Yeah, no intent to stir up trouble, I just saw that 3Dinoz has been suspended for a week due to "AUP violations" and Drages has been permanently banned due to subverting a 48-hour ban cause unknown.

I assume the AUP line in question is the following:

"3D Renderers - Pre-packaged or downloadable models may ONLY be used if they contain significant modification to separate them from the stock model (e.g. must contain original textures). Re-colors and hue-shifts do not constitute "content"."

I thought 3Dinoz made his own models. In either case, he does animations as well. And Drages does use Poser models, but he does some impressive animations with them. So I'm just wondering... does not converting from a stationary model to a fully animated model, in an animation which is obviously user-created content, count as "significant modification"?

I would think such a thing would lead to heavy discussion amongst the admins until a clear line is drawn, and if a line is drawn, a warning before bans since it is a borderline thing.

And moreso than that, shouts to their pages are being deleted and commenters are being banned. Isn't that harsh, and further, counterproductive? Don't we want discussion about what does and does not break policy? Do we not want people using words rather than digital attacks?

I mean, I can understand warning then banning if it has been decided amongst the mods that a violation has indeed taken place, but what I'm seeing from the mod-restricted information is that 3Dinoz was immediately suspended for a week with no warnings, Drages was suspended 48 hours with no warnings, and when he got back in just to write a journal, was perma-banned.

So I don't know. It's not enough for me to leave this site, but it is something that I heavily disapprove of, and I hope that people do discuss and think about this, especially all the mods and admins of FA.

Let's all set a good example by discussing this calmly but with great concern. Perhaps refuse to donate where you otherwise would have, unless some major changes to how mods handle borderline cases takes place, and the way comments during drama are handled. But definitely not anything illegal or directly damaging to the site, that would make the users just as bad or worse about silencing people's ways to handle themselves.

Also, any flame wars that spark because of this are just going to, from me, going to get both sides considered, mocked if the response is stupid, logically debated if logical fallacies are brought up. Read TvTropes "Don't Shoot The Message" for my thoughts on people defending my own positions poorly.

Also, preemptively, I'm bringing up another thing:

"Submissions intended to harass, slander or otherwise disrupt usage of the site will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, content which is racist, bigoted or otherwise offensive towards any particular sexuality, philosophy or religion. Submissions in which a user's character(s) are used without their permission may, in some instances, be viewed as harassment, and will be handled on an individual basis. "

Let's keep it to actual intelligent discussion and not harrassment and flames, mmkay?

Also, I wonder if I even have enough readers to warrant that lengthy warning about how discussions should take place.