Topic: Question: Crediting Webcomic Authors, Artists, etc??

So, one of the things I'm hoping to accomplish here is getting the authors, artists, writers, etc. from the various webcomics to post here.

My question is, this. Let say some guy comes here and says he's the artist for a particular comic. I want to credit him as such in the comic's and user's profiles. But how do I verify that he/she does indeed do what he/she says they do? And should I?

Do I make him do something on the website that proves it, (like post a page with a message on the comic's site then send me the link so only i see). Do I have them send me an email from the domain (Which now makes sense as a possiblity), or do I not require any verification?

I can't think of a clear cut, and non-rude way to say "prove it!" at this point, so I just haven't implemented it. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks...

Depending on where the comic is located and the actual level of control said artist has, I don't think script-embedding is going to help.

I would think that only the most popular comics would even have the subject up for debate. Since most comics are fairly forthcoming about who draws what on each site, I would think that a quick email check (so, the email that matches webcomic X is the same as the email that the account uses, or some other similar verification) would be all you need, and is as simple as an identity check gets.

Well, the surest way would be to arrange for an online chat session with freehand drawing enabled so the supposed artist can draw a realtime picture proving his/her identity :)

Um, no?

We're assuming everyone can draw on a PC... which, even though we ARE talking webcomics, isn't a given.

See, this is why I need to add emoticons, cause I'm pretty sure that last suggestion was a joke...

Well, I did post a :) with my message.
Still, you know, I guess even if an artists is unskilled with a mouse or tablet I guess you'd still be able to tell if it is indeed 'the' artist. And besides that... there's always the webcam to show the artist drawing on ye olde paper ;)

Granted, I don't think my webcomics are really anything spectacular and worth much of anything, so if someone else wanted to claim them as theirs, they'd get what they deserve. :)

This is a hard question though. I'd think that the email route is the most universal, though even there it's hard to do sometimes. Most folks have their own domain for their comics, but then there are those that don't host their own stuff, so they won't have a logical email address. I tend to think that something like this is going to be partially hit-and-miss in the end. Just the nature of being anonymous on the Internet makes for a tough problem with no universal solution. I think it's going to be what will end up working in MOST of the situations and then deal with the odd scenarios when they come up.


Just my $0.02. :)

I guess you could require them to (transiently) put a bit of code on their site as a way to confirm their registration.

However, you run into problems since any webcomic may have different people promoting the comic, actually being involved in the creative process, and designing and administering the website. Sure, for some comics it's all one person. For some it's three or four. This could make it a little messy.