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The FA Policy Update & News
2 years ago
General
Hey everyone, hope you're about fine too~
So, first things first, this year so far has been as bad as the last one in terms of everything. Last week a friend of my family suddenly and unexpectedly died at age 62, which was of course shocking for everybody.
Bad and infuriating news have become so commonplace that I just don't have it in me anymore and the only emotion I can still feel in this regard is the bitter and raw acceptance about all the things none of us has any influence over.
I am basically “steady as she goes”, slow but to the best of my abilities under the circumstances.
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On FA's Policy
Of course, I too have seen Fenders journal about the policy updates and I am both on the fence and not on the fence on this one.
I have heard about people getting galleries and even patreon accounts deleted for “questionable content” as well as copyright infringement. The latter one directly being connected to the patreon termination, because that artist had made a career out of doing on-model Pokemon porn.
Now, you're free that have at me for being a fence-sitter on this one, but I was always in favor and always have been encouraging doing anything not on model if your intention is to make money, among other reasons.
I also have always been open and vocal against cub- and loli-art.
Since the AI art issue though, my positions began to shift on a couple of things and there is also something I can direct at FA in this regard.
My major complaint about Deviant-Art is that the blacklist- and tag-system don't seem to properly work, therefore forcing AI art constantly in my way. Only today I actually went back to check and the “mute” function (which was still ticked), plus 26 AI tags were still deposited in my settings. I added the 27th, just because.
In my opinion, FA has decided to do one of these strange decisions that leaves “us normies” only scratching our heads, because it seems so counter intuitive and unreasonable (same goes for the company that owned FA for a number of years).
What FA would need first and foremost is an air-tight and waterproof tagging and category system, an 18+ age restriction as well the addition of a set number of tags upon uploading anything. I have seen a number of artists with rather large following often not using any tags at all.
This would alleviate a lot of issues right from the top, because a few simple steps by the user would get all the stuff they do not wish to see out of their way.
Personally, I have begun to adapt to think that more liberties are better than moderation and restrictions if the means I mentioned above a maintained and implemented properly.
Let people do and post their cub art and blacklist it if you don't wish to see it, I know I would, because I don't like it either. Have a smaller, but well thought out rule system and harsh enforcement won't be an issue people lose their minds over.
I noticed this on booru sites, especially E621. Any user that adds false tags or only a minimum number is usually met with criticism and here's the thing: it works.
When I go out scouting for new art to see, I can safely browse rule 34 without having to see AI art, despite the place being full of it. A simple minus-tag does the job.
I want to add to all of this that I am ultimately more in favor of people just drawing and painting what they want, whether I personally like it or not. I do not believe thought- and fantasy-policing is gonna do any good.
In this regard, the booru sites function objectively better and more consistent than community hubs like FA and DA. This is not a loving endorsement on my end, but it rather should be an embarrassment for Deviant-Art and Fur-affinity.
Last not least, here are other places you can follow me on, I update these regularly along with FA. If needed, there are even a few more I could revive like Weasyl, FurryNetwork or Itaku.
https://inkbunny.net/TriasTheDinoArtist
https://triasthedinoartist.newgrounds.com/
https://twitter.com/TriasTheDinoArt
BTW, if you're interested in seeing more than just the finished works I post, I share sketches on my Discord server regularly, link at the top of my profile~
So, first things first, this year so far has been as bad as the last one in terms of everything. Last week a friend of my family suddenly and unexpectedly died at age 62, which was of course shocking for everybody.
Bad and infuriating news have become so commonplace that I just don't have it in me anymore and the only emotion I can still feel in this regard is the bitter and raw acceptance about all the things none of us has any influence over.
I am basically “steady as she goes”, slow but to the best of my abilities under the circumstances.
-
On FA's Policy
Of course, I too have seen Fenders journal about the policy updates and I am both on the fence and not on the fence on this one.
I have heard about people getting galleries and even patreon accounts deleted for “questionable content” as well as copyright infringement. The latter one directly being connected to the patreon termination, because that artist had made a career out of doing on-model Pokemon porn.
Now, you're free that have at me for being a fence-sitter on this one, but I was always in favor and always have been encouraging doing anything not on model if your intention is to make money, among other reasons.
I also have always been open and vocal against cub- and loli-art.
Since the AI art issue though, my positions began to shift on a couple of things and there is also something I can direct at FA in this regard.
My major complaint about Deviant-Art is that the blacklist- and tag-system don't seem to properly work, therefore forcing AI art constantly in my way. Only today I actually went back to check and the “mute” function (which was still ticked), plus 26 AI tags were still deposited in my settings. I added the 27th, just because.
In my opinion, FA has decided to do one of these strange decisions that leaves “us normies” only scratching our heads, because it seems so counter intuitive and unreasonable (same goes for the company that owned FA for a number of years).
What FA would need first and foremost is an air-tight and waterproof tagging and category system, an 18+ age restriction as well the addition of a set number of tags upon uploading anything. I have seen a number of artists with rather large following often not using any tags at all.
This would alleviate a lot of issues right from the top, because a few simple steps by the user would get all the stuff they do not wish to see out of their way.
