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FA: What the foxtrot?!
13 years ago
For those of you not in the know, a month ago there was a huge uproar over Sonic artwork, and the artist is (
is) being banned. For a little more on that, I want to direct you to: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3169791/
And for those you who are about to read this whole thing...I do apologize for the size, but I feel these issues need to be addressed.
So, about a month and a half later, has the situation improved at all? The answer is a resounding no.
The guidelines are still mucky and unclear, there are multiple instances of double standards, and the staff's ability to handle things in an eloquent fashion is far below where it should be.
The guidelines for what is or isn't acceptable is still poorly written. Actually, I don't think it's been re-written once since the cub art ban was enacted over a year ago, and that is far too long to let something like this go without refining it.
It's not that the age of the characters is in question. Everyone understands that, and for awhile, some folks were skirting the edge.
But where the rules fail to clarify is this:
"Submissions containing characters of questionable or indeterminable age will be up to the discretion of the administration." as found on the AUP: http://help.furaffinity.net/article.....olicy-AUP.html
See this? This is a major problem, and it should have been re-written months ago, not left to wallow on the AUP.
The fact is, that the characters could be of questionable or indeterminable age....as decided by ANY member of the staff at ANY time....means that EVERYTHING on the site can be called into question.
It especially poses a problem for characters who are of legal age, but do not necessarily fit into the 'adult proportions' like many folks do. Just like people, characters vary wildly in height, bust, width, muscle, hair, etc.
I myself have had problems with this, where I had to ask *multiple* FA staff members about a character of mine, before finally getting a response over on the forums.
In fact, let's take a look at my character, shall we? This should prove enlightening
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7419686
Okay, guys...look at her. *IS* she legal age or not? Sure, she's got breasts, but so do many teenage girls! She's youthful looking..is she TOO youthful looking?
I've had friends and others tell me she's fine, because she has breasts and just 'looks old enough'. But the thing is, what is old enough to you might not be old enough to a FA staff member, at which point I could be in trouble.
In fact, the one Admin I talked to was judging her age based on a few things: Body shape, hair style, and a few others.
You read that right: Hair Style. The way one wears their hair can now be a way to determine the age of a character! This is a preposterous way to judge the age of a character. (and mind you, I'm not harping on the Admin that was telling me this; he was actually being quite helpful and trying to the best of his ability to help me judge for myself).
He also mentioned that her thighs weren't developed enough, being slimmer and a bit shorter.
...see a problem here? So, if your character is short, that means that they are also underage?
This is a massive problem. There's no 'standard' on which to judge what is or isn't 'okay' to post. There has to be MORE here, because height and hair style is not enough.
Does this mean that Miu's Jam (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7338099/) isn't legal, despite being 30? I mean, she's awfully short! And she's got small boobs! and she's SO FRIGGIN' ADORABLE!
So, if one person was to come along, and go "That's not appropriate; it doesn't fit MY way of thinking." then both characters could have to be removed entirely from FA.
Which leads me to my next point, the double standards that currently exist.
First and foremost, the Sonic the Hedgehog controversy. Yeah, this shit is as double a standard as you can get. Why? People can draw MLP in the style of the show, but you are ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED TO WITH SONIC.
This is not remotely fair. The excuses for it are pretty poorly thought-out, too.
"The ponies have jobs." Uh huh...so, you're telling me that no one under the age of 18 has a job? Applejack lives on a FARM, and even Apple Blossom has to pitch in and help. All farming families are like that.
Also, depending on which Sonic universe we're looking at, there are multiple characters who are built like Sonic, Amy, etc..and have jobs. Uncle Chuck, for instance. Princess Sally.
It's a lame reason, really.
"But the ponies have CLEARLY DEFINED CHILDREN, and Sonic doesn't."
Are. you. SHITTING. ME.
Sonic: http://images4.fanpop.com/image/pho.....62-540-720.jpg
Cream: http://images.wikia.com/sonikuu/ima.....The_Rabbit.png
Sonic & Cream: http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animated.....fs/82267_o.gif
Tails: http://img.search.com/thumb/7/73/So.....l_tails_cg.png
Sonic and Tails: http://images1.fanpop.com/images/ph.....2-1024-768.gif
Tails and Cream are CLEARLY WELL DEFINED CHILDREN.
They are SMALLER and SHORTER and more CHILD-LIKE than the rest of the cast!
Also, least we forget him..how about Uncle Chuck?!
http://mobianlegends.com/media/spri.....Chuck/bttp.jpg
What if someone drew porn of him in his 'canon' design? Is that now cub too?!
