Good lord. I'm not the biggest fan of the 2nd, and even I think that's stupid that you need to leave them.

Well, it is their private community, I get it. But nothing I posted was worse than the cover of a magazine at Walmart or something lol.

That sucks.

Yeah, made me feel kinda bad, but it's their server. I support it. People want a safe place where they can't see a gun, that's fine!

I draw furries with guns from time to time.

And they're AWESOME! D:<

Thank you.

Lemme guess, the poor little pansy asses are scared of the big mean guns that can just explode for no reason and kill everybody or something? They probably live in Cali- oh sorry, Commiefornia.

Yeah, I mean, I avoid politics and stuff like the plague, I don't agree with 'either side' or that we should even have sides, I do enjoy my guns and in fact, if it wasn't for them I'd have starved as a kid. Like for real. But anyway, people are too sensitive, but also, it's a private area. They have the right to kick people out who draw cool shit. :P

I totally agree with ya on the politics. Both 'sides' have the same kinds of sensible people and bat-shit crazy people alike, and both will do anything against the other just to spite them. But yeah, I guess people do have the right to their safe spaces where no guns or other nasty stuff can hurt them, especially private establishments where they set the rules and those rules act like magical force fields that all others must abide. Like movie theaters and night clubs in Colorado.. Oh, wait.. Nevermind..

Regardless of what others say, you keep on doing what you're doing and we'll keep on loving it and you!

Haha thank you and same to you for sure! :D I just wanna have a good time :P

Couldn't agree more- there's really no such thing as "Us VS Them", "Our side is right VS Their side is wrong" because nothing is black & white anyway, every side is shades of grey. If anything there's far too much division and tribalism these days when we should instead be finding a common enemy to unite against.

Absolutely. Everyone needs to get a lot more respectful, a lot less defensive and a little tougher, and focus on what's good for all of us, not letting ourselves be manipulated. But, heh, what can you do?

Dang. That's dumb. It's fantasy art with bi-pedal anthropomorphic animals doing badass things. Bet if it was Helldivers related they'd be ok with it.

Haha you're probably right about that! Apparently I'd been violating the terms of their server for like 9 months, no one noticed until today lolol.

That legit sounds nit picky on their end

I agree, but it's fine, I need to find new furry discords that will dig my art anyway.

Maybe you should make your own! With Blackjack and Hookers!

Don't think I've not thought about it! haha, but I don't have the time or energy to manage anything like that. I thought about making a Powderburn/MadMax/Fallout themed one though.

Also, Futurama <3

They don't deserve your art!

THANK YOU!!!

they sound like pretty lame communities.

Yeah, I don't wanna attack anyone or name names, but I feel like they got a little lamer when I left :P

This is generally why I am only on a handful of servers, and only three of them are art-related.

That's fair yeah

I had a friend get dinged by Discords Trust and Safety department for - I'm guessing because firearms are not explicitly stated anywhere - violating the Bullying, Harassment, and Threats Policy. The infraction in question? They had a picture of a pine marten jumping and firing a gun off screen while screaming in bewilderment. It was seen as "acting in a threatening manner."

Here's the catch though; Discord being as massive of a platform as it is does not have the capability to monitor everyone, so it's up to user reports to actually get the T&S team involved. Someone actively went out of their way to report them in this niche case.

Server moderators may have their own no-gun polices in place to avoid this to protect themselves and other members from the Trust and Safety department. Nobody likes their server spontaneously being under the microscope and at-risk for deletion and having to open an appeals ticket.

Other places I've been to are straight up gun-phobic. I can't blame them, but they get bumped down a few folders because of it. I draw guns. I can't risk accidentally break their rules.

One of the servers I'm in just enacted a new no-firearms policy in response to the various prop firearm incidents that happened at FWA last weekend; rumors of people having pretend shootouts in the hall, a rumor one guy brought a real AUG to cosplay with, and the one thing that did go viral was the Bomb Voyage cosplayer standing over top the Pulse bar with an M16 replica and sweeping the convention floor. That last one ruffled feathers beyond the FWA bubble.

We might not have an agenda, but other people do, so we all suffer because of it. Hell, it's the car scene all over again. Can't go anywhere without people thinking I'm a hot ricer boy looking to shut down an intersection, do drugs, or speed everywhere I go and tailgate me when they see that I don't.

