Tag Blocking and Policy Update

Happy New Year!!

We are excited to start the year off by announcing some updates we’ve been working on for the last few months!

Client Side Tag Blocking

The new Tag Blocking feature will allow users to censor artwork that contain specific tags. There are two ways you can add and remove tags to your blocklist:

*You can access the page the offending artwork is on and select the tags you'd like to block/unblock in the future.
*You can add/remove them manually on the Profile Info page: "Profile Info"

There is also an option to hide content that has no tags you can adjust the setting on your "Profile Info".

Currently the system only filters exactly what is tagged. For example, blocking "dog" will not filter out something like "canine" or "hotdog". This is intended to avoid accidentally blocking unrelated content.

This is new so there may still be some lingering bugs or fixes as we find them. If you encounter anything please be sure to put in a ticket with a screenshot so we can address it! This is a short term stopgap solution for a long time requested system. The hope is that this will provide users with the basic functions while we work on a more robust system.

⚠️PLEASE NOTE⚠️- Classic theme is no longer being updated. Tag blocking is only available on modern themes.

Contacts Update

We’ve updated the contacts system! This will be a mostly invisible backend change, but you will notice a range of new contact options that will include popular requested services such as; Bluesky, Cara, Mastodon, Piczel, Itaku, Pixiv, and personal emails have been added to the roster. With help adding your Mastodon contact you can link your account with FA by using this: Link.

The update is meant to allow us to add requested contacts more easily moving forward. We want users to be able to keep in contact with each other as much as possible by keeping up and staying current in regards to new services.

New 2.7 Write Up

Many have been anxiously awaiting a follow up to the 2.7 policy we placed on hold a few months ago. We took a bit longer than we ideally wanted but we hope the time and efforts put into trying to resolve this that best works for all will be seen.

As a recap, a few months ago there was a major issue that involved the ABDL and babyfur community, they were the targets of a deliberate mass-reporting incident and our response to the matter was not handled with the proper care and attention it deserved. A rushed policy change happened without enough consideration to what it would mean to these communities was implemented and then put on hold soon after hearing community feedback.

During that time many hours have been put into discussions, meetings, and feedback about this subject from our community discord, social media, trouble ticket feedback, fellow art sites, as well as meetings with lawyers, our host, and community members directly in these affected communities. With all this we feel we have put together a solid rewrite that works for all in the safest way.

We would also like to remind everyone of two things: first, malicious mass reporting is an abuse of the trouble ticket system and will not be tolerated. Second, harassment of anyone is not allowed on Fur Affinity; this includes attaching negative implications to people because they enjoy particular types of art. If this is happening to you on Fur Affinity, please report it. We mentioned both of these things in previous updates but would like to reiterate them, since nothing in this update changes that. If there is content that you don’t want to see, use the new tag blocking system.

The new policy:

2.7 Baby, Juvenile, and Non-Adult Appearing Characters

Baby, juvenile, or otherwise "non-adult" appearing characters, henceforth referred to simply as "juvenile characters", are defined as either:

Explicitly being stated in the submission as under the age of 18,

Or:

Having features or appearances of that of a child or young animal/creature, real or fictional.

Context will be carefully considered for submissions that include stylized content such as chibis, “shortstack” characters, or mental regression of adult characters. See section 2.7.3 for more information.

2.7.1 Rules Related to Juvenile Characters

Juvenile characters ARE permitted in higher rated submissions (mature, adult) so long as the submissions meet all the following requirements:
*Juvenile characters are not permitted to be in the same scene (such as sharing a comic panel, contiguous image, reference sheet, specific section of a story, etc.) where characters are engaging in sexual activity.
*Depictions of birth or breastfeeding with no sexual activity in the presence of a juvenile is permitted.
*Juvenile characters are not permitted to be depicted with visible genitalia or anus.
*Juvenile characters are not permitted in works depicting them as pregnant.
*Juvenile characters are not permitted to appear in heavily fetishized content or sexually based attire, including but not limited to lingerie, BDSM gear, bondage, and overly gratuitous (“hyper”) depictions of soiled or leaking undergarments that are typically unfeasible for an average person (for further information on ABDL and “babyfur” content, see section 2.7.2.)

Furthermore, Fur Affinity does NOT permit sexual submissions with content featuring or tagged with Loli, Shota, or Cub.

2.7.2 ABDL and “Babyfur” Content

Diaper and ageplay scenarios are not subject to the prohibitions above as long as all characters in the scene are depicted as adults. All juvenile characters in "babyfur" art are, unless categorized for any other reason above, allowed so long as no other violations exist (e.g., a juvenile character wearing a diaper is allowed, but a juvenile character wearing a diaper in the same scene as sexual activity, as outlined in section 2.7.1 for instance, would not be, independently of the undergarment as a factor).

