ART:

ANSI
RIP
ASCII
VGA

OTHER:

Groups (Sorted alphabetically)
ACiD (ANSI Creators In Demand) Productions
This group has been at the forefront of the digital art scene for at least 6 years. They remain the most influential group in the scene and also contain many other sub-groups including Remorse (ascii) and Phluid (music). They mainly specialise in VGA art these days.
Group: 4.5 stars
Site: 4 stars

Apocalyptic Visions
This group is based in my home town of Melbourne, Australia. The last time I checked this site it was down. Anyway, I'm proud to say I have all of this groups packs so far :P. I'd have to say that this group along with Force are the best in Australia but these days, AV has become really slack and seems to be dead.
Group: 4 stars
Site: ? stars

Blade
These guys have been around for about 4 years. I would have to say that the quality they produce would be slightly less that of CIAs. Blade has kept a fairly big Lit (literature) section which is a rare thing to find these days as most people (including myself) don't even read the shit. I find this group doesn't set many standards and tends to copy Acid. This can be seen in the way they have changed their file naming system and their adoption of the RAR archive format. Their new web site though is mad with a whack new format. It's called "Synthetic Reality 3.0 - The bladeTV Experiment". Sadly, only Netscape users allowed :-( Recently, Blade decided to call it a day. RIP Blade.
Group: 3.5 stars
Site: 4.5 stars

CiA (Creators of Intense Art) Productions
While they are a fairly old group (1993), I have only seen their most recent packs. Their standard is high and their output from pack to pack looks to be fairly consistent. They still maintain a high variety of all types of art in their packs which is a good thing as we tend to see newer packs being swamped with large VGAs.
Group: 3.5 stars
Site: 4 stars

Dark Illustrated
Officially founded in early 1993, DARK first began releasing packs in February of 1994. I've never really heard of this group but their web site is very nice and has a kind of gothic, nine inch nailsy feel to it. This group does not have a large Australian following through distros and such but they do have some good artists. This homepage also has member information, department info, and you can download the latest Dark pack.
Group: 3.5 stars
Site: 4 stars

iCE (Insane Creators Enterprises) advertisements
Originated in 1991, this group used to output regular high quality packs but their standard has dropped recently. Around one year ago, iCE was a strong competitor but their latest efforts show they lack their original drive. Despite all this, I still rank them second behind ACiD.
Group: 4 stars
Site: 4.5 stars

infidels .97
A groups which started out as a BBS modding group but has recently expanded to cover all aspects of the scene including music. Has yet to release a pack.
Group: dunno
Site: 4 stars

Leper society
Leper society is a relaxed, low profile ansi/vga/etcetera group which has been consistantly releasing every odd numbered month on the last day since may of 1994.  Never seen a pack because the link didn't work.  Site only has links to packs and when those don't even work...
Group: dunno
Site: 0.5 stars (hasn't even been updated since the start of 97)

Maiden Brazil
Ok, I don't know much except they're from Brazil. Had a look at their latest (?) pack released 12/96. I think they're dead. Below average group with NFOs bigger than their ansis. They're viewer also have a virus which is pretty retarded of them.
Group: 1.5 stars
Site: 2 stars

Organic Productions
New Australian group whose main emphasis is on quality as opposed to quantity. Only 3 artists since I last checked. Web site is extremely slow due a very shit server. Alphalink.
Group: 4 stars
Site: 3 stars (simplistic)

Raid
Raid was started in early 1994 as an alternative to Colorado's other art group, Light. I think this group is dead because they haven't released or updated their site since late 1995. I only checked out their last release (#9) which had average VGA but alright ANSI. Pretty much an average group.
Group: 2.5 stars
Site: 2 stars

RCA (Real Creative Artists)
Group formed in 1995.  Not a bad collection of artists.  Site contains member information, latest packs, and group history.
Group: Only seen one pack
Site: 4 stars (yeah, I like it)

Remorse
This is an ASCII group which is a sub-group of Acid. They were formed in late 1994 and are considered one of the best in their fields. Despite not being a big fan of ASCII I have acquired most of their packs (not that big). Their site has been recently updated and contains all the packs as well as Member info and History.
Group: 3.5 stars
Site: 2 stars (bland but sufficient)

Synthetic Organisation
Synthetic Organisation firstly developed sometime during September 1996, where 4 amateur digital artists, all living in Melbourne, Australia got together to release some awsome art packs for the public. This group is growing very quickly and has a few members overseas. The best point I find is that this group releases regularly and are getting better with each release.
Group: 3.5-4 stars
Site: 3 stars

Twilight Productions
Yet again, I haven't heard much about this group but their work seems promising.  An interesting thing is they release also a Win95/NT version of their packes called Twilight-X, which I quite like. Their site still currently only has links to their art packs.
Group: 3.5 stars
Site: 1 star (well, it did say it would be updated late May and it's still the same)