Unattributed Ascii-Art?

<LURK MODE OFF>

I've long been a fan and admirer of ascii-art (going back to
typewriter-art days), though I've never had the opportunity (or patience)
to figure it out and do it myself. I admire you guys and gals for what you
do.

I want to respect your work, and I do keep your initials on any ascii-art
I reuse. However, sometimes I use a piece of ascii-art that had no
attribution on it when I got it, such as this hug (which I did diddle to
include my glasses and beard);

       ___                 .~~~~ .                 ___
  ____(   \              /________\               /   )____
 (____     \_____       / |(@||@)| \       ______/     ____)
(____ A HUG FOR U`-----(      >     )-----'A HUG FOR U ____)
 (____     _____________@@  .___. @@______________     ____)
   (______/             @@@.____.@@@              \______)
                         @@@@@@@@@@
                          @@@@@@@@

  (View this in a monospaced font like Courier New or else 
      you'll think this is a Picasso instead of a hug!)

I don't want to be known as someone who doesn't respect ascii-artists (I'm
in awe of a lot of the stuff you do), so here's my question (and I have
just read the FAQ);

Has there ever been a discussion of a simple way to indicate that a piece
of ascii-art is from an unknown source? The FAQ states, "If an ASCII ART
picture doesn't have initials on it, mention that you didn't draw it when
posting it". Could there (as a simple alternative) be a standard code or
initials to do that instead? I know I'm not going to be putting "I didn't
draw this and don't know who did" every time I use a piece of unattributed
ascii art. Things I was thinking about might include:

UNK : UNKnown source.
#AU# : Artist unknown. The "#" characters would highlight that it was not
	someone with the initials "AU" who did the artwork.
*U* : again, Unknown source.
#NBM# : Not By Me
UNATTR : UNATTRibuted; artist unknown.

My hug might then appear as: 

       ___                 .~~~~ .                 ___
  ____(   \              /________\               /   )____
 (____     \_____       / |(@||@)| \       ______/     ____)
(____ A HUG FOR U`-----(      >     )-----'A HUG FOR U ____)
 (____     _____________@@  .___. @@______________     ____)
   (______/             @@@.____.@@@  #AU#        \______)
                         @@@@@@@@@@
                          @@@@@@@@

  (View this in a monospaced font like Courier New or else 
      you'll think this is a Picasso instead of a hug!)

And if someone KNEW who the artist was, they could let me know or if I
found an attributed version later, I'd just need to change the #AU# to
JGS, VK, or whoever created it.

I was thinking of this particularly this morning; I was on Veronica's
site, and she had some art on her "oldest" page that she didn't even
attribute (which I added before saving). Also, I found some ascii-art of
spiderwebs (which is the main thing I was looking for), and more than half
of them were unattributed. I'm getting ready to make a header for a
personal newsletter called "Webb-Spinnings", and I was looking for
spiderwebs, naturally.

I'd like to see some discussion on this subject, and hopefully a
"standard" code emerging (which could be added to the FAQ) that, among
other things, I can use on my "Webb-Spinnings" header to indicate that I
respect giving ascii-artists credit for their work, even when I don't know
who did it.


OBASCII:

FYI, this is the closest I've gotten to doing my own ascii-art; it's the
original header for an e-newsletter I was sending out to people while my
son was fighting his cancer battle;

----------------------------------------------------------------------
| TTTT             j   a   m   m eeee sss            ppp         tt  |
|  TT              j  aaa  m m m ee   s    RRR       p p ooo    tttt |
|  TT H H EEEE  j  j a   a m   m eeee sss  R  R eeee ppp o o rrr tt  |
|  TT HHH EE     jjj                    s  RRR  ee   p   ooo r   tt  |
|  TT H H EEEE                        sss  R  R eeee p       r   tt  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|   The James Report--Jan. 1, 1997       Via Internet to You!        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Reply to: mik...@cde.com afn...@afn.org or mik...@juno.com |
|  Children & Families staff reply via cc:Mail to "Webb, Michael E." |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|  "...and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer |
|    of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16    |
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometime after that, I was perusing alt.ascii-art at that time, and asked
the First Lady of Ascii Art (Joan Stark) if she could help with another
need, and she also diddled my header (I checked my oldest James Report
which included this; she didn't claim any credit, but I gave her credit in
the newsletter). 

 :"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^":
 :   _     _______)     _______)             ________)               :
 : {\o/}  (--|         (--|                 (--|__)            ,__)  :
 :  /_\      ||_  _       | _,,_,_, _  ,       | \  _ ,_  _ ,_-|-    :
 :         __|| |(/_      |(_|| | |(/_/_)    __|  \(/_|_)(_)|  |     :
 :        (            (__|                 (      \_ |              :
 :                                                                   :
 :   The James Report-February 3, 2000         Via Internet to You!  :
 :-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-:
 :       Reply to: afn...@afn.org or mwe...@dwebs.dwebs.net         :
 :-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-:
 :     James Webb is on the Web ~~ Visit the Miracle Kids Page at    :
 :                   http://www.themiraclekids.com/                  :
 :-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-:
 : "...and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer :
 :   of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16    : 
 :"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^"-._.-"^":


Thanksamundo!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   "JamesDad" (my name is Mike--I'm James' Dad) is a nym I use in honor and memory of my son     
  James Webb (1992-2000), slain in battle fighting leukemia. His story is told on the webpages 
   http://www.themiraclekids.com/james.htm and at http://www.themiraclekids.com/mem-james.htm. 
 He was a greater man at 8 than many ever become. May the message of his life not be forgotten!

Related ASCII art in the Gallery

Explore these categories from our collection of 11,000+ artworks:

 __
 \  \     _ _
  \**\ ___\/ \
X*#####*+^^\_\
  o/\  \
     \__\

.------------.
|\\//\\//\\//|
|//\\//\\//\\|
|\\//\\//\\//|
|//\\//\\//\\|
'------------'

   _______
 /` _____ `\;,
/__(^===^)__\';,
  /  :::  \   ,;
 |   :::   | ,;'
 '._______.'`jgs

 _  _
(o)(o)--.
 \../ (  )hjw
 m\/m--m'`--.

  _  _
/` \/ `\_  _
\     /` \/ `\
 '.  .\      /
   \/  '.  .'
         \/jgs

 __ .  . __
(o.\ \/ /.o)
 \__\/\/__/
 /O /==\ O\
(;O/ \/ \O;)

Make your own ASCII art

Turn images, text or 3D into ASCII, or draw your own – right in your browser.