Yeah, someone clearly targeted me because I've been posting for years on there. This was just two communities though, not all of discord. I wasn't BANNED or anything, but 95% of my art is action art, same stuff you'd see in a comic book or tv show. I don't have the time to carefully tip toe around those servers, and that's okay for everyone involved. Just, kinda makes you feel bad when you've been part of a group for so long.

Those must be some very touchy communities. None that I've ever been in, and I've been in a lot, have ever had a problem with guns in art. Though to be fair, I'm not in any really big ones.

Yeah this is new to me lol, and it happened twice in a week or two

Sounds like it was most likely the same person/people targeting you on both? Just such an odd situation.

I suspect so, someone reported me in both for the same thing.

Another reason I hate social media. People cant just leave you be and let you be and do you. Sorry to hear you're having this difficulty over some stupid inane bullshit like this though.

It's really okay, just weird it has happened twice back to back suddenly

Might be a few individuals who shared groups in common with you or are targeting you and trying to follow you around. Seen that sort of behavior out of people just not letting things go.

I very much suspect this was the case yeah.

Hopefully you can find a place to call "home". I would suggest a community but sadly all the communities Im apart of are Patreon ones.

I once thought about trying to make a Powderburn Patreon (to make a comic or card game) but in the past I've had TERRIBLE luck with such things. I always end up wasting massive amounts of time and can't afford to finish.

Im sorry to hear that... It always sucks to see your dreams for things like that go unfulfilled... Id love to help in someway but I'v never done something like that myself.

Not a good situation at all. A server I was in fell apart because of some similar such lunacy. I've actually been concerned with the level of hyper politicisation of everything and the danger of witch hunting mobs. People don't read context, or worse... read the context they want to read when they are feeling predatory and needing victims to distract themselves from whatever anguish or frustration is happening in their lives.

What makes it so maddening and frustrating is that my own concern has become being accused of supporting the very sort of ideologies and belief systems that I despise and hate with a passion.

The level of paranoia has reached a point that simply bringing up a subject results in accusations. I've been concerned that simply having a character who is armed with an "assault style weapon" may get me lumped in far right extremists (a reason why I've drawn him more with being a knife wielder or using a pistol, and downplayed earlier survivalist tropes to some degree even if they are fun). I've had villain designs deliberately set up to evoke major historic villainry because... those literally are the most effective (and compelling) archetypes for bad guys. Yet I've wondered if some emotionally unstable person could cause trouble for that sort of thing.

I've encountered a frighteningly large number of people, both online and in real life, who simply have zero ability to understand nuance or context, have basically no reading comprehension, and will lash out without thinking. They will set their own adopted cause on fire just to try to burn people they don't like. Online it feels worse because the lack of verbal dialogue and reliance on text almost seems to short circuit a critical part of the cognitive process for a lot of people, especially when emotions are running high. It's a form of nihilism that needs a name ascribed to it, but its freaking dangerous and needs to stop. Not everyone wants to just draw smut or cute animal characters, some people actually want to discuss deeper issues, that is what a lot of art has always been meant to be.

Yeah I don't like getting 'lumped in' with anyone, but it happens all the time. For years I was a 'liberal vegan gun owner who drove pickup and worked in the oil industry' I didn't have friends -anywhere- and REALLY I don't care, but holy shit if we get so sensitive I can't draw action comics and share them we're in real trouble. :P People need to toughen up a little, I'm not saying it's okay to be dicks to people, but holy smokes. ANYWAY, it was a private community, I support their right to run people off if they want to. But what you aid is for sure correct. I'm also SO tired of sides, man we gotta start supporting each other, at least support your wealth bracket lol, don't let them trick you into fighting your brothers and sisters FOREVER.

There are a lot of "Hoplophobes" out there with an irrational fear of weapons/guns instead of fearing the bad people who use them for evil reasons.

I have an old saying, myself. "If pro-gun people were as violent as anti-gun people think they are, there would be no anti-gun people."

It's all ignorance and brainwashed media-pushed fear that anyone who likes guns must be some evil right winger or something.

Hell, I'm a pro-2A gay guy who believes "Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed!" so the left-wing AND the right-wing hate that people like me can exist.

Well, in the vague defense of those you talk about, it's also VERY notable that any suggestions to actually work on enforcing anything similar to forced psych evals or expanded background checks also get opposed, sometimes violently, by the gun fetishists on the right and their enablers the NRA.

Can't focus on the relatively easy access to guns OR the complete lack of effective mental health support without someone on the right throwing a fit.

