your first line starts with one or more spaces, stick a   
           dummy line (such as -- or .) above it, to prevent the spaces   
           from being ignored by your news program (this only applies to   
           some news programs, and only to the first line of the   
           message).   
      
       If you're not sure about whether your message will turn out ok,   
       post it to a test group (such as news:alt.test or news:misc.test)   
       first and make sure that you can read it ok, also using a different   
       newsreader, if you can.   
      
       [See Question 10 for advice on posting someone else's ASCII art.]   
      
   ========================================================================   
   [13]  What to NOT post to alt.ascii-art? [da roolz]   
   ========================================================================   
   [13.1]            ASCII art is a very simple medium.   
      
                /\       /    /\  /   /            /\  /\   /   
                \/\ \   /\    \/\ \/\ \   \  \  __ \/\ \/_ /\   
                 \   \/   \ o  \    /  \/  \  \     \   \    \   
               _  _                                         _  _   
         ___ (~ )( ~)   The following List of Items       (~ )( ~) ___   
        /   \_\ \/ /      should NOT be posted to          \ \/ /_/   \   
       |   D_ ]\ \/         the Usenet groups:-             \/ /[ _G   |   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)