Here are my thoughts on the subject. Something I should have made more clear when posting earlier.Yes I agree it's dumb to have to ask to use sprites everytime, think about this also. Custom sprites take a lot of work. Some of the sprites ive made in the past take an average of two hours to do or more.
Now think of someone taking your work, adding hats to your custom sprite, then claiming your work as their own. Not very kind is it? I think custom recolors fall under the same category as stealing. Now if somebody were to give credit I wouldn't care in the slightest if they were edited.Sprites you make for, and based on Fybertech members I agree with Gospel that the member you based the sprite on has every right to use them.
As for video game rips and backgrounds I think these should be free game. What work did you put into these other then stealing the data from a rom and copying the sprites to an MS Paint file? Customs should require at least credit if you use them. I believe game rips are free for everyone.