I don't like gun-fetishists anymore than I hate gun-phobes. I'm also in big support of mental health for people, if I wanted to go see a shrink it'd break me, I shouldn't have to make that choice imo. I couldn't get health insurance for 30 years because I was born with a heart defect, that's bullshit, etc. I'm so tired of the sides. It's poor vs rich imo, and stupidity shouldn't continue to be a right.

Yeah, I've been pro gun pro gay pro human rights etc my entire life, guns aren't my identity but I'm very grateful to be able to use them as a tool for surviving, especially with food prices getting as insane as they are right now. I'm also SO tired of the 'wings' for fucks sake people, if anything it should be poor vs rich ALWAYS.

THANK YOU! That is exactly what it is!

I wish more people noticed this.

The rich and powerful that own media and control information want us to fight our fellow citizens instead of "eating the rich".

Other than a few single-point issues, the right and left "wings" are remarkably similar when you take into account the "regular average citizen" that isn't some internet extremist. The tribalism drives ad revenue on BOTH "sides" keeping poor and middle-class people fighting amongst themselves while the rich and powerful of BOTH "sides" fucks EVERYONE under them over... Time and time again the RICH and POWERFUL, regardless of their current trending political "affiliation" screw over the AVERAGE citizen.

Hell, I still remember when Bernie Sanders went from "There shouldn't be MILLIONAIRES" then became a millionaire himself, and immediately changed his tune to "There shouldn't be BILLIONAIRES".

You have rich and powerful people telling us we should get rid of our cars and live in mega-cities to "Save the environment" while they fly around to lunch in private jets that put out more carbon in a single trip than the "average" person will in their lifetime.

Republicans and Democrats alike love WAR, love MONEY, love INSIDER TRADING *cough pelosi*, love BIG BUSINESS, love ENRICHING THEIR OWN LIVES OVER AVERAGE CITIZENS, love making SHADY BACKROOM DEALS (remember the Affordable Care Act and its many backroom deals that eventually made healthcare even more unaffordable?), both love screwing over STUDENTS *cough joe biden cough stipping bankruptcy protection from student loans in 2005 cough*, love GIVING THEMSELVES PAY RAISES, and the only difference seems to be that the Democrats lie about it while the Republicans admit it.

The Democrat politicians of today are hardly any different than the Republicans of the late 1990s, hell most of them WERE politicians in the 1990s still! But people don't pay attention to history outside their "trusted sources" that said media ALSO OWNS!

You have millionaire and billionaire politicians and talking heads in the media telling us "the economy is doing great, stop believing your dwindling bank accounts!" even as EVERYTHING has gone up and inflation has gone insane while the left and the right politicians BOTH agree to spend a TRILLION DOLLARS ON WAR like it is nothing.

The 1% is fucking over everyone on ALL SIDES to enrich themselves, but because they (the rich and powerful) own the media or control the information/propaganda are psychologically conditioning people to hate their fellow citizens instead of hating the rich and powerful that have screwed us all over.

Also, sorry, I'm a writer so I can get carried away when typing. *chuckles* ^_^

Man most of this is not far off from some themes in a war-story graphic novel I'm planning to work on o.o (Though set in a different time period and still in the script-writing process)

I would LOVE to see someone use the themes of today and apply them to a "far off future" or "fantasy world" so people finish reading/watching it thinking "that was an interesting fantasy" then on the very last page, reveal that it is all based on what is happening in the world now.

One could say we live in a "boring dystopia". It's like cyberpunk without all the cool music, clothes, neon lights, cars, and robotic enhancements.

Look at our beautiful gleaming cities that 99% of people can't actually afford to live in where most the skyscrapers are basically empty.

And politicians bragging about super-high "GDP" that is mostly only because of low-staff headquarters in the local areas and automated or slave labor factories overseas all owned by only a handful of companies.

Much like now where the people in power will say: The stock market is doing great! So anyone complaining about the cost of groceries and living must be an evil 'denier' or 'something-unsavory-winger' or 'conspiracy theorist' and needs to be 'cancelled'.

If World War 3 happens in my lifetime, it won't be because of some actual evil regime, it will be because the greedy leaders of the world all got together behind closed doors, agreed someone needs to "play the baddie", then kick it off to increase military industrial profit margins while culling the poor population so they could eventually pretend things are "fixed".

Houses too expensive? Cull a big portion of the population in war... Now there's less people than houses, and house prices go down.

Not enough jobs? Cull the population in war so the survivors can be employed.

