雛鳥が囀るな, ~ FAQs on Reposting ~

~ FAQs on Reposting ~

* * * * * Updated as of 5th February, 2017* * * * *
{added section: Twitter artworks}

You want to post an artwork from sites like pixiv/weibo/etc?

No one says you may not, unless you adhere to the rules.

Contents:

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~ Sourcing ~

What is sourcing? I’m sure you all know what that means, but let’s just make things clearer for people who don’t. Sourcing is to include links that lead to artworks and/or their artists, when you repost things that originate from other sites. It’s also important to have the sources as LINKS IN THE POST and/or IN THE CONTENT SOURCE, NOT ARTISTS’ IDs/NAMES IN THE TAGS.

Some tools that help you A LOT when sourcing, especially unsourced works:

SauceNAO
Google image search
IQDB
TinEye
Google chrome extension with all of the above

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~ If you don’t have and/or can’t find the source ~

This is one excuse that I stumble upon too often to count, and believe me when I say it gets on my nerves whenever I see this excuse.

Have you tried hard enough to look for the source? Have you tried asking your peers? Have you really run out of all the possible ways? Well, I’m sorry but I’ll be blunt: simply DON’T POST it. Surely not posting unsourced work is much a better option than getting reported and flamed, don’t you think? Unless you want some trouble for yourself.

Also, some friendly reminders:

topit is NOT a source
pinterest is NOT a source
weheartit is NOT a source
zerochan is NOT a source
danbooru is NOT a source

Now that we’re clear here let’s move on to source sites.

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~ For Tumblr~

I cannot reiterate enough that if you see artworks that are originally from Tumblr, DO NOT REPOST them in any way. You can REBLOG AND/OR LIKE the original posts, but NEVER REPOST them.

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~ For Pixiv ~

Go to the artist’s profile page, scroll down until you see a box labeled “Self Introduction”. Now look for the words 転載 and/or 転写. If the artist’s profile contains those words, it is 2000% safe to deduct that the artist DOES NOT wish for their works to be reposted. If you want to be even 2000% more sure, look for the word/phrase that contains 禁止. Or if you have no time to do that, or you want to be 2000% more sure than ever, just copy the texts and paste them onto google translate.

I’m not saying you may always post the works of an artist who doesn’t have any of those words in their profile page. You can send them a message, asking them if it’s alright to post their works to tumblr. But don’t you go and complain and whine to me that they don’t understand english. Who told you they don’t? What made you so sure they don’t? Okay, maybe one or two artists on your mind understand English; but based on my experience, 50% of pixiv users UNDERSTAND english, maybe not really fluent in it but anyway, they DO.

Just keep the english as simple as possible, for example:

Subject: Permission to repost
Dear (name of artist),
Hello, I really like your work for (pixiv id of the artwork). I want to ask you if it is okay to post it onto a site called Tumblr? If it is okay, I will surely include source and link back to your site.
Thank you.

Simple but to-the-point right?

Or if you prefer Japanese message:

Subject: 他のサイトに作品を投稿する許可
(name of artist)さんへ、
初めまして、こんにちは。
あなたの作品、特に (pixiv id of artwork) は本当にすごいです。失礼かもしれませんが、その作品をTumblrというサイトに投稿させて頂けませんか？投稿させて頂いたらちゃんと記載をして、あなたのpixivやブログにリンクを貼ります。
日本語は母語じゃありませんので、書くのが下手で何か不明な事があったら申し訳ございません。もしよければ英語で返事したらすごく助かります。(this sentence basically means “my japanese is not really good, so I’m sorry for any misunderstanding. i would really appreciate it if you could reply in english.” so you can omit this if you’re really confident with your japanese. if you’re messaging the artist about wanting to translate it, then please do omit this part because if you say you’re not good in japanese but want to translate… well you know what i mean)
ありがとうございました。

Also, there are quite a number of chinese fanartists on pixiv too, so here’s a Chinese version!