Personally, I have begun to adapt to think that more liberties are better than moderation and restrictions if the means I mentioned above a maintained and implemented properly.
Let people do and post their cub art and blacklist it if you don't wish to see it, I know I would, because I don't like it either. Have a smaller, but well thought out rule system and harsh enforcement won't be an issue people lose their minds over.
I noticed this on booru sites, especially E621. Any user that adds false tags or only a minimum number is usually met with criticism and here's the thing: it works.
When I go out scouting for new art to see, I can safely browse rule 34 without having to see AI art, despite the place being full of it. A simple minus-tag does the job.
I want to add to all of this that I am ultimately more in favor of people just drawing and painting what they want, whether I personally like it or not. I do not believe thought- and fantasy-policing is gonna do any good.
In this regard, the booru sites function objectively better and more consistent than community hubs like FA and DA. This is not a loving endorsement on my end, but it rather should be an embarrassment for Deviant-Art and Fur-affinity.
Last not least, here are other places you can follow me on, I update these regularly along with FA. If needed, there are even a few more I could revive like Weasyl, FurryNetwork or Itaku.
https://inkbunny.net/TriasTheDinoArtist
https://triasthedinoartist.newgrounds.com/
https://twitter.com/TriasTheDinoArt
BTW, if you're interested in seeing more than just the finished works I post, I share sketches on my Discord server regularly, link at the top of my profile~
Honestly though, so far I have not been affected by any of it, not even by the copyright issues regarding patreon; probably because I always strongly anthrofy and age-up all the characters I depict. However just because my tastes and beliefs fall in line with what FA is apparently going for shouldn't mean that I am okay with people being policed to no end based on the slippery slopes the admins decided to enter.
My newgrounds is bojinhunt0987
However I'm not sure how artists would feel about it. Not about viewers filtering their searches, but needing to tag in the first place. I've heard more than one prefer the stylings of Twitter or Tumblr or similar where it's just post-and-go. Too many on FA barely bother even with descriptions, often leaving it as just a dot as it's the minimal one could add to the dedicated field. But that's also why tag suggestion needs to be a thing, to pick up the slack.
You can never search for specific pieces, the layout is fatally limited to the infinite scroll, down the timeline, the oldest posts just disappear after a while (I think only Instagram is worse in this regard). Generally, websites get punished for having any sort of reduced layout as it is often deemed "archaic". Twitter however still sports a large userbase, if this wasn't the case, artists alone would have little incentive to go there.
I can agree, descriptions are somewhat icky, I personally often don't really know what to write, however it can be left empty, which seems good.
As for the mandatory tags, sorry, but I do not think adding something like 5 tags is too much to ask. You can't argue that people like Twitter with its hastags and character limit and then find adding 5 tags and no description on something like FA is "too much" (you didn't say it like that, I am countering that hypothetical artist who might).
Lastly though, I seriously don't understand why you wouldn't be in favor of a solid tag system, with every upload sporting at least the minimum, it HELPS people to find your works, so... yeah.
The sheer reach of Twitter is the biggest draw of it, I agree. It's tough to compete with an audience that literally consists of everyone. On top of that, I think retweeting, an the reblogging of the Tumblr that came before, are also big draws. A growing web of like-interested people sharing your work with others who then share it further is advertising that can't be beat. On gallery sites, unless something comes up in a search you're unlikely to just stumble on it. There is often a Browse option, but it takes more intended effort than just getting relevant art in your inbox automatically along with the rest of the stuff you're here for.
However it's not like there aren't other sites that have that. Pillowfort is basically Tumblr, and Itaku is the best of both worlds by having both a feed and a gallery.
In short, we are in agreement that Twitter sucks and artists should stop using it as their primary place to post their art.
Well yeah, I really don't think I will be affected by any of this. Like I said though, I would vastly prefer a rock-solid filter system over harsh regulations and policing, since we already have examples on how FA falls flat on its ass with the implementation.
As for the suggestion, yes Lord yes. Good blacklist and tagging are things FA has needed for over a decade and would help curtail so much stuff I just don't want to see. Of course it would mean people need to tag right but....
And yeah, of course, people would need to add fitting tags; but I don't think a minimal amount being mandatory is bad. Like on NewGrounds, you can't even add more than 12, so you have to be selective and keep it simple.
I mostly noticed how important this is to me on DeviantArt. As I find AI art triggering and offensive, having close to 30 blacklisted tags and the mute-function activated, you would think this would have some effect. Yet it keeps getting suggested over and over and I can't scroll and browse for things safely.
Nobody has reacted to me saying this so far, but imagine if this was any other subject deemed controversial, like rape, gore and any extreme thing.
I go by Yoshifan2.
Amongst other things.
But the tagging is definately something that needs work. I miss out on a lot of quality artists because they don't bother tagging or tag lazily. Honestly I love E621 for that reason, not for the sexual content so much but I can find artists better than on here most times.
100% on board with the last part. I think every artist should invest the extra minute to add at least a certain number of core tags, just so that everyone has the opportunity to find their works. Elaborate descriptions and the like may stay optional since you don't always have a lot to say.