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New changes! Where to go from here.
Posted 2 years ago
How I'm proceeding with AUP 2.7 changes
Posted 2 years agoHi all, for whoever watches me.
I'm making some changes to my gallery because I don't want content I make being deleted, since this risks parts of my gallery involving the Teacup Gryphon version of Angel vanishing for good. So what I'm going to do is create a Telegram group and Cohost page on which I host all art I commission and upload all content of Angel to e621. SFW-only thumbnails of my art will be all that exist on FA. I've claimed the Angel_(Bird) tag on e6, and my Cohost is here. My Telegram account will be visible when I go through and reupload my gallery as thumbnails, with links to the pieces I upload. Links to external galleries is allowed but there's a risk content will be deleted if it doesn't abide by AUP 2.7 so I'm steering clear of risking that.
To people who intend to keep watching me on FA, you'll have to click into my gallery from an off-site location at this time. To people who are leaving FA permanently, I can be found at these locations.
I will also have a carrd on my account with links when able. This will take me a while to set up, though, so it may not happen for a few days.
I'm making some changes to my gallery because I don't want content I make being deleted, since this risks parts of my gallery involving the Teacup Gryphon version of Angel vanishing for good. So what I'm going to do is create a Telegram group and Cohost page on which I host all art I commission and upload all content of Angel to e621. SFW-only thumbnails of my art will be all that exist on FA. I've claimed the Angel_(Bird) tag on e6, and my Cohost is here. My Telegram account will be visible when I go through and reupload my gallery as thumbnails, with links to the pieces I upload. Links to external galleries is allowed but there's a risk content will be deleted if it doesn't abide by AUP 2.7 so I'm steering clear of risking that.
To people who intend to keep watching me on FA, you'll have to click into my gallery from an off-site location at this time. To people who are leaving FA permanently, I can be found at these locations.
I will also have a carrd on my account with links when able. This will take me a while to set up, though, so it may not happen for a few days.
Discord communications from staff re: update on AUP 2.7
Posted 2 years agoI'm creating a journal to get some information out there to discuss what is or is not allowed based on discussions from the Discord policy update to help clarify some points. I'm going to list what criticisms there are of it from myself and others, and the mods' responses to those. Please disseminate this journal to artists you feel have been impacted.
Content warning: The information below discusses changes to site policy regarding what the site views as sexual depictions of underaged characters.
Misgivings I personally have:
• The timing of this announcement was horrid. Communication may not be forthcoming on this change until Monday and today's lack of communication hasn't been great. With the lack of a forum and the Discord limited to PG-13 discussions it was only until four or five hours after the announcement that any form of public discussion existed via a thread in the Discord's forum for extended conversations.
- The MPS admin generally overseeing communication regarding this matter had no control over the timing and (lack of) organization and an apology has been given regarding that as well as poorly worded initial communications. If you have any misgivings, feel free to join and address them if the thread regarding the policy change has not been locked yet, otherwise please don't start shit in the server. Please do not flood or brigade the Discord. The mods are having a tough time of things and all of them are not to blame for the changes. Otherwise open a trouble ticket on site (hamburger menu > support > report a problem > file under "NSFW underage content" as the MPS admin is handling communications regarding the change)
• The wording of the rules was initially incredibly vague and ill-defined. There's no way to know what art is impacted vs which art is not. There was a later clarification published that only Pokemon and Digimon art is affected, and the existing rules on "childlike appearance" have already existed for a while, but that still doesn't clarify how that impacts a number of artists, specifically ones who do fall into those categories or who draw fakemon from issues with Patreon.
- Documentation is used internally for all AUP issues that according to one mod is roughly 100 pages long, with parts of that covering section 2.7. While proportionality is used as one criterion for whether a character is appropriately aged up other factors are taken into consideration. An announcement with clear examples is pending from the MPS admin but verification and approval on that announcement needs to happen first, which may take a bit because of the weekend.
• The change this is compounding on went through without anybody really noticing or raising a fuss. Only one artist I know of had publicly complained about an impact to the rules change. For others, it's difficult to understand where feral, semiferal, chibi, macro/micro, and other "cute" art falls, and whether the content isn't dinged because it's safe or because it's simply evaded notice. The change seems like it relies on arbitrary standards where one moderator may have different opinions about what is acceptable versus the next. Proportionality, context, and other factors are difficult to judge objectively.
- Documentation is used alongside second opinions from other mods. In cases where there's ambiguity, the moderation team tends to err on the side of the artist. Rules on what is or isn't considered underage have been in effect since 2015 with the most recent change prior to this being in January, to include fetishized minors.
• The announcement requests that offending artists delete all art they think offends the guidelines prior to the deadline.
- A ticket can be submitted to verify whether art meets the AUP or whether it's in violation and needs to be taken down. There's no punishment for good-faith attempts to reconcile your gallery.
• The announcement also states that first-time offenders receive a one-week ban and any future offense will result in a permaban. This is especially of concern to people whose art is at risk by its nature, as well as people with prior disciplinary measures from staff who seem to be risking an immediate perma.