"But in Sonic, most of the adults are taller, and look more mature..."
I'm going to stop you RIGHT THERE. No. No. You do not get to use this as a reason for MLP fanart is okay, and Sonic 'canon' isn't.
You know why?
Princess Celestria.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.....tiamistake.jpg
This is the exact same thing. Look at how much BIGGER she is to everyone else!
Hell, look at Big Mac.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/.....fim_ep0402.png
He's the bigger, older brother...he's BIGGER than they are. In fact, I bet I could probably find more examples.
So no, I don't buy that. Sonic has clearly established children just as much as the ponies do, yet not ONE member of the Sonic crew is allowed to be drawn in a 'canon' design.
It's utter nonsense. The ponies and Sonic have the same thing going on with adults and children, yet Sonic is the one taking the hit. Why?
The simple fact is, the reasons for why the MLP is 'acceptable' compared to Sonic really isn't strong enough. There's no reason to make it so folks cannot draw in a style similar to the canon design, bearing in mind the exception of smaller, child like characters such as Tails or Cream.
But, that again leads to a double standard. There's a lot of artwork being removed that, truthfully, shouldn't have been a problem.
The artist is ( is) has been getting some warnings and such from the FA staff about his artwork, and has finally given up the ghost of trying to stay on here.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7455150
What, exactly, is WRONG with something like this?
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7405177
Or this?
Clearly she's small, sure....but again, height is not a prerequisite for age. She has a developed body, with breasts (although again, small breasts are not a prerequisite for age either, as some grown women are about as flat as an ironing board), and she has hips. She is clearly not a child.
Are we then going to say that because she's 'cute' that indicates she's underage and shouldn't be drawn in a sexual manner? We can't be seriously heading in that direction, can we?
So, what is the problem, then? Seriously, I want to know what the damn problem is.
Speaking of things like this, the way the FA staff are handling users is kind of deplorable. Anyone that's been following the incident with Norithics knows that the staff member that contacted him suspended him for 3 days for not 'volunteering' to remove the supposed offending images for which he was reported.
Nori refused to remove them, on the grounds that A) The AUP is horribly written with murky text (and it is), and that B) he wasn't going to scourge through his entire gallery, looking for what might POSSIBLY be the offending images.
See point B there? Yeah, that's a very valid claim, as Nori has a huge gallery up on FA...and the staff member failed to inform Nori of which pieces may have been offensive to the AUP. So, instead of continuing to talk or anything, they slapped a suspension on Nori, and once it was lifted, Nori wrote a journal and left FA.
The simple matter is, the staff should have informed Nori WHAT pieces were problematic, and instead of taking up a 'you do what I tell you to do, or I'm going to punish you' tone, could ask that those pieces be looked at, and then removed if need be.
Just saying that there's A piece or pieces that are offending is a lack of information given to the user, who is supposed to just 'know' which pieces are offending. In fact, no one staff member should be able to bully or push around any user on something like this, when with something like 'the discretion of the staff' is left so vaguely hanging up in the air like some kind of weird pinata.
Ultimately, though, these failings of the staff fall upon the shoulders of the highest in charge..Dragoneer.
Now look, I'm not going to sit here and bash Dragoneer. That's uncouth and not helpful to anyone. If we didn't have Dragoneer stepping in, taking over FA years ago, we would not be here, discussing this. For that, at least, we owe him. The site was a big step forward for the fandom, as a place to gather and meet others, in ways that, simply put, other sites didn't allow before. We were allowed to communicate with artists and authors, not have to take a passive role in just reading and looking. We could contribute, to add, to diversify the fandom more and more, and the fandom has done nothing but grow as a result of this site.
But that doesn't make it so he's free of burden. The simple truth is, there is no one higher on the staff of FA, and as Harry S. Truman once had as a plaque on his presidential desk: "The buck stops here."
That means that, ultimately, all the problems with the site are 'Neer's problems. This includes the AUP's murky text, which after the incident with Is and Sciggles last month should have been looked at IMMEDIATELY and re-written. It wasn't.
That blame falls on 'Neer. As the head Admin, his job should have been to help secure the site, to help better clarify the terms of the art ban, to help pacify the upset users and to maybe build some good will to his userbase. None of that happened.
