Sources and uploading

I'm confused as to how sources should be done on uploads. For my very first uploads, I losslessly downloaded the images and uploaded them, filling the source box with the Pixiv image info page (the one with the tags/comments/image preview). I then received a DMail telling me I should always just put the direct image link in the source box and let Danbooru pull the image so as to not potentially lose quality along the way. Ever since I started doing that, people have come along and switched the sources back to the preview pages (though I haven't uploaded from Pixiv since then IIRC) on my uploads.

So what is the proper procedure?

Nobody switched the sources back to the preview pages, it's Danbooru that automatically links to the preview page. You always have to add the pixiv image source link so things like the Find Artist function will work properly.

Danbooru automagically turns the actual link to the image into a clickable link to the image info page under the source field on the left.

RaisingK's script will convert links to the info page to the actual image because that's the only way the find artist search and being able to search wildcards will work.

Regarding post #977029 ( tag edit @ 2011-08-18 03:58 ):

Do not use links like http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=big&illust_id=17091708. Instead, link directly to the image ( e.g. http://img02.pixiv.net/img/canat/17091708.png ). The direct link provides a way to uniquely identify the pixiv artist, even if the artist later deletes that image (which happens quite often). The Find Artist feature, which compares the source link to the URLs listed in artist entries to identify the artists of new posts, needs this kind of source in order to work. Danbooru automatically adds the "medium/manga view" link (http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=17091708) to the post page but keeps the direct link as the actual source (seen when editing the tag list).

I'm not talking about the link generated on Danbooru's image page, but the URL to be put in the Source during upload.

So the automatic link conversion's just for Pixiv, and one should link to the preview page on other websites like DeviantArt?

It just seems odd to me that downloading and then uploading from Pixiv shouldn't be done, but it has to be for other sites unless you feel like changing the source back after uploading. But I guess that's the nature of the beast.

^ currently, there's no automatic link to viewing pages like we have with pixiv. deviantart, blog sites (fc2, tumblr, tegaki, nicoseiga), etc, suffer from this. if you are uploading in any of these sites, you are encouraged to use the direct url (usually ending in png, gif, jpg) upon uploading.

then, you are requested to edit the source back into a user's viewing page specific to that post. the new url usually has the username in the link that is compatible to the find artist function in danbooru.

for the related deviantart sources discussion: forum #70556

Deviantart is the only place we have even discussed replacing the source. Don't replace the source on non-deviantart images. Even if it doesn't fuck up find artist it does fuck up the bookmarklet because it can't detect that the source file has already been uploaded.

do we have a hard rule handling non-da and non-pixiv posts? i have observed uploading/tagging practices of many veteran users including mod team members replace the source after uploading even before i made my very first own share. is this practice strongly discouraged?

how about those users that were able to upload with an html page as the source, do we need to re-edit all of them and replace it with the direct image url for the benefit of the bookmarklet?

I replace the direct source links for Twitpic images. They're completely useless for finding the artist. If they're not changed, there's no way to tell which account it came from later (as far as I can tell), which really bugs me. I always make sure to link back to the image's full size page and make sure the artist's Twitpic account is in their artist wiki.

I'd like to reopen this discussion, especially since Tumblr is now a growing source of art with no good image-sourcing potential.

Tumblr image URLs are pretty much random nonsense, with the only automation possible being to prevent/search for a "*1280" image to prevent "*500" tumblr_sample uploads.

However, I make it a habit to replace the image URL with the post URL after uploading Tumblr-sourced art.
I have also been asking users to do the same (rather unwise, now that I think on it), and as user #356931 (Skingraft) pointed out to me, howto:upload still has this:

• For uploads from an internet source, the source can be entered directly on the upload page and Danbooru will pull the image straight from the source. Never download an image to your computer and upload that copy unless you absolutely have to. Note that the source for an image should always be a link to the image itself, not the page it came from.

So, should we update the wiki for Tumblr uploads, or what?

Kikimaru said:

So, should we update the wiki for Tumblr uploads, or what?

I think so, yes. Not just for Tumblr either, but for any other sites where automating the conversion from the direct image url to the html page url is impossible. This includes Tumblr, blog sites, twimg.com, and probably more.