- This has been stated to apply to bad faith actors where the art obviously goes against the AUP in bad faith as an attempt to upload sexually suggestive/explicit cub art to FA. For accidental uploads against this policy the discipline track would be less severe. The grace period for reconciling issues is longer than that for most other policy updates, giving artists six weeks to contact mods with concerns as well as to verify whether existing art is safe. The age of prior infractions are taken into account in determining the severity of future infractions.
• For people with existing infractions, this seems rough, and people are facing infractions for a change to the existing rules that didn't exist when they initially uploaded.
- The age of past infractions is taken into account when determining the severity of future infractions. The grace period on this change- six weeks- is also one of the longest given for a policy change so people have ample time to communicate and correct changes as needed to their galleries.
Note that I don't agree with every point provided by the moderators in response to what has been said, personally.
Content warning: The information below discusses changes to site policy regarding what the site views as sexual depictions of underaged characters.
DISCLAIMER: THE RESPONSES FROM THE STAFF HAVE BEEN VETTED BY THE MPS ADMIN BUT VERIFICATION AND CONFIRMATION FROM HIGHER AUTHORITIES REMAINS PENDING.
ALSO, PER THE ANNOUNCEMENT, THE POLICY CHANGE IS EFFECTIVE JULY 1, NOT IMMEDIATELYMisgivings I personally have:
• The timing of this announcement was horrid. Communication may not be forthcoming on this change until Monday and today's lack of communication hasn't been great. With the lack of a forum and the Discord limited to PG-13 discussions it was only until four or five hours after the announcement that any form of public discussion existed via a thread in the Discord's forum for extended conversations.
- The MPS admin generally overseeing communication regarding this matter had no control over the timing and (lack of) organization and an apology has been given regarding that as well as poorly worded initial communications. If you have any misgivings, feel free to join and address them if the thread regarding the policy change has not been locked yet, otherwise please don't start shit in the server. Please do not flood or brigade the Discord. The mods are having a tough time of things and all of them are not to blame for the changes. Otherwise open a trouble ticket on site (hamburger menu > support > report a problem > file under "NSFW underage content" as the MPS admin is handling communications regarding the change)
• The wording of the rules was initially incredibly vague and ill-defined. There's no way to know what art is impacted vs which art is not. There was a later clarification published that only Pokemon and Digimon art is affected, and the existing rules on "childlike appearance" have already existed for a while, but that still doesn't clarify how that impacts a number of artists, specifically ones who do fall into those categories or who draw fakemon from issues with Patreon.
- Documentation is used internally for all AUP issues that according to one mod is roughly 100 pages long, with parts of that covering section 2.7. While proportionality is used as one criterion for whether a character is appropriately aged up other factors are taken into consideration. An announcement with clear examples is pending from the MPS admin but verification and approval on that announcement needs to happen first, which may take a bit because of the weekend.
• The change this is compounding on went through without anybody really noticing or raising a fuss. Only one artist I know of had publicly complained about an impact to the rules change. For others, it's difficult to understand where feral, semiferal, chibi, macro/micro, and other "cute" art falls, and whether the content isn't dinged because it's safe or because it's simply evaded notice. The change seems like it relies on arbitrary standards where one moderator may have different opinions about what is acceptable versus the next. Proportionality, context, and other factors are difficult to judge objectively.
- Documentation is used alongside second opinions from other mods. In cases where there's ambiguity, the moderation team tends to err on the side of the artist. Rules on what is or isn't considered underage have been in effect since 2015 with the most recent change prior to this being in January, to include fetishized minors.
• The announcement requests that offending artists delete all art they think offends the guidelines prior to the deadline.
- A ticket can be submitted to verify whether art meets the AUP or whether it's in violation and needs to be taken down. There's no punishment for good-faith attempts to reconcile your gallery.
• The announcement also states that first-time offenders receive a one-week ban and any future offense will result in a permaban. This is especially of concern to people whose art is at risk by its nature, as well as people with prior disciplinary measures from staff who seem to be risking an immediate perma.
- This has been stated to apply to bad faith actors where the art obviously goes against the AUP in bad faith as an attempt to upload sexually suggestive/explicit cub art to FA. For accidental uploads against this policy the discipline track would be less severe. The grace period for reconciling issues is longer than that for most other policy updates, giving artists six weeks to contact mods with concerns as well as to verify whether existing art is safe. The age of prior infractions are taken into account in determining the severity of future infractions.
• For people with existing infractions, this seems rough, and people are facing infractions for a change to the existing rules that didn't exist when they initially uploaded.
- The age of past infractions is taken into account when determining the severity of future infractions. The grace period on this change- six weeks- is also one of the longest given for a policy change so people have ample time to communicate and correct changes as needed to their galleries.
Note that I don't agree with every point provided by the moderators in response to what has been said, personally.
IF YOU INTEND TO USE MY JOURNAL TO COMMUNICATE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BE CIVIL.