'Neer also chooses who the staff members are, and chooses who does what. His staff members should be retrained a bit, to understand how to approach any given situation...or at least know when to pass it off to folks with more experience and better people skills. Frankly, the treatment of Nori was insulting. Not just to Nori, but to all of us. What if some day they PM you, saying that one or multiple of your pieces are breaking the rules...but you don't understand how or why or which ones? And then they suspended you for three days for not just automatically following their orders. What then? Wouldn't you REALLY want them to treat you better than that?
Not to mention, when the whole incident involving Sciggles' 'How to draw Sonic characters' happened, why was it SCIGGLES who was doing that, anyway? No offense to her or 'Neer, but people already don't give much credit to Sciggles...she is, after all, just the 'boss' wife'. She needs time to learn and to grow as a Mod and then an Admin, and shouldn't have been thrusted into the upper echelon of the chain of command and be able to expect to just command respect. This was something that Dragoneer should have personally over-seen, and addressed PERSONALLY, as it was already a hot-topic button.
It screams of laziness on Dragoneer's part, which is not something anyone wants to feel from the highest in command. He needs to take a more active role, both behind the scenes and in front of the users. He needs to pick his staff carefully, pick people who are level headed, able to take charge when confronted, but not be overtly hostile to start with.
He needs to establish clear rules and boundries on what is or isn't appropriate in reference to the age problem of characters...and this needs to be established for ALL parts, not just cherry picked for one thing to another. The fact that you can draw the Mane Six cast of MLP: FiM in porn without 'aging up' but are not allowed to do this to any of the cast of the Sonic crew is insulting and frankly baffling. It makes NO SENSE.
And 'Neer needs to set up rules and guidelines for his staff to follow, instead of just letting them run willy-nilly about the site, causing drama instead of settling it.
I love FA, but this is not the way to run the site. 'Neer needs to be holding the reigns, not sitting back and watching. The site will only grow weaker and weaker unless these kind of issues are resolved, because more and more people will flock away.
Just ask Is and 
Norithics
Just because this was such a long, exhausting read, and kind of drab and a bit of a downer, here's some Pinkie Pie singing to help cheer ya up. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKEl.....eature=related
is) being banned. For a little more on that, I want to direct you to: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3169791/And for those you who are about to read this whole thing...I do apologize for the size, but I feel these issues need to be addressed.
So, about a month and a half later, has the situation improved at all? The answer is a resounding no.
The guidelines are still mucky and unclear, there are multiple instances of double standards, and the staff's ability to handle things in an eloquent fashion is far below where it should be.
The guidelines for what is or isn't acceptable is still poorly written. Actually, I don't think it's been re-written once since the cub art ban was enacted over a year ago, and that is far too long to let something like this go without refining it.
It's not that the age of the characters is in question. Everyone understands that, and for awhile, some folks were skirting the edge.
But where the rules fail to clarify is this:
"Submissions containing characters of questionable or indeterminable age will be up to the discretion of the administration." as found on the AUP: http://help.furaffinity.net/article.....olicy-AUP.html
See this? This is a major problem, and it should have been re-written months ago, not left to wallow on the AUP.
The fact is, that the characters could be of questionable or indeterminable age....as decided by ANY member of the staff at ANY time....means that EVERYTHING on the site can be called into question.
It especially poses a problem for characters who are of legal age, but do not necessarily fit into the 'adult proportions' like many folks do. Just like people, characters vary wildly in height, bust, width, muscle, hair, etc.
I myself have had problems with this, where I had to ask *multiple* FA staff members about a character of mine, before finally getting a response over on the forums.
In fact, let's take a look at my character, shall we? This should prove enlightening
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7419686
Okay, guys...look at her. *IS* she legal age or not? Sure, she's got breasts, but so do many teenage girls! She's youthful looking..is she TOO youthful looking?
I've had friends and others tell me she's fine, because she has breasts and just 'looks old enough'. But the thing is, what is old enough to you might not be old enough to a FA staff member, at which point I could be in trouble.
In fact, the one Admin I talked to was judging her age based on a few things: Body shape, hair style, and a few others.
You read that right: Hair Style. The way one wears their hair can now be a way to determine the age of a character! This is a preposterous way to judge the age of a character. (and mind you, I'm not harping on the Admin that was telling me this; he was actually being quite helpful and trying to the best of his ability to help me judge for myself).
He also mentioned that her thighs weren't developed enough, being slimmer and a bit shorter.
...see a problem here? So, if your character is short, that means that they are also underage?
This is a massive problem. There's no 'standard' on which to judge what is or isn't 'okay' to post. There has to be MORE here, because height and hair style is not enough.
