So, I wanted to upload following art, but it is a downsized, JPG artifact riddled version. I've managed to find a higher resolution version with Yandex image search, which is 1920x1080 and doesn't seem to have artifacts, but it's hosted on some obscure booru that's blacklisted by e6. The artist doesn't seem to have a Patreon or a Discord server, therefore I'm not sure if I should upload the higher res version, since it can either be DNP, or AI upscaled.

I mean, if the site is blacklisted that should be evidence enough that you shouldn't source from it.

If you cannot find the high res version from any of the artist's own galleries, you probably should not post it. Also that is artificially upscaled.

OK, let's break this down.

Sites aren't "blacklisted" here. With upload form, we manually whitelist domains based on where the content we desire comes from to somewhat control it and limit the possibility of abuse. However even if the site is not whitelisted, you can always still save the image to your machine and then upload it from there. It's not banned, just added slight inconvinience from posting from random websites.

Sometimes first party sources are deleted or they go 404. In these cases, third party sources are still crucial and valuable. Reasons why they start to get problematic is that likelyhood of tampering of the image gets much higher and possibility of it being leaked paid material like physical goods or patreon content is also much higher. So you do need to be careful when handling material from third party sources, but they are not banned.

I have saved some artwork originating from pixiv trough gelbooru, I did crosscheck URL with sauceNAO and gelbooru is generally trustworthy.

As for this specific case:

• It was posted on FA, so 1280px width and JPG does tell it's possible for higher quality copy to exsist.
• Artist does additionally have deviantart, twitter, tumblr and steam accounts, but this particular image was not posted on any of them.
• it does feel like the third party source has been upscaled, denoisde and cropped to make it more suitable as desktop background.
• You can see how the image has been cut from the bottom, to make it 16:9 aspect ratio.
• The width is exactly 1920, which could be artists original resolution, but at the same time combined with aspect ratio change, it becomes likelier to be third party doing.
• If you look at more detailed areas in the image like godrays or finer brush strokes, it becomes clear that individual lines have been blurred into transparent big line and paperlike texture on the ground is gone.

So yeah, either go with official artist source, alternatively message them if they could provide higher quality copy.

Artist also does have more gondola on their twitter and deviantart if you like to see more of it.

Mairo said:

OK, let's break this down.

Sites aren't "blacklisted" here. With upload form, we manually whitelist domains based on where the content we desire comes from to somewhat control it and limit the possibility of abuse. However even if the site is not whitelisted, you can always still save the image to your machine and then upload it from there. It's not banned, just added slight inconvinience from posting from random websites.

Sometimes first party sources are deleted or they go 404. In these cases, third party sources are still crucial and valuable. Reasons why they start to get problematic is that likelyhood of tampering of the image gets much higher and possibility of it being leaked paid material like physical goods or patreon content is also much higher. So you do need to be careful when handling material from third party sources, but they are not banned.

I have saved some artwork originating from pixiv trough gelbooru, I did crosscheck URL with sauceNAO and gelbooru is generally trustworthy.

As for this specific case:

• It was posted on FA, so 1280px width and JPG does tell it's possible for higher quality copy to exsist.
• Artist does additionally have deviantart, twitter, tumblr and steam accounts, but this particular image was not posted on any of them.
• it does feel like the third party source has been upscaled, denoisde and cropped to make it more suitable as desktop background.
• You can see how the image has been cut from the bottom, to make it 16:9 aspect ratio.
• The width is exactly 1920, which could be artists original resolution, but at the same time combined with aspect ratio change, it becomes likelier to be third party doing.
• If you look at more detailed areas in the image like godrays or finer brush strokes, it becomes clear that individual lines have been blurred into transparent big line and paperlike texture on the ground is gone.

So yeah, either go with official artist source, alternatively message them if they could provide higher quality copy.

Artist also does have more gondola on their twitter and deviantart if you like to see more of it.

That explains a lot. Thank you very much, I appreciate it.