Of course links to the artist's gallery are the best option here and is preferred over anything else, but I'm wondering if any of these are ever acceptable:

• Artist's name, artist posted image to e621 themselves.
• Artist's name, someone else posted image to e621. (currently I prefer to delete these and try to find source if possible)
• Magazine name or something similar that doesn't exactly have a web source. For instance, it might be a scanned page from a newspaper or something.

Also, just to make sure I delete these whenever I see them:

• "deviantart", "image board", "google", gibberish, etc.
• "None" (as opposed to just leaving it blank)
• Direct links that are likely to stop working, or are broken. For example, a link to an image posted on 4chan.
• OriginalFilename.jpg
• For those of you that don't know, it used to be a rule that you had to include the original file name if you couldn't find a source, but that is no longer the case and hasn't been for a long time.

TLDR: Should the text in the source field ever not be a URL, and would me bulk deleting these be an issue? (assuming I try to find actual web sources whenever possible)

I'd generally keep the source if it has a chance to be salvaged, eg. filename, deviantart or something like that, because those can help in tracking down stuff.

But if it's pointless stuff like an imageboard link (if it wasn't created for/on that board), or anything else that is highly likely to change then I wouldn't see an issue with cleaning it up.

I'm assuming this includes when it is just the artist's name (assuming it's already tagged properly with the artist)? I see artists on here who put their own name in the source field as well and I've avoided touching those unless I had an actual source.

parasprite said:
I'm assuming this includes when it is just the artist's name (assuming it's already tagged properly with the artist)? I see artists on here who put their own name in the source field as well and I've avoided touching those unless I had an actual source.

Nah, that is redundant information and can be trimmed down.

parasprite said:

• Magazine name or something similar that doesn't exactly have a web source. For instance, it might be a scanned page from a newspaper or something.

If the source is offline, then that's the only way of sourcing them. Should be kept.

• "deviantart", "image board", "google", gibberish, etc.
• OriginalFilename.jpg

These are marginally useful. Neither are proper sources, but give some clues to figuring out where the image came from. Better than nothing, I'd say.

NotMeNotYou said:
Nah, that is redundant information and can be trimmed down.

Just incase I've been doing this wrong, when I upload my own work I add the web address up to the post's ID number to the source field,

eg. https://e621.net/post/show/postID

Should I be doing that or should I change them?

I have a question - are sources like derpibooru/rule34 etc still valid sources? I remember that some time ago they were valid if you couldn't find anything better, but current version of howto:source seems to imply otherwise. If not, then should I report user who post all mlp pics with derpibooru as a source? (Derpibooru direct image link to be precise - this is the lowest circle of e621 hell.)

Granberia said:
I have a question - are sources like derpibooru/rule34 etc still valid sources? I remember that some time ago they were valid if you couldn't find anything better, but current version of howto:source seems to imply otherwise. If not, then should I report user who post all mlp pics with derpibooru as a source? (Derpibooru direct image link to be precise - this is the lowest circle of e621 hell.)

Some OC is posted to Derpibooru (same as here, 4chan, etc.) so those can be a legitimate source, but I doubt they are. If I encountered this I would probably send a polite message to them before reporting it as it's entirely possible that they aren't even aware of what they are doing, and a polite reminder can often fix the issue without needing admin intervention.

Something along the lines of "Hey, I happened to notice you doing X. I just wanted to let you know that [Y is generally preferred], [X is technically against the rules], [etc]. I'm not trying to get you in trouble or anything I just thought I'd mention it as a friendly reminder, etc. Thanks, Parasprite" has worked fairly well for me in the past but it depends a bit on the user. I make sure to check their posting history first to see if others have mentioned it, look for possible language barriers, if they've shown interest in learning in the past, have a short temper, etc. I find it helps give more context and helps look at it from their perspective.

Then again, none of that is official so ymmv a bit. :3

Granberia said:
I have a question - are sources like derpibooru/rule34 etc still valid sources? I remember that some time ago they were valid if you couldn't find anything better, but current version of howto:source seems to imply otherwise. If not, then should I report user who post all mlp pics with derpibooru as a source? (Derpibooru direct image link to be precise - this is the lowest circle of e621 hell.)

I usually try to find the source that they posted on R34 (if posted)