For example, if you knew what artist an image was from, trawled thier socials but couldn't find the source. What tools/methods would you use to discern this?
If you don't know, is it generally expected to just avoid posting it unless you're certain?

Sorry in advance if it's obvious to you. I'm very new at this.

Thanks!

Yeah just don't post it to be sure.

If it isn't on:
-Itaku
-Twitter
-Bluesky
-Pixiv
-Fanbox (rarely artist post free stuff there for some reason)
-Pawoo (lol)
-Facebook (rofl but some Chinese artist post SFW there sometimes)
-Furaffinity
-Inkbunny
-Baraag
-Newgrounds
(Probably forgot something)

It's probably leaked from a paid page, there "are" chances they got from an artist discord, a not well know platform or they comissioned it themselves but it's not worth to just post it and gamble on it.

notknow said:
Yeah just don't post it to be sure.

If it isn't on:
-Itaku
-Twitter
-Bluesky
-Pixiv
-Fanbox (rarely artist post free stuff there for some reason)
-Pawoo (lol)
-Facebook (rofl but some Chinese artist post SFW there sometimes)
-Furaffinity
-Inkbunny
-Baraag
-Newgrounds
(Probably forgot something)

It's probably leaked from a paid page, there "are" chances they got from an artist discord, a not well know platform or they comissioned it themselves but it's not worth to just post it and gamble on it.

To name a specific example of a try-to-avoid website, rule34.xxx doesn't have any restrictions on content relative to paysites. There are a few artists that post there, but especially if a post there has no sources, it's safest to try avoiding it (and if a post there does have a source, just cite the source).

goatofallspacetime said:
For example, if you knew what artist an image was from, trawled thier socials but couldn't find the source. What tools/methods would you use to discern this?
If you don't know, is it generally expected to just avoid posting it unless you're certain?

Sorry in advance if it's obvious to you. I'm very new at this.

Thanks!

If you had just yoinked some random image from online or Discord chat, just don't. Chances are it is either low quality or leaked paysite content.
You are expected to do your due diligence to (a) find the original sources and (b) find the best quality publicly available.

As for tools, you can try using SauceNAO to find the sources for images (works for most galleries like FurAffinity, DeviantArt, Pixiv, FurryNetwork, e621, etc.). Does not work with Twitter or Inkbunny artists.
Alternatively, you can use Google Images or Yandex Images to find more broadly from public indexes. Less reliable in finding the actual sources, but may pick up Twitter posts and other reposts on random sites that could help you in finding the original source.

If you still can't find the actual source but do know the artist, you can also try to contact them and ask about it.
They may reveal the actual source or give you the reason why it isn't found anywhere (e.g., deleted or leaked content).

Fluffle is also good for searching, although its ability to trawl Twitter has been cut off in recent times.

Well, in the case of sourceless art, if the artist is not known to sell access to content, then it's really hard to imagine how anything you post of theirs could be a leak of paid access content. It could still happen, like a paid collaboration art pack offered on another artist's Patreon, but that is exceedingly unlikely.

If the artist does have a paysite as per the title, and you are unable to source their art, then e621 janitors could defensibly delete the post on suspicion alone. If you still really want to post the art to e621, then you should just ask the artist directly if (1) the art is paid access content and (2) if you can have permission to upload it to e621 anyway. If given permission, state you have permission in the post description and link proof (screenshot).

goatofallspacetime said:
What tools/methods would you use to discern this?

So there is a tool that can sometimes tell you if you're looking at paid access art, but I don't want to connect the dots. It was already mentioned.

You can also go to the artist's Patreon, Fanbox, whatever and check for preview images (crops or censored) that seem to partially match what you can't source.

goatofallspacetime said:
Sorry in advance if it's obvious to you. I'm very new at this.

A solid basic tip is be aware that artists often link to their other accounts from their accounts' profile pages, a pinned Tweet, or link aggregator like linktree. Simply googling the artist's name(s) can also turn up some new sources. On e621, we collect artists' known gallery sites and put them in their wikis (? beside their tag name), so always check those. I could add a lot more, but this is a great starting point + what others have said.

Thanks everybody, this was all super helpful!

thegreatwolfgang said:
If you had just yoinked some random image from online or Discord chat, just don't. Chances are it is either low quality or leaked paysite content.
You are expected to do your due diligence to (a) find the original sources and (b) find the best quality publicly available.

As for tools, you can try using SauceNAO to find the sources for images (works for most galleries like FurAffinity, DeviantArt, Pixiv, FurryNetwork, e621, etc.). Does not work with Twitter or Inkbunny artists.
Alternatively, you can use Google Images or Yandex Images to find more broadly from public indexes. Less reliable in finding the actual sources, but may pick up Twitter posts and other reposts on random sites that could help you in finding the original source.

If you still can't find the actual source but do know the artist, you can also try to contact them and ask about it.
They may reveal the actual source or give you the reason why it isn't found anywhere (e.g., deleted or leaked content).

I know it sounds stupid, but I've found a lot of sources like the IB example just by searching the artists' aliases or character names/titles of posts.

abadbird said:
Well, in the case of sourceless art, if the artist is not known to sell access to content, then it's really hard to imagine how anything you post of theirs could be a leak of paid access content. It could still happen, like a paid collaboration art pack offered on another artist's Patreon, but that is exceedingly unlikely.

If the artist does have a paysite as per the title, and you are unable to source their art, then e621 janitors could defensibly delete the post on suspicion alone. If you still really want to post the art to e621, then you should just ask the artist directly if (1) the art is paid access content and (2) if you can have permission to upload it to e621 anyway. If given permission, state you have permission in the post description and link proof (screenshot).

So there is a tool that can sometimes tell you if you're looking at paid access art, but I don't want to connect the dots. It was already mentioned.

You can also go to the artist's Patreon, Fanbox, whatever and check for preview images (crops or censored) that seem to partially match what you can't source.

A solid basic tip is be aware that artists often link to their other accounts from their accounts' profile pages, a pinned Tweet, or link aggregator like linktree. Simply googling the artist's name(s) can also turn up some new sources. On e621, we collect artists' known gallery sites and put them in their wikis (? beside their tag name), so always check those. I could add a lot more, but this is a great starting point + what others have said.

Yeah, if you see it on some blatantly pirate site and no where else, that's some grade A BS level hint it's likely paid content and you should be making sure (contacting artist for example). TBF, most of the time if it's paysite stuff, you know. The artists advertise it... often here!

Kind of overlapped with my reply but covered some different angles.