Is the environment supposedly in a bad state because of overpopulation? That's right, cull with a pre-planned war!

Meanwhile the people that are rich and powerful manage to avoid any drafts or war, and profit off war like always. The politicians LOVE having stock options in "defense" companies because they are the ones that directly profit off of and get to decide on 'war' itself.

I won't go into too much detail as I feel like i'd be doing myself a disservice to my own work if I spell it out anyway😅 But in a nutshell, the idea came to me in the mid to late 2010s when I was feeling fatigued by division & tribalism and had destructive thoughts of an apocalyptic alien invasion forcing mankind to unite. Overall we'll how much my project relates later on! Or heck at the very least, readers/viewers simply enjoy the action and artwork even if all the themes fly over our heads. XD (it's mostly character-focussed anyway)

This is all transparently true, but everyone is too stupid to see it, too entertained to do anything about it, and afraid to die in drone strikes by robots in the skies if they revolt. (A valid fear)

Personally I'm Very against the (IMO unconstitutional) recent-ish redefinition of 2A from a communal to a personal right and the NRA's EXTENSIVE efforts to make guns a true fetish in american culture that have thus far succeeded to a horrifying degree.

THAT SAID the idea of freaking out over the very SIGHT of a gun is god damned stupid. My entire snowfox species is a miltaristic one where every single member that's of adult age is part of the active military in some way. I'd be kicked out of those servers with a quickness.

Yeah, it was in a private space, i defend their right to run off cool-ass people like me :P But it sucks that I was there for so long before 'getting caught' lol
I generally avoid politics and stuff because I've changed maybe two minds in 30 years, people are too stubborn and willfully ignorant and just refuse to learn on their own or be taught be another.
I really think the 'keep them sick, stupid, and entertained' thing is working super well.

Probably better to stick to your guns (no pun intended I think) and just stay next time because at least you don't have any intentional political leanings with your work; Just gorgeous anthro characters with weapons + post-apocalyptic & action-packed settings 🤷‍♂️ANYone can bond over that!
Or at the very least temporarily switch their mind off from their ideals and just objectively enjoy the art. We all need to take a break from real-world issues at some point, that's the whole reason why I flock to video-games, movies and anthro/furry art regardless of themes.
I hope you keep creating the same content as always regardless though :)

Yeah they're not slowing me down, just making me leave their space. If someone was in my house shaking a bottle of pennies and I asked them to shake them outside, I guess that's fair lol. It's just funny because I'd been shaking pennies in their community for years before getting caught.

I suppose.
Though that's just one server anyway they're not ALL going to be that fussy when it comes to weaponry. I mean, take a look Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, plenty of weaponry to be seen that's not even m-rated and look how much people love that game (myself included). Plus (although I haven't played it yet) Laika: Aged through blood, gory action, gun-wielding momma coyote on a dirt-bike and the reception looks great last time I checked. So i'm sure it's not weapons that are solely the problem I think you just unluckily happened to stumble onto that 1 out of 10 servers that have fussy rules regarding weapons😅

Seems so, well they're on my shit list now :P I hate censorship :P

As for characters wielding guns, I see that as no different to swords, spears, axes, and other medieval/non-projectile weaponry that usually kill in a more brutal fashion than projectile weaponry >.>

In the same channel are characters waving blood-covered knives, etc, but whatever :P No skin off my nose in the end. :P

The angry political ramblings people are making are pretty irrelevant, discord communities are run however the people running them want to and that's ok. You seem to openly acknowledge it too. That said, the circumstances of you having to leave two in a row like this when you previously went unbothered for years is peculiar.

I think the mods maybe were turning a blind eye to me until someone complained. Unless they added the rules after I joined, I WAS violating their rules.

One shouldn't adjust their interests because some people get triggered by them. If those people can't handle reality, well ... tell 'em to go see a fuckin' doctor! XD

Never change, Ash. Never change.

Yeah no chance of that, I'm too long in the tooth to do much more changing I fear :P

How dare you make art 😡

I'll go make my offensive art in the dingy alleyways and underground tunnels then :P

Should have looked if they had any digimon-based fursonas in that furry-chat, after all, many digimons have weapons built into their bodies.

But yeah, that is just...silly. Are people really that overly hyper-sensitive that they cannot distinguish bewteen a fantasy picture drawing and reality?

Yeah there were plenty of other violators, or equally disturbing stuff like bloody knives, etc, it's fine. I don't wanna get other artists ran off who are just trying to discover their audience.