Hey everybody, the suspension is over and I have my account back. Wanted to first say thank you all for your support~

I also wanted to go over what exactly happened so there are no assumptions or confusion.
To start though I want to say I hold no ill will over FA for their policy for banning certain content. That's their choice and decision and while I may not agree with it I understand why they do. But my argument bellow will cover more HOW they handled this situation.

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So about a month and a half ago one of my images was reported by a user (not going to name him, but those that know, know) because it was deemed to break TOS due to their underage/cub clause.
So that's the basic run down. Let's dive into specifics. Hopefully talking about this subject can avoid getting me banned. This is something that needs to be discussed and not censored.

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The image in question was a mass vore image that was cropped to exclude Asriel, a character who possibly hundreds if not thousands of years old but comes in two flavors of body type in the game: his younger form and his older form. This was not a shoddy or obvious censor; this was literally cutting the image in half so nothing is left of that character. Even I realized that the younger form might be questionable so I decided to just avoid it. Instead I showed off the top portion and changed the text to be more of a commentary on the content issue.

There were no remarks to cubs being used in the image other than "A character who may or may not be underage but due to his body type FA would rather not risk it" and the submission itself lacked any links or wordage saying where the full image may be.
For all intents and purposes it was a separate piece of work and art and just because a different image exists with content that breaks their TOS (that the user in question would have to know of what other account I used and posted to and then explain to FA that it's there)
Because of this, I was suspended.

It really makes me wonder how they handle anything with alternative artwork types. Because when you boil the whole issue down, that's why I got suspended. Because I made an alternative image that does NOT break their TOS. Here's the passage they quoted me for why I was suspended:

"You have been Temporarily Suspended for violating the following site rule:

Acceptable Upload Policy: Section 2.7 - Content featuring minors is prohibited when sexual activity is present. Minors cannot be in the presence of nudity, though exceptions may be made for non-sexual depictions of birth and breastfeeding. Minors are real or fictional humanoids with a childlike body or younger than 18 years old, and any adolescent animals.


[b]You have done this by posting cropped cock vore involving cubs.”

So there are some big issues with this statement. I'll get into how their policy itself lacks definition and also has a lot of "fudge room" that they don't enforce, later.
But to start, WHERE in that rule they quoted me does saying "Cropped image" is prohibited? Do you see that rule, because I don’t. As it stands I uploaded a piece of work that is separate and standalone to whatever else I made for that image. I could have 5 different alternative art pieces of that one image and they would be their own images. I could crop out a face of one of them and use it as an avatar.

But because one image exists that does "potentially" break their tos (cus again... character is an adult in canon but context doesn't matter... sometimes for FA. I'll get into how inconsistent they can be later) I get suspended.

What erks me even more is when I try to consult with them, they treat me with their robotic response. Taking days to respond ONCE and just saying "I have reviewed your account and determined that you were penalized appropriately. Therefore, no further action will be taken at this time."

They didn't even bother to talk to me as a person. To actually go over, review what I’ve said, and say why I may be right or wrong.

The point I want to make with this section of my journal is this: I was suspended due to an image that does NOT break their TOS because another image exists elsewhere (that I did not link or reference to where to find) and I'm peeved because their appeals person didn't even care to listen to or converse with me as a person. I have a fair argument. I wasn't trying to underhandedly show cub art on this site. I was trying to share the portions of the image that weren't TOS questionable and also poke fun at the whole cub issue.

Nowhere in their TOS says this is a problem so I felt my suspension was unjust.

I would have been fine if they said "Hey, we just don't want this, ya not in our TOS but still, remove please" I'd not be happy about it but I'd be agreeable. Cus, again, their site, ban whatever you want. Your rules and all that. But you're gonna censor me and suspend me just because I question these rules? Because that's what it feels like. It feels like I was either suspended because A) they don't like that I questioned their rules,, or B) they are very VERY anti cub content to the point they don't even care about people or context. It's just a shut door matter and because someone spoke up about it they threw the ban hammer down.

