Like most government coverups, the technology 
already exists but can't be released. The truth 
is, **instant watermarking already works**. In 
fact, about three weeks ago for about 2 hours, I 
had...

"Plastic Future  - http://www.rubberslug.com/?
go=plastic"

... written on the bottom of all of my cels 
automatically. Everyone with galleries had all 
their images watermarked as well, complete with 
drop shadows.

So why'd it get taken out?

1) A lot of people uploaded GIF images for their 
cels. The watermarking only works with JPG. I 
didn't have the heart to tell them that they'd 
have to redo their gallery because it was 
incompatible with the new system. This was the 
main reason.

2) The watermark was all or nothing. Since people 
had multiple images per cel (sketches and such), 
you could either watermark all of your cels and 
sketches or none of them. (I know that's a crappy 
explanation, sorry.)

3) watermark has to be placed on the same way on 
every cel. Some watermarks were overwriting some 
of the detail in people's scans. One member had a 
bunch of Sailor Moon cels that were already 
watermarked. Two watermarks looked weird and just 
felt crowded.


So will watermarking ever be available? Probably. 
But right now, I'd bet that it would punish more 
members than potential cel bandits. For now, 
right-click is disabled. As Deb pointed out a 
while back, although it's a rather simple 
deterrant, it'll still get the majority of folks 
who just wanted to take stuff. 

Personally, I don't mind too much. There's lots 
of prints of Japanese footbridges, and you don't 
see the D'Orsay getting worried.