Does this mean that Miu's Jam (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7338099/) isn't legal, despite being 30? I mean, she's awfully short! And she's got small boobs! and she's SO FRIGGIN' ADORABLE!
So, if one person was to come along, and go "That's not appropriate; it doesn't fit MY way of thinking." then both characters could have to be removed entirely from FA.
Which leads me to my next point, the double standards that currently exist.
First and foremost, the Sonic the Hedgehog controversy. Yeah, this shit is as double a standard as you can get. Why? People can draw MLP in the style of the show, but you are ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED TO WITH SONIC.
This is not remotely fair. The excuses for it are pretty poorly thought-out, too.
"The ponies have jobs." Uh huh...so, you're telling me that no one under the age of 18 has a job? Applejack lives on a FARM, and even Apple Blossom has to pitch in and help. All farming families are like that.
Also, depending on which Sonic universe we're looking at, there are multiple characters who are built like Sonic, Amy, etc..and have jobs. Uncle Chuck, for instance. Princess Sally.
It's a lame reason, really.
"But the ponies have CLEARLY DEFINED CHILDREN, and Sonic doesn't."
Are. you. SHITTING. ME.
Sonic: http://images4.fanpop.com/image/pho.....62-540-720.jpg
Cream: http://images.wikia.com/sonikuu/ima.....The_Rabbit.png
Sonic & Cream: http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animated.....fs/82267_o.gif
Tails: http://img.search.com/thumb/7/73/So.....l_tails_cg.png
Sonic and Tails: http://images1.fanpop.com/images/ph.....2-1024-768.gif
Tails and Cream are CLEARLY WELL DEFINED CHILDREN.
They are SMALLER and SHORTER and more CHILD-LIKE than the rest of the cast!
Also, least we forget him..how about Uncle Chuck?!
http://mobianlegends.com/media/spri.....Chuck/bttp.jpg
What if someone drew porn of him in his 'canon' design? Is that now cub too?!
"But in Sonic, most of the adults are taller, and look more mature..."
I'm going to stop you RIGHT THERE. No. No. You do not get to use this as a reason for MLP fanart is okay, and Sonic 'canon' isn't.
You know why?
Princess Celestria.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.....tiamistake.jpg
This is the exact same thing. Look at how much BIGGER she is to everyone else!
Hell, look at Big Mac.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/.....fim_ep0402.png
He's the bigger, older brother...he's BIGGER than they are. In fact, I bet I could probably find more examples.
So no, I don't buy that. Sonic has clearly established children just as much as the ponies do, yet not ONE member of the Sonic crew is allowed to be drawn in a 'canon' design.
It's utter nonsense. The ponies and Sonic have the same thing going on with adults and children, yet Sonic is the one taking the hit. Why?
The simple fact is, the reasons for why the MLP is 'acceptable' compared to Sonic really isn't strong enough. There's no reason to make it so folks cannot draw in a style similar to the canon design, bearing in mind the exception of smaller, child like characters such as Tails or Cream.
But, that again leads to a double standard. There's a lot of artwork being removed that, truthfully, shouldn't have been a problem.
The artist is (
is) has been getting some warnings and such from the FA staff about his artwork, and has finally given up the ghost of trying to stay on here.http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7455150
What, exactly, is WRONG with something like this?
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7405177
Or this?
Clearly she's small, sure....but again, height is not a prerequisite for age. She has a developed body, with breasts (although again, small breasts are not a prerequisite for age either, as some grown women are about as flat as an ironing board), and she has hips. She is clearly not a child.
Are we then going to say that because she's 'cute' that indicates she's underage and shouldn't be drawn in a sexual manner? We can't be seriously heading in that direction, can we?
So, what is the problem, then? Seriously, I want to know what the damn problem is.
Speaking of things like this, the way the FA staff are handling users is kind of deplorable. Anyone that's been following the incident with Norithics knows that the staff member that contacted him suspended him for 3 days for not 'volunteering' to remove the supposed offending images for which he was reported.
Nori refused to remove them, on the grounds that A) The AUP is horribly written with murky text (and it is), and that B) he wasn't going to scourge through his entire gallery, looking for what might POSSIBLY be the offending images.
See point B there? Yeah, that's a very valid claim, as Nori has a huge gallery up on FA...and the staff member failed to inform Nori of which pieces may have been offensive to the AUP. So, instead of continuing to talk or anything, they slapped a suspension on Nori, and once it was lifted, Nori wrote a journal and left FA.