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Now, it would be unfair to not mention that I have been a repeat offender in the past. For different reasons and because I believe context matters I'll explain.

I was around before FA banned cub content and had a few images which depicted a few underage characters. Even past the ban these images were YEARS old and I had forgotten about them, but someone noticed, reported, and they removed them and had a short suspension.

Second offense was when I posted an image with a kid character fully clothed and not involved in the action happening making a funny quib about a public sexual act happening in the image. I didn't realize that was against TOS (and it may actually not have been at the time, the clause they added saying they can't even be in an image of said stuff might have been added later) but regardless, it wasn't an attempt to push in cub content. It was an honest joke to have a mother and her son in an image of public indecency commenting on that fact.
But that got reported, I was promptly suspended and the image removed. Again no warning.

The last offense was when I posted a comic involving simba. I'll admit that one was my bad. I wasn't thinking at the time it was just a really good set of images I wanted to post and I figured just saying simba wasn't a cub in the image would be enough. The way I saw it were people have been posting images of younger body type characters all the time and just saying they are adults (smaller animal body types or pokemon etc) so I didn't think it was an issue. I was wrong. Reported, removed, suspended without warning.

Then this offense, now fully in understanding about these issues, I make an image using an adult in a young body and realize that probably is too much for FA. Make an alternative image that pokes dialogue critique about the issue but does not showcase any of the questionable content, get reported, get suspended without warning, content removed.

My issue with this whole issue is FA does not try to work with you and doesn't seem to care about context. It’s suspended first, let them ask questions later, and then probably ignore their plea anyhow.



So that's basically the whole thing, that's what happened this go around.

TL;DR

I post an image that falls in line with their TOS and pokes fun that I can't show the whole image because it's questionable for FA. I don't link or make reference to where said image could be. The image gets reported by a person anyhow (someone who's been going around doing it a lot I've been told) and FA removes it and suspends me without warning, siting their cub rule and then saying because I used a cropped image that I was suspended (even though the image uploaded is a derivative work and is its own image and in no way is having a cropped image in their TOS) I'm pissed because they didn't want to discuss this topic or talk to me at all because I felt I did not break any rules.

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Now this section will cover what I think about censorship of cub and of questionable or extreme material in general and how poorly FA handles this.

First off, FA can ban whatever content they want. It's their site, their rules. I may not agree with it but I certainly understand why. It's a legal grey area they'd rather not risk.

But the issue I have with FA on this topic is they are also VERY grey area on what they allow and don't allow which has basically caused me to trip over these invisible little caltrop of issues.

Like okay, you don't want underage cubs or body types that can be seen as such.
Yet you allow things like Finnick porn to pass or any character that is SUPER well known to have a small body type but be an adult.

Then there's the whole issue of Pokemon. Most of the species being very cute and young looking with small body types but you let it pass because "That's just their species and they could be adults just in those body types". Let's not get into as well the "oh I'm totally 18" even though they are probably more like 16 (or 17) issue that having a "age of consent" limit brings. That's a whole grey area issue in its own right.

You see the inconsistency? And I understand why, they start banning things like pokemon and they'll loose like, half the site. But my issue is because their TOS is so flimsy on this issue and they are so inconsistent, someone like me gets shafted because they essentially just have an "implied" TOS that I'm not aware of.

So, what do I think about the whole cub ban thing? I think its nonsense but I understand they are a business trying to protect themselves. But in the process they are hurting their users.

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As for the morality of it all, my belief is such:

"No illustrative or fantasy art (with the exception of art purposefully made to target and to cause harm, hate, or propaganda) should be illegal. All such work, regardless of their morality or content should be allowed to exist."

Now everything has its own place of course. No one is gonna post furry porn over on DA, they don't want it there. But for sites that allow adult content, that's what a black list is for.

So it's not just the fact it's Cub. That's just one facet most people tend to erect an immediate barrier to and call fowl. It's the easiest thing to try and squash away due to our inherent moralities.

