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FA's mature content policy is monumentally stupid.
8 years ago
Last week, I logged on to discover that I had been suspended for a week because a drawing that I posted OVER 5 YEARS AGO violated the mature content policy.
I completely forgot that old ref sheet existed. Nor did I realize it violated the rules. I submitted an appeal on the grounds that I hadn't thought to go back through my gallery to check whether old art complied with the rules. It was a total oversight on my part. The suspension was lifted within a day. No big deal.
However... the suspension itself isn't the problem here. FA's stance on mature content is ridiculous and unnecessarily conservative. Because of this rule, even the slightest hint of a visible sheath on a completely innocent, non-sexual drawing means that the submission must be marked as "mature". Failing to do so could get me suspended again. Probably for more than a week.
I just went through both of my galleries and changed the ratings from "general" to "mature" on every single submission that contained a visible sheath. Which resulted in drawings such as these being marked as "mature":
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24891793/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1618409/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9032451/
Isn't that absurd? Is a feral animal's sheath really so disturbing that it needs to be hidden behind a content filter? Not like you'd ever see such things on an animal in real life. I bet this INCREDIBLY LEWD AND TOTALLY DISGUSTING PHOTO OF MY DOG would get me arrested. Or worse, expelled.
It's really a shame that this "think of the children" mentality has infected FA. I'll comply with their content rating rules only because I don't want my accounts suspended/banned... but I'll damn well exercise my right to bitch about it. The admin who came up with this overly strict rule is a daft asshat.
I completely forgot that old ref sheet existed. Nor did I realize it violated the rules. I submitted an appeal on the grounds that I hadn't thought to go back through my gallery to check whether old art complied with the rules. It was a total oversight on my part. The suspension was lifted within a day. No big deal.
However... the suspension itself isn't the problem here. FA's stance on mature content is ridiculous and unnecessarily conservative. Because of this rule, even the slightest hint of a visible sheath on a completely innocent, non-sexual drawing means that the submission must be marked as "mature". Failing to do so could get me suspended again. Probably for more than a week.
I just went through both of my galleries and changed the ratings from "general" to "mature" on every single submission that contained a visible sheath. Which resulted in drawings such as these being marked as "mature":
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24891793/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1618409/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9032451/
Isn't that absurd? Is a feral animal's sheath really so disturbing that it needs to be hidden behind a content filter? Not like you'd ever see such things on an animal in real life. I bet this INCREDIBLY LEWD AND TOTALLY DISGUSTING PHOTO OF MY DOG would get me arrested. Or worse, expelled.
It's really a shame that this "think of the children" mentality has infected FA. I'll comply with their content rating rules only because I don't want my accounts suspended/banned... but I'll damn well exercise my right to bitch about it. The admin who came up with this overly strict rule is a daft asshat.
With ferals though, it's a ridiculous rule. I could post a photo of my RL dog with his sheath showing and nobody would bat an eye. It's completely normal, natural, and expected. Draw the exact same thing using that photo of my dog as a reference? It's suddenly "mature" and not appropriate for all audiences. Baffling logic.
But I'd say it's because FA's rating rules were conceived with anthros in mind, not ferals. Because yes, it makes sense for naked anthros to be rated as Mature since they're similar to humans, and nudity in RL would be censored as well. But that doesn't apply to ferals at all, since their morals are completely different when it comes to that, as they don't need to wear clothes. Being "naked" all the time is their nature, and they shouldn't be rated in the same way anthros are.
Just take a look at these ABSOLUTELY PORNOGRAPHIC examples of Schleich children's toys, which are disgracefully available to millions of children at thousands of toy stores across Europe and the U.S:
http://images.lifesahoof.com/Upload.....3f53510d2c.jpg
http://www.farmtoysonline.co.uk/ima.....large/3668.jpg
https://images.esellerpro.com/2489/.....25/5/16346.jpg
Perhaps most shocking is that the female horse and dog models also have nipples. Someone should call the Vatican! Schleich has to be stopped! But at least we can rely on FurAffinity to uphold Christian family values :)
A couple months ago I posted a pic with a visible sheath and a user told me I should change the rating from "general" to "mature". I didn't, they reported it, and I got a one day suspension for intentionally violating the rules.