The simple matter is, the staff should have informed Nori WHAT pieces were problematic, and instead of taking up a 'you do what I tell you to do, or I'm going to punish you' tone, could ask that those pieces be looked at, and then removed if need be.
Just saying that there's A piece or pieces that are offending is a lack of information given to the user, who is supposed to just 'know' which pieces are offending. In fact, no one staff member should be able to bully or push around any user on something like this, when with something like 'the discretion of the staff' is left so vaguely hanging up in the air like some kind of weird pinata.
Ultimately, though, these failings of the staff fall upon the shoulders of the highest in charge..Dragoneer.
Now look, I'm not going to sit here and bash Dragoneer. That's uncouth and not helpful to anyone. If we didn't have Dragoneer stepping in, taking over FA years ago, we would not be here, discussing this. For that, at least, we owe him. The site was a big step forward for the fandom, as a place to gather and meet others, in ways that, simply put, other sites didn't allow before. We were allowed to communicate with artists and authors, not have to take a passive role in just reading and looking. We could contribute, to add, to diversify the fandom more and more, and the fandom has done nothing but grow as a result of this site.
But that doesn't make it so he's free of burden. The simple truth is, there is no one higher on the staff of FA, and as Harry S. Truman once had as a plaque on his presidential desk: "The buck stops here."
That means that, ultimately, all the problems with the site are 'Neer's problems. This includes the AUP's murky text, which after the incident with Is and Sciggles last month should have been looked at IMMEDIATELY and re-written. It wasn't.
That blame falls on 'Neer. As the head Admin, his job should have been to help secure the site, to help better clarify the terms of the art ban, to help pacify the upset users and to maybe build some good will to his userbase. None of that happened.
'Neer also chooses who the staff members are, and chooses who does what. His staff members should be retrained a bit, to understand how to approach any given situation...or at least know when to pass it off to folks with more experience and better people skills. Frankly, the treatment of Nori was insulting. Not just to Nori, but to all of us. What if some day they PM you, saying that one or multiple of your pieces are breaking the rules...but you don't understand how or why or which ones? And then they suspended you for three days for not just automatically following their orders. What then? Wouldn't you REALLY want them to treat you better than that?
Not to mention, when the whole incident involving Sciggles' 'How to draw Sonic characters' happened, why was it SCIGGLES who was doing that, anyway? No offense to her or 'Neer, but people already don't give much credit to Sciggles...she is, after all, just the 'boss' wife'. She needs time to learn and to grow as a Mod and then an Admin, and shouldn't have been thrusted into the upper echelon of the chain of command and be able to expect to just command respect. This was something that Dragoneer should have personally over-seen, and addressed PERSONALLY, as it was already a hot-topic button.
It screams of laziness on Dragoneer's part, which is not something anyone wants to feel from the highest in command. He needs to take a more active role, both behind the scenes and in front of the users. He needs to pick his staff carefully, pick people who are level headed, able to take charge when confronted, but not be overtly hostile to start with.
He needs to establish clear rules and boundries on what is or isn't appropriate in reference to the age problem of characters...and this needs to be established for ALL parts, not just cherry picked for one thing to another. The fact that you can draw the Mane Six cast of MLP: FiM in porn without 'aging up' but are not allowed to do this to any of the cast of the Sonic crew is insulting and frankly baffling. It makes NO SENSE.
And 'Neer needs to set up rules and guidelines for his staff to follow, instead of just letting them run willy-nilly about the site, causing drama instead of settling it.
I love FA, but this is not the way to run the site. 'Neer needs to be holding the reigns, not sitting back and watching. The site will only grow weaker and weaker unless these kind of issues are resolved, because more and more people will flock away.
Just ask
Is and 
NorithicsJust because this was such a long, exhausting read, and kind of drab and a bit of a downer, here's some Pinkie Pie singing to help cheer ya up. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKEl.....eature=related
The staff themselves don't even know how to judge things.
DeviantArt features better guidelines than FA does, and DA is a far larger site than FA.
Let's put some Spin on the perspective.
FA
You make a Ticket...
Any of the 'Many' admins on this site can take or break the ticket at there own discrtion.
'Neer 'ONLY' steps in if the Make/Break turns into a public Fiasco and lasts longer then afew days.
DA
You make a ticket.
it has to go through a varifying process with 'One of the Admins scheduled to take care of Said ticket at said level/Development side of the site'
Said Admin has to okay TIcket
Goes to the esclated area that actually handles the issue.
Ticket is either handled or Broken as a non issue.
Head Admins don't have to step in unless the ticket is further exclated by other forces or the issue is a MAJOR whole with the site at large.