Subject: 授权复制
你好！
这 (pixiv id of artwork) 图片画得真好, 辛苦了！不好意思请问一下，可以拿去在Tumblr上发布吗？Tumblr是个很多国外饭上的网站。发布的话一定会提到出处的。
还有，我的中文很差，所以如果有什么不清楚的地方，真抱歉。倘能如此，请用英文答复。(this sentence basically means “my chinese is not really good, so I’m sorry for any misunderstanding. i would really appreciate it if you could reply in english.” so you can omit this if you’re really confident with your chinese. if you’re messaging the artist about wanting to translate it, then please do omit this part because if you say you’re not good in chinese but want to translate… well you know what i mean)
非常感谢！

Next, thank them. I repeat, thank them. Whether or not they give you the go-ahead to repost, just thank them, period. It’s courtesy to thank people for whatever favor you ask them of, right? You can find thank-you message templates in the next few sections.

Now, if pixiv artists have tumblr accounts, and they have the artworks that you want to repost, on their tumblr, REBLOG AND/OR LIKE the original posts from their blogs instead!

* * * * *

~ For Weibo ~

Things are a little different for Weibo. Weibo artists DO NOT have words/phrases like the ones I mentioned above anywhere on their site, save for a percentile of the majority who do. This, however, does not mean you may never post their works. Politeness and honesty play an important role here. You ask for their permission, wait for their reply. Of course this goes without saying but just in case: thank them afterwards if they give you their permission. And even if they don’t, thank them nevertheless! Weibo users are friendly IF you display the same friendliness towards them. Note that I’m speaking from personal experience here.

Message them by clicking this box that has the word 私信. Most of them understand english, but to be on the safe side, keep the english as simple as possible!

Dear (name of artist),
Hello, I really like your work for (permanent link of the artwork). I want to ask you if it is okay to post it onto a site called Tumblr? If it is okay, I will surely include source and link back to your site.
Thank you.

If you prefer Chinese message:

你好！
这 (permanent link of the artwork) 图片画得真好, 辛苦了！不好意思请问一下，可以拿去在Tumblr上发布吗？Tumblr是个很多国外饭上的网站。发布的话一定会提到出处的。
还有，我的中文很差，所以如果有什么不清楚的地方，真抱歉。(this sentence basically means “my chinese is not really good, so I’m sorry for any misunderstanding” so you can omit this if you’re really confident with your chinese)
非常感谢！

Same rule applies here: if weibo artists have tumblr accounts, and they have the artworks that you want to repost, on their tumblr, REBLOG AND/OR LIKE the original posts from their blogs instead!

* * * * *

~ For Twitter ~

Go to the artist’s profile page and read their profile. Now look for the words 転載 and/or 転写. If the artist’s profile contains those words, it is 2000% safe to deduct that the artist DOES NOT wish for their works to be reposted. If you want to be even 2000% more sure, look for the word/phrase that contains 禁止.

Same rule here: I’m not saying you may always post the works of an artist who doesn’t have any of those words in their profile page. Send them a message, ask them if it’s alright to post their works to tumblr. But no complaining and whining and hating if they don’t understand English or turn down your request. Again, many Twitter users, whose first language is not English, understand basic and simple English, if not very fluent. Also keep in mind that even if the artist you have in mind do not understand English, they have connection to and can ask users who DO. It’s not a rare occurrence on Twitter, really.

Another thing to note when asking for reposting request on Twitter: some users prefer such messages to be sent via Direct Message instead of mentions, and there are some who prefer the other way around. But 90% of the time it is much safer to Direct Message them.

Now, for the request message template:

Just keep the english as simple as possible, for example:

Subject: Permission to repost
Dear (name of artist),
Hello, I really like your work for (URL to the tweet with the artwork). I want to ask you if it is okay to post it onto a site called Tumblr? If it is okay, I will surely include source and link back to your site.
Thank you.

Simple but to-the-point right?

Or if you prefer Japanese message:

Subject: 他のサイトに作品を投稿する許可
(name of artist)さんへ、
初めまして、こんにちは。
あなたの作品、特に (URL to the tweet with the artwork) は本当にすごいです。失礼かもしれませんが、その作品をTumblrというサイトに投稿させて頂けませんか？投稿させて頂いたらちゃんと記載をして、あなたのpixivやブログにリンクを貼ります。
日本語は母語じゃありませんので、書くのが下手で何か不明な事があったら申し訳ございません。もしよければ英語で返事したらすごく助かります。(this sentence basically means “my japanese is not really good, so I’m sorry for any misunderstanding. i would really appreciate it if you could reply in english.” so you can omit this if you’re really confident with your japanese. if you’re messaging the artist about wanting to translate it, then please do omit this part because if you say you’re not good in japanese but want to translate… well you know what i mean)
ありがとうございました。

Also, there are quite a number of chinese fanartists on twitter too, so here’s a Chinese version!