I think it should be changed to say the source should only point to the image itself for sites where Danbooru automates the direct source -> html page when the user clicks on the source. Currently, these sites are:

• Pixiv
• Nico Seiga
• Twitpic (this includes those crazy-looking d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net urls, believe it or not)
• Deviantart
• Karabako
• Twipple
• Hentai Foundry

Otherwise it should be the html page url since that's more useful.

It was mentioned in topic #10404 that there's another method to upload and properly source images with less clicks on Danbooru 2. I've always done the "full route" and thus don't really get the ins and outs of the sourcing system. If somebody who actually does could expand that section I'd appreciate it.

Rewrite for paragraph 1 of howto:upload->Source your upload:

---

• Danbooru can create automated direct source URL -> HTML post conversion from the following sites:
• Pixiv
• Nico Seiga
• Twitpic
• Twipple
• Karabako
• deviantArt
• Hentai-Foundry

For uploads from these sites, the Source field is simply the image URL of the picture.
For all other sites (e.g. Tumblr, blogs, twimg.com etc.), uploaders are asked to change the Source field (after upload) to point to the HTML page URL.

Kikimaru said:

Rewrite for paragraph 1 of howto:upload->Source your upload:

---

• Danbooru can create automated direct source URL -> HTML post conversion from the following sites:
• Pixiv
• Nico Seiga
• Twitpic
• Twipple
• Karabako
• deviantArt
• Hentai-Foundry

For uploads from these sites, the Source field is simply the image URL of the picture.
For all other sites (e.g. Tumblr, blogs, twimg.com etc.), uploaders are asked to change the Source field (after upload) to point to the HTML page URL.

Sounds good to me.

I've also noticed this paragraph right below it:

---

• For uploads of Pixiv "singles," open the page where you can see the artist's title, comments, and tags. Click on the image here and Pixiv will open a new window/tab with just the originally-sized image in it. Right click this image, copy its location, and paste this into the Source box on the Upload page.

--
AFAIK, this isn't necessary now that Danbooru automatically fetches the larger image, correct?

Kikimaru said:

I've also noticed this paragraph right below it:

---

• For uploads of Pixiv "singles," open the page where you can see the artist's title, comments, and tags. Click on the image here and Pixiv will open a new window/tab with just the originally-sized image in it. Right click this image, copy its location, and paste this into the Source box on the Upload page.

--
AFAIK, this isn't necessary now that Danbooru automatically fetches the larger image, correct?

That's right, you can put the sample url in the source box and it should work.

Though I think it may be better to not mention this on there. For one, a noobie reading that might think "Oh, so I should save the sample to my computer, upload that, and it will be automatically corrected. Sounds good!". But that's wrong and will result in the sample getting uploaded, Danbooru can only correct it with source uploads as opposed to uploads from your computer.

Another problem is that people who use the bookmarklet still need to click the image once to open the full size on Pixiv. Otherwise the preview image won't appear because Pixiv disables hotlinking.

It's only a single extra click to open the full size so it might be better to not risk confusing people.

There should be an easily accessible place where you can look up how things actually work, not be hidden because it can be misinterpreted.

S1eth said:

There should be an easily accessible place where you can look up how things actually work, not be hidden because it can be misinterpreted.

I guess but any explanation of how things work is going to get pretty complicated since this all varies by the site you're uploading from and other factors. Isn't howto:upload supposed to be a simple guide for noobs...? It's already so long I'm surprised people even read it and making it any more complicated is only going to worsen the problem.

I'm not against putting this information somewhere but is howto:upload really the best place?

One could seperate the explanation into 2 parts: general way to upload (works for all sites), sites with automated direct source URL.

Kikimaru said:

Rewrite for paragraph 1 of howto:upload->Source your upload:

---

• Danbooru can create automated direct source URL -> HTML post conversion from the following sites:
• Pixiv
• Nico Seiga
• Twitpic
• Twipple
• Karabako
• deviantArt
• Hentai-Foundry

For uploads from these sites, the Source field is simply the image URL of the picture.
For all other sites (e.g. Tumblr, blogs, twimg.com etc.), uploaders are asked to change the Source field (after upload) to point to the HTML page URL.

It seems like this could be automated for uploads using the bookmarklet, since it has the URL of the containing page at the time of upload.