A couple of questions from a novice. . .

[carsonfiles]

I'm an old dog.  And while I disagree with the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," sometimes I need to have things spelled out a little bit for me.  So I have a couple of questions that I'm sure someone will step up and answer.

Number one, the user-pics.  I don't have the time, energy or desire to learn how to make one.  But I've seen a

Comments

Icons

[maigray]

Heya,

Yes, the icons are there for the pickens! I love icons and collect them on a regular basis.

LJ is absolutely overflowing with icon communities, private icon journals - even journals for recommending icons. The iconmaker will usually list their rules for taking their icons in their post.

The most common adage is - comment, credit, don't hotlink. Not all posters require a comment, but there is always some sort of request for comments, such as - comments are love/appreciated/etc. It's considered good form to leave a comment as often as possible, even if it's not required. Some communities require it. Always review the community rules, as they may be specific even if the iconmaker is not.

LJ has a feature for uploading userspics (icons) with a space for a "comment" and a "keyword." The "comment" space is typically used for crediting the icon maker by saying; "Made by" carsonfilesBefore I knew how to do that, I would simply type in the proper user name in the keyword section. But some iconmakers/communities will be so kind as to include a

Icons Continued

[maigray]

In a nutshell - you simply download the icons you like to your computer. I right click and use "save as" to tack on the maker's username before I save them in a specific folder.

Depending on how many userpics you are allowed, you upload them as you like using that feature in the Userpics section, crediting the iconmaker at the same time.

I'm assuming you'll like ga_icons. If you're specifically looking for icons, start with communities specifically for them; i.e. jamesbondicons.

It's quite rare to find an icon community that requires you to be a member to see (and therefore take) icons from their friend/member posts. But it does happen - the community underworld_icon requires you to be a member to take, and the community fluidic_icons requires you to be a "friend" to even see the postings.

But for most iconmakers, the point to making the icons is to share them with the public. They will either post to the relevant communities or create an icon journal for themselves. Oftentimes, they will do both. The poster lidi is an example of a very popular private icon journal. She posts to

[apurplepatch]

Well, the icon's question has been answered fairly definitively, so

[carsonfiles]

Well then, I have yet to write ANYTHING that wasn't songfic. (Good old wikipedia, why didn't I think of that.) But that's okay, I like Krystal cheeseburgers too.

[boofadil]

While the instructions on crediting and such above are totally true, do know that some people do NOT like for their icons to be shared. Usually they will say somewhere in the post that the icon is not shareable, or that it's exclusive to a few folks. Always go with that.

Because of this, it's not usually wise to take someone's icon directly from their user pics because nine times out of ten, they weren't the ones that created it, and it's possible that they're using it without permission. Always take the icon from the actual creator.

That's a rule that not everyone follows, but it's the polite way to do it.

That's just my two cents.

And really if you hang around lj long enough, you'll get the hang of it. And don't ever be afraid to ask questions!

[boofadil]

Oh