Subject: 授权复制
你好！
这 (URL to the tweet with the artwork) 图片画得真好, 辛苦了！不好意思请问一下，可以拿去在Tumblr上发布吗？Tumblr是个很多国外饭上的网站。发布的话一定会提到出处的。
还有，我的中文很差，所以如果有什么不清楚的地方，真抱歉。倘能如此，请用英文答复。(this sentence basically means “my chinese is not really good, so I’m sorry for any misunderstanding. i would really appreciate it if you could reply in english.” so you can omit this if you’re really confident with your chinese. if you’re messaging the artist about wanting to translate it, then please do omit this part because if you say you’re not good in chinese but want to translate… well you know what i mean)
非常感谢！

Now, if twitter artists have tumblr accounts, and they have the artworks that you want to repost, on their tumblr, REBLOG AND/OR LIKE the original posts from their blogs instead!

* * * * *

~ If they give you permission to post ~

If they gave you permission to post, then SCREENCAP the reply right then and there, and I’d advise you to post them along with the artwork onto tumblr. Provide a link that leads to the screencap, or post the screencap right onto the post, I don’t care whichever you do, just make sure you include the screencap somewhere in your post! You never know when those artists will go to tumblr and find their artworks, and they will have no reason to flame you for reposting their works if you have screencaps ready at your disposal to act as proofs.

Here are templates for thank-you messages for giving the permission to repost:

Japanese thank-you message:

(name of artist)さんへ、
許可させて頂いて本当にありがとうございました。こちらTumblrに投稿させて頂いた作品のリンクです (link of the reposted art on your blog. Please make sure you have included the title of the work, the name of the artist, and links leading to their pixiv/site/blog/etc on the post before you send the message)。
今後ともいい作品お待ちしております。ありがとうございます。頑張ってください！＾＾

Chinese thank-you message:

你好！
非常感谢将被允许！以上是在Tumblr上发布的帖子 (link of the reposted art on your blog. Please make sure you have included the title of the work, the name of the artist, and links leading to their pixiv/weibo/site/etc on the post before you send the message)。
很期待未来的善事。多多感谢！祝你好运！

* * * * *

~ If they don’t give their permission to post ~

Now, if they do not allow you to post their works, DO NOT POST THEM ANYWAY. I’m sure all of you knows such a simple rule, but unfortunately I have seen people who posted even after the artists told them not to. It may not be a big deal to you but IT IS for the artists! They might delete their works, or even worse, delete their site if you violate their wishes. Surely you don’t want that, do you?

Another thing that I noticed lately with Twitter artists is that they have their own reasons for not giving you the permission to repost their artwork (and personally, I agree with their reasons). One artist that I follow argues that they do not understand English, but they make the effort to understand English fanworks that they see on Twitter with whatever tool they have at their disposal, namely Google Translate. Another artist argues that having their artwork reposted and translated makes them worried because there are unique expressions that are hard to convey unless in Japanese; and really, this applies to all languages, not just Japanese.

TLDR; If they turn down your request, just accept it. You have your own reasons for asking, but so do they for rejecting your requests. Respect their wishes.

Here are templates for thank-you messages even though they did not give the permission to repost:

Japanese thank-you message:

(name of artist)さんへ、
許可させなけれども、ワガママをお耳に入れていただいて本当にありがとうございました。
今後ともいい作品お待ちしております。ありがとうございます。頑張ってください！＾＾

Chinese thank-you message:

你好！
即使没有准许，非常感谢你听了我的私心。
很期待未来的善事。多多感谢！祝你好运！

* * * * *

~ If you messaged them in Japanese/Chinese & don’t understand their replies ~

One easy solution: copy and paste the replies into google translate.

I know google translate is not really accurate but at least it provides you the gist of meaning of the message!

* * * * *

~ If you are asked by the original artist to take down the repost you posted even though you have their permission to post it ~

Don’t get all defensive nor come up with excuses. Just.DELETE.the.post. It’s that simple, really.

* * * * * Updated as of 5th February, 2017 * * * * *
{added section: Twitter artworks}