Then they noticed I had a submission from almost 6 years ago that was rated incorrectly, so that's apparently considered a "second offense" and worthy of a week suspension.
But they have to censore sheaths now.... due to soemthing random internet thing, i don't know whats going on in america now. (i'm from england)
Anyways anything with a sheath is counted TOO MATURE for PG. even if it is tiny or outlined.
Sheaths are now deemed to sexy for mainstream and have to consored.
This is bad, if you want to draw real looking feral/tauric bodies or anatomy correct anthros, you have to mark it as mature now or draw it without the sheath or bulge.
It's not a big issue but rather annoying, if your going for realism then it will be.
They should have warned us beforehand, now just change the rules randomly and punish us for not knowing they've been changed.
i feel sorry the artists that ONLY do clean/pg work that have had their images flagged and changed to mature.
Not hugely detrimental to most artists, but definitely an annoyance. And disappointing because this rule basically discourages realism in art.
I agree with this.
I do both adult and clean content, now my clean content literally has to be cartoon naked clean.
A chunk of my ref sheets are now deemed mature because of anatomy correctness which means i can't link it to everyone on site, and have use dropbox to link to them.
I highly dislike censoring stuff like this, what is going to be next??
In my case, I've gotten a pic from Brooki recently, and I'm about to get another one. She's a SFW artist and doesn't draw suggestive or adult stuff at all, but just because my sheath is showing in the pictures, I had and will have to rate her drawings as Mature on my gallery, which makes me quite annoyed, since there's nothing suggestive or sexual going on the pic at all, but just because I like some accuracy when it comes to my sona it can't be rated as General.
So basically this rule forces artists who only draw clean content to rate some of their drawings as Mature, and some really wouldn't like to do that.
A couple of them are annoyed by this, and I know for a fact one of them is kinda put off drawing certain things and it's going to effect his creativity,
Because he HATES mature and adult themed pictures and if one of his gets flagged by FA as mature his is going get depressed by it and it will put him off drawing for a bit.
basically stopping his art.
This whole situation was properly excuted, communication is key.
Well, at least, there's something I like to remember. This is just FA we're talking about; not every site in the web. So, while a pic of mine might have to be rated Mature, it doesn't mean it is indeed a Mature picture.
For example; I've uploaded all my SFW pics with sheaths to Facebook and no one ever complained about them, nor did I get reported. People know it's a SFW pic even with my sheath showing, since they know it's for some realism, as my sona is a male. So there's no reason for them to complain or report me, which makes me quite happy.
So I just wish FA would change these rules a bit. Not every rule that applies to anthros must necessarily apply to ferals as well.
Who gives a fuck what 'the children' think.. they shouldn't fucking be here in the first place.
If what you're saying is accurate, then its only a matter of time before they come for me, and when they do, I'll be moving all my work over to a different platform.
Do pictures of user's pets need to be marked mature now? If not, then what if you apply a cartoony or sketch filter to the picture? At what point does something stop being an image of an animal and start being porn?
If youre gonna start flagging images for technicalities, then you need to have extremely well defined criteria.
I trace over the photo. I include the sheath in my drawing. So you're saying that this drawing would now be considered "mature" because I intentionally included the sheath? Even though it's literally an exact copy of the photo?
Do you not realize how fucked that logic is?
You added the sheath, therefore it is mature.
I place a high value on realism in art, and I feel as though censoring something so harmless ruins the integrity of the piece.
Damn dude, how the heck will an artist draw a realistic male dog without including his sheath, considering the crotch area is visible?
And besides, I think you're the one missing the point here. You're mistaking suggestive art for accuracy. Ferals (as RL animals) don't have to wear clothes, their morals and standards are different than those of anthros. Not wearing anything and having the genitals showing up is NOT something suggestive by nature, unless they're showing off with the clear purpose of teasing the viewer with a sexual connotation.