All soiled or leaking undergarments (diaper, underwear, etc.) must be rated mature or adult regardless of whether the character is a juvenile (per section 2.7.1) or an adult, per Fur Affinity's rating guidelines in our upload policy, section 1.1 regarding depictions of bodily waste.

2.7.3 Art Style Subjectivity

Art is very subjective and certain art styles can sometimes make it difficult to determine the age of a character. Fur Affinity must moderate the site fairly with regard to its users, its partners, and the law. As such moderator discretion will be required in uncertain or edge cases. There are no special exceptions based on lore or fantasy worlds. To determine if reported content meets our guidelines, we will examine the artist's previous works, user history, and general style. If you have works removed that you disagree with, please appeal the decision via appeals[at]furaffinity.net or via our trouble ticket system.

Grace Period

We know repeated revisions to this rule have likely caused some confusion, and we would like to give users time to bring their galleries in line with rule 2.7. Therefore, there will be a 6 month grace period (ending on 07/09/2025 ) during which any violations reported will receive warnings only. Blatantly sexual submissions featuring obviously-juvenile characters, along with sexual submissions tagged as loli, shota, or cub, may still result in harsher punishment, since these things have been against the rules since long before any updates to 2.7 were considered.

Please note that this grace period applies ONLY to existing submissions; any NEW submissions uploaded after this announcement (as of now) will be enforced as usual. The purpose of this grace period is for users to bring their existing galleries into compliance with the rule without feeling pressured or rushed. If you have any questions about these changes or about the guidelines themselves, please file a ticket under the "Question About Site Policy" category here

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FAQ

Q: What about regression?

A : Mental regression with an adult appearing character is fine. Physical regression will need to follow juvenile guidelines listed above.

Q: Will staff be automatically suspending users for all 2.7 related offenses?

A : Not how it was happening previously. We feel that the previous system was too harsh and confusing for many users. Suspensions won’t be given for most first time offenses. Extreme cases (such as sexual depictions with loli, shota, or cub) could possibly still escalate to a 4th level offense. Even then we will still take into account user history to determine if that is needed. We want to avoid auto suspensions or bans unless absolutely necessary. These extreme cases will be reviewed by multiple staff members before action is taken unless it involves real life CSAM such as photos that needs immediate action. Our goal is to build community trust and hold team members accountable to avoid abuse. Users will not be auto suspended for submissions they’ve posted previous to this update and will have a grace period to bring their galleries in line without penalty.

Q: 2.7.1: Is it correct to interpret this section as “adult characters are prohibited from being depicted laying eggs in NSFW uploads?”

A: No. I can only see one possible edge case at the moment in regards to that and it would be if it was purposefully showing an internal/x-ray shot of babies inside of the egg(s) in some kind of sexual sense. But just eggs, egg laying, or anything oviposition isn't included in this. This is a very weird edge case situation and no one should actually be worried about their egg art.

Q: "There are no special exceptions based on lore or fantasy setting." Does this mean franchise lore? Or an OC's established lore?

A: It means no special exceptions, period. It doesn’t matter if the user created the lore or it's a show/video game. If it falls within what we define as a juvenile in the document we would need to remove it. If it appears to be an adult we leave it. Staff can't be expected to know the lore on every character in the world. In my meetings with lawyers, the law doesn't care so long as it doesn't look like a child or that it's not stated as being a child. They aren't going to dig up the lore on everything either. They are gonna go off visuals and descriptions.

Q: What are you going to do to prevent staff abuse?

A : The staff managing 2.7 moving forward are all completely new members and one current member that was not part of the original issue. With that department being rebuilt with THESE new rules we hope this will have a better outcome over all. On top of that we are working on a forward facing staff code of conduct. This will help users know the standards we hold our staff to. It will also be a reference point so users know if and how they should dispute or report staff actions to management for review.

Q: I am concerned about x character or y franchise. Why doesn't the policy explicitly say who is and isn't okay???

A: We are bringing the policy in line with other major art gallery sites. To try to go through and include an exhaustive list is not a realistic option. On top of that, the artist’s style needs to be taken into account. Blanket banning characters when people draw them differently than the originals wouldn’t make sense or be fair to users. When staff and moderator discretion is required, we will do our best to extend the uploader the benefit of the doubt.

Q: It's too vague! / What about (particular example of a character)?

A : If you believe the current draft needs revisions, please provide specific examples of how you would like to see the revised policy worded in the discord discussion thread or feedback ticket. This way we can better understand what might be missing from this and how to improve the policy’s wording.