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Rambling about an edge case in the new rules
10 months ago
Alt Title: Discourse -- I'm howling at the rules
So a few days ago FurAffinity posted their updated rules and there’s a specific change that’s been really on my mind, and I haven’t seen anyone else talk about it so I’d like to “briefly” (👈 lie) ramble about it.
The updated 2.7 adds that minors now cannot appear in posts rated Mature or Adult—which sounds reasonable until you consider that this includes works rated such due to featuring “mildly violent or disturbing content”, “scary or disgusting content in a horror or fantasy context”, or even because they “Contain persistent use of profanity”—according to the content guidelines.
I saw one case in the discord thread where someone had a gory piece where kids mourn over their parent’s body—which, yeah, is disturbing, and I assume that was the point—but they were being told by FA mods to remove it, based on that description alone. I thought this would be considered an oversight or an edge-case, but then I saw mods in the thread directly respond and say that no, that isn’t allowed on FA anymore.
I saw a mod say directly to this “Minors cannot be depicted in mature or adult-rated content, regardless of why it's marked that way. The only exception is for comics[,] display mature [content] in one panel and then show a minor in a completely unrelated panel” – the new rules contain the clarification “exceptions may be made for non-sexual depictions of birth and breastfeeding”, but only those specifically??
It just seems horribly arbritrary to me, and limits the storytelling potential of what we’re allowed to post here. Wanna post a piece that represents your character’s tragic backstory? Well, careful it’s not too violent. Want to write a horror story featuring characters in high school? If it’s too scary, you may be told to delete it.
Y’know the scene from The Lion King where Simba mourns Mufasa, just after his tragic death? If that scene were any more gory, the rules as written say it may not be allowed on FA anymore.
It’s concerning I think. I don’t see any reason at all why this edge-case has been made an official part of the rules—Especially when the content guidelines themselves are specifically split up in a way where exceptions could have been made. The only justification I’ve been able to find for this change was a mod saying “If we allow a specific amount we then open up gray area that can be misinterpreted” but this isn’t a very helpful answer, and I later saw a mod say “Minors have always been locked out of mature/adult” which... is not the case?? 2.7 did not used to say this, it was added.
And I understand doubting that this will be a problem. I second guessed myself quite a few times writing this—thinking that it’s just too obvious a problem and there must clearly be a way around it for creatives. But like… says who though?? I’ve looked for clarification on this rule from the mods a few times at this point, and they just don’t seem keen to explain themselves. Why was this change needed in this form specifically? Why was that one person told to delete their work?
Currently, the mods are apparently compiling an FAQ to answer everyone’s questions—so that people will be able to understand the rules they wrote. I want to give the benefit of the doubt for now but also, I’m still wary about this. Best case scenario is that the rules just weren’t clear enough and needed clarification… but that’s still not ideal is it? I dunno, feel free to tell me if i'm overreacting here.
Lastly, I’d just like to say that I’ve seen a lot of ire directed to specific mods in this—and I really don’t want to seem like a backseat moderator here. This stuff is more difficult than any of us realise, and they’ve clearly learned that trying to clarify rules ad hoc on a friggin discord server is not the best play. No one person is ever the cause of things like this.
So basically if I see anyone saying “Yeah, this is all [BLANK]’s fault!”, I WILL stab you.
So a few days ago FurAffinity posted their updated rules and there’s a specific change that’s been really on my mind, and I haven’t seen anyone else talk about it so I’d like to “briefly” (👈 lie) ramble about it.
The updated 2.7 adds that minors now cannot appear in posts rated Mature or Adult—which sounds reasonable until you consider that this includes works rated such due to featuring “mildly violent or disturbing content”, “scary or disgusting content in a horror or fantasy context”, or even because they “Contain persistent use of profanity”—according to the content guidelines.
I saw one case in the discord thread where someone had a gory piece where kids mourn over their parent’s body—which, yeah, is disturbing, and I assume that was the point—but they were being told by FA mods to remove it, based on that description alone. I thought this would be considered an oversight or an edge-case, but then I saw mods in the thread directly respond and say that no, that isn’t allowed on FA anymore.
I saw a mod say directly to this “Minors cannot be depicted in mature or adult-rated content, regardless of why it's marked that way. The only exception is for comics[,] display mature [content] in one panel and then show a minor in a completely unrelated panel” – the new rules contain the clarification “exceptions may be made for non-sexual depictions of birth and breastfeeding”, but only those specifically??
It just seems horribly arbritrary to me, and limits the storytelling potential of what we’re allowed to post here. Wanna post a piece that represents your character’s tragic backstory? Well, careful it’s not too violent. Want to write a horror story featuring characters in high school? If it’s too scary, you may be told to delete it.
Y’know the scene from The Lion King where Simba mourns Mufasa, just after his tragic death? If that scene were any more gory, the rules as written say it may not be allowed on FA anymore.
It’s concerning I think. I don’t see any reason at all why this edge-case has been made an official part of the rules—Especially when the content guidelines themselves are specifically split up in a way where exceptions could have been made. The only justification I’ve been able to find for this change was a mod saying “If we allow a specific amount we then open up gray area that can be misinterpreted” but this isn’t a very helpful answer, and I later saw a mod say “Minors have always been locked out of mature/adult” which... is not the case?? 2.7 did not used to say this, it was added.
And I understand doubting that this will be a problem. I second guessed myself quite a few times writing this—thinking that it’s just too obvious a problem and there must clearly be a way around it for creatives. But like… says who though?? I’ve looked for clarification on this rule from the mods a few times at this point, and they just don’t seem keen to explain themselves. Why was this change needed in this form specifically? Why was that one person told to delete their work?
Currently, the mods are apparently compiling an FAQ to answer everyone’s questions—so that people will be able to understand the rules they wrote. I want to give the benefit of the doubt for now but also, I’m still wary about this. Best case scenario is that the rules just weren’t clear enough and needed clarification… but that’s still not ideal is it? I dunno, feel free to tell me if i'm overreacting here.
Lastly, I’d just like to say that I’ve seen a lot of ire directed to specific mods in this—and I really don’t want to seem like a backseat moderator here. This stuff is more difficult than any of us realise, and they’ve clearly learned that trying to clarify rules ad hoc on a friggin discord server is not the best play. No one person is ever the cause of things like this.
So basically if I see anyone saying “Yeah, this is all [BLANK]’s fault!”, I WILL stab you.
In other news i'll have some new art soon-- I remembered a piece that i forgot to share from uhhhhh 2 years ago??? So i'm writing a lengthy description for it and this journal kinda rolled out into it's own thing from it. This is a normal order to do art in and I'm doing great!!
This whole thing is such a shitshow tho.
I was also concerned about the bit on body part focus. Yeah, focus on the crotch or but I understand, but it doesn’t stop there. It also mentions feet. Yeah that can be a kink but does that also mean just baby playing with its feet, as babies do, is verboten?
Or a kitten playing with its tail?
Examining a new tail post TF/AR?
The option to block minors seems reasonable, though.