Like, even Spirit from that horse movie had a sheath. It was quite subtle, but it was still there. And millions of children have watched that movie. Now we're gonna go there and make a protest to change its rating to M just because the director wanted some accuracy?
Anyways, I'm done talking with all blind, incompetent, selfish people. All you can think about is this affecting your "standards" of uploading stuff. Get the crying over with and follow the bloody rules at hat are given to you.
I could show off nude artwork of all of my characters and not worry because they are feral and we are talking about feral characters. It's not like we are talking about pieces of art with dicks hanging out. There are no erections, no arousal, no nothing. Just a canine standing there being a canine. You are focusing on this like the whole point of the art is to draw a dick. It's not. Not even remotely the purpose. The point, for most folks that get these sorts of things, is to have their character represented realistically and accurately.
And besides that, do you own the site? Nope. So, suck it up, dude. If you don't have the wheel, you shouldn't be complaining.
Get over your prudish self. Nudity is natural, whether human, anthro, or feral. None of it should be considered mature to begin with. It is the ideology that nudity is wrong that has gotten us where we are today as a society.
Change doesn't happen if everyone keeps silent 'dude'. Regardless of whom owns the site, if they don't see that folks have an issue with the way things are, they don't have a reason to want to change them.
How do you feel about the Prime Minister of Canada right now? I mean ... if you don't like some of the things going on, you shouldn't complain because you aren't in charge ... right? What do you think about the things the American President Trump is doing? All chill there too? Oh wait ... you shouldn't complain about it because you don't have the wheel ... right? Don't be a sheeple.
Breasts are a different story, because it isn't the breasts specifically that admins haven't done anything. Well, to be honest, we don't know that because both of us haven't checked up on it. But, the admins would be looking for nipples.
To be honest, every time I look at what you have written so far, I see someone who doesn't understand what decency is. We ALL draw anthropomorphic and feral animals for different reasons, but nudity of any kind falls into two categories. "Mature" and "Adult".
If you'd like to talk to an admin about this problem, or even the owner, why don't you do that? See how far you go with the so-called "problem" of what is nudity and what isn't.
And that's a stupid rule as well (I realize FA has no control over it, but still). I've been drawing porn since I was 12. When I was a teenager, I was downright offended that society thought it needed to protect me from something that didn't bother me in the slightest. We don't need to shield people from nudity. We need to normalize it and emphasize that nudity is not inherently sexual. We should be able to look at a sheath/penis/whatever and think "that's no big deal". Just like we do with animals IRL.
My dog's asshole is on display for everyone in the room to see? Okay whatever, he's a dog, who cares. It's not something that needs to be hidden. It's just natural. That's the mentality we need to have. If you censor things unnecessarily, suddenly that thing becomes inappropriate and taboo. Surely it must be shielded from public view for a reason, right? Viewing it becomes coveted. People start considering it to be pornographic. People get offended when it's not censored. Ironically, the mentality that we need to protect people from something ends up causing people to have a stronger reaction to it. It ruins and sexualizes things that were originally fairly innocuous.
"And besides that, do you own the site? Nope. So, suck it up, dude. If you don't have the wheel, you shouldn't be complaining."
Well that's a ridiculous viewpoint if I've ever heard one. "If you're not in control, shut up and obey." A+ logic there.
Although I agree that you being suspended temporarily was unfair, the upload rules are pretty reasonable. If the art isn't meant to be sexual, then there's no reason to even draw a sheath on something in the first place, and if you do, it's considered "artistic nudity".
Though to be honest, people love their realism (and I do as well, to an extent).
Sorry that I'm late, and the other absurd thing about it is the colour is not Blue like the Highlight!
I hope that the (Scheduled Server Maintenance) will finally fix this bug and improve the General Ratting by changing it to Green instead of White and the Highlight to Green as well instead of Coal Gray.