But, I argue, that fantasy and our imagination is a place where all forms of thought can be allowed and art is an expression of that.
When we venture into the world of fantasy we leave at the door our moralities, ethics, expectations, and we open ourselves to whatever experience we can imagine. When we return we leave behind whatever mental space we created to then be back in the real world with our real ethics and morality.

What all this fancy wordplay is getting at is this:
Fantasy is separate from reality. A rational and true person will be able to keep those things separate when appropriate. Ask any snuff fetishist, vore fetishist, or any type of person who enjoys porn involving pain or domination or some form of force, do they get off to the idea in real life? You'll probably find most are quite the opposite. Who they are in fantasy is NOT who they are in real life. I can't stand the site of death or pain. Heck, it's a joke between my friends that I get squeemish with any food with the face still there (whole fish, crab, roasted pig etc).

Let's take the idea to say, a shooter game. Or any game with heavy violence. These people that play these games, most of the time aren't violent people and in that moment when they play they are willingly allowing themselves to go into a headspace where mowing down hundreds of people with a shotgun is perfectly okay and exciting.

It's not because they have some deep dark inner desire to do those actions, it's because they are willing allowing themselves to enter a headspace and enjoy the experience knowing they can come back from it unchanged by it.

Some choose to not allow this for some subjects, and that's fine. I know plenty of people who don't want to play violent games because they just don't feel comfortable getting into that headspace where they can just be okay with it.

But what I want to bring up here is that violent media does not create violent people. There will be those who use it as a way to sate their desires, for sure. But a sane person will be able to know what is morally or ethically wrong and when indulging in it in fantasy, not allow them to be changed by it.

That's why even the worry of "if you allow this art to exist it will desensitize the topic" can't possibly happen. The idea of sexually assaulting a child is still very VERY wrong in our social and moral views. Unless our whole society changes on that viewpoint the art itself is not going to change what people actually believe and their morals on that subject.

People like various shit for various reasons and you can get into the nitty griddy all you want for why a person might like fetish A, or dislike fetish B. But what it comes down to is fantasy is a headspace. It's a place you go when you want to experience something you can't do at the time in real life. You can choose to leave your morals and ethics at the door and explore a whole new range of ethics and morals. Sometimes this can be to experience what another person's life might be like, fill their shoes. Sometimes this might be for pure indulgence, to enjoy a rule free environment and set our Id free (the supposed part of our psyche that does whatever benefits the self and screw anything else, usually tempered by the Super Ego).

But what it all comes down to is fantasy is just that, fantasy. And if you think art of said fantasy shouldn't exist because of your morals or ethics, I'd argue it's you who needs to leave your moral and ethics at the door.
Because fantasy is a safe place for anything. Art is an expression of that fantasy. It causes no harm and allows creative minds to express whatever their imagination lets them. You may not agree with it, that's fine. Hell, sometimes artist make things they aren't in full agreement or liking either, but they want to make it anyways to "get it out of their head". That's totally understandable! You don't have to be okay with or wanting to let go of some of your ethics or morals when you enjoy fantasy. But, some of us are. And we're not bad people, we don't want to kill, or hurt, or harm others just because we do so in fantasy.

I am Aaron, my identity of who I am in real life does not change because Roco wants to eat a whole city block and digest them into fat. My fantasies do not determine my ethics or morals. My ethics and morals do not always determine my fantasies.

So, the TL;DR for this -
Let people enjoy whatever fucked up fantasies they want. So long as they aren't hurting anyone it's fine. People who enjoy the more extreme fantasies leave their true selves at the door and don't take what they believe in fantasy back with them.

I just like small body types with giant fucking dicks eating people and melting them into cum. I'm not a cock gobbling person eater in real life nor even if I could would I do so... to harm people. If I could safely I still might >///>;;

but you get the point, CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT

Fantasy can be a context REMOVED from reality. Leave that fucking shit at the door people.