That's the sort of issue we're having witht he site. Even IF the rules were properly written so that any Admin could understand them liek another, Any admin can overturn another's choice, They dont' communicate tickets to one another (I've seen several people getting a Block/Suspension/Ban cause several admins issue a NOted TIcket, but not one was a proper warning, Thus set into motion that User is to be suspended/Blocked/Banne without knowing why or what for) and for all thoes Admins know, you could talk to another Admin, taht has no knowladge on it, and get the suspenion/Ban/Block removed jsut liek that, unless say maybe Neer did it himself.... and what's to stop them but Neer? Not a gawd damn thing if they never get called on it... even if Neer has some pull to make things happen and/or Insure that issues liek that dont' spark up so often, he's deligated his power to the other Admins too losoely, there's no Lower level admins, there's one upper level and it's just a highests level. Sciggles woulda worked out DAMN well as well as some of the new mods as actual Mods instead of Admins, and the ones here longer would make good Admins, Dragoneer himself, stay the site manager, but it's less 'You gotta see this' and more 'You gotta take care of this morons issue'.
That woudl atleat be a better step one, then more fancy site set ups, more Rule adjustments... hell.. I'll take the rule adjustments, as long as there's some damn Admin funneling done as well....
Well, that's simply not true. There's multiple examples of her 'imp' form being drawn in sexual situations. Here's just a few I found just searching for 'Midna'.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1887767/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4228512/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4394547/
In fact, that last one is REALLY interesting, because it contains Tails...who looks like he's been 'aged up' a bit. He certainly looks taller than normal, and just looks more 'adult' in design.
But the Midna isn't adjusted much...mostly just given fatter/longer thighs.
"The reason why MLP characters dont get discussed is because the main six or "Mane Six" are considered adult by the original creator because they are already of age to be shown in sexual situations, just the younger ponies aren't allowed to be drawn."
Is there somewhere that says that the main cast are considered full grown? Because there can be a case made that would say that they're not the young fillies, but teenaged. For instance, Twilight Sparkle is still studying, as if she were in high school or college, and so on.
And I already partially addressed the younger children thing, and I provided evidence that says Sonic is the same way.
The simple fact is, the FA staff have, for whatever reason, cherry picked the Sonic fandom to pick on when it comes to this crap. It's bunk, and while my journal won't make a lasting difference...someone has to call them on it.
Though, it actually only furthers my point that we have a double standard in regards to Sonic artwork, as opposed to say MLP...or, apparently, Midna. XD
Moving beyond that, it's good to hear that the problematic rules and policies are being looked at, and it's a necessary movement for a solid groundwork. But I really think that's only the beginning of fixing some of the issues, and maybe the easiest one to tackle.
If I may be so bold, the rules and policies should be updated with a well-defined guideline on how to judge what is or isn't in violation. I see stuff all over the site that seems to be in clear violation, yet things that look like they SHOULDN'T be in violation...are? It's a worrisome problem, because as I said above, there are characters that are clearly not in violation...but one rogue staff member could really do some harm.
So, the rules/policies need to be updated, a guideline established, and then staff perhaps re-trained. I really think that no one Mod/Admin should be suspending folks like what happened with Nori, without some kind of 'back up' approval of others....and then make sure this is getting enforced across the board. the Sonic/MLP/Midna thing seems tilted in a totally unfair way against Sonic, for whatever reason.
And it's not that I think Nori is entirely innocent....some of Nori's submissions *were* in violation of the AUP. But the way that went down was...pretty badly mishandled, and it makes the entire staff look bad.
But yeah, one step at a time, as they say.
And that said, it's hard to write rules that will encapsulate every single thing in art. It's too variable, but we have been trying to refine it as best we can so the users know what we expect... and admins know what to expect from users. I think we can get that understanding well within a definable percentage.
There will always be people who try to stretch that rule as far as they can go, and play the "I had my art removed when I was in violation!", but that's how it works. We want it to be super-simple as best we can.
There's always going to be those that see how far they can push something, and there's always going to be violations.
But yes, I think re-defining the AUP is a good first step, with a guideline established for what to look for. I would think that intention, height, body shape, and others would have to come into play.
Plus, as I am suggesting, maybe having the staff inform the users of what is possibly in violation, and taking a gentle approach instead of 'do this or we punish' would probably help relieve a lot of the stress involved, on both sides. Having an admin ask for a second opinion can only further strengthen the team, and help cut back on potential situations like this from arising again.