Apparently, they banned somebody before posting the update, which is bad form. They should have had a policy worked out before they ever went to open beta. The fact that they didn’t think this was a vital prerequisite is telling.
(And what it’s telling me is that they’re clueless and this won’t be the last rules drama over there.)
The update bans visual art depicting characters who look obviously under 18. I look forward to all of the wank when they ban someone for drawing a female character who’s like 30 but has tiny boobs.
I don’t necessarily have an issue with lolicon and shotacon being banned on a site. “Prepubescent/barely pubescent” being banned and “older teens” being allowed is something I like in theory. (In other words, I like the latter and often find the former squicky.) Big emphasis on theory.
In practice, this kind of policy is rarely enforced in a way I like. PF is not filling me with confidence that their mods will make judgments that I’ll agree with, that are consistent, and that are predictable. An artist making a good faith effort to follow the rules should be able to know they’re safe and their art will not be deleted or their account closed. I fear that won’t be the case here. PF is not beholden to advertisers and they’re planning to allow other explicit material that will already mean they need to change domains (away from .io) and payment processors (away from paypal). Underage Voltron characters canoodling are no problem under US law. Neither is a chibi with a boner. Is this policy just a ban on something that gives the mods the willies? I don’t see how it will help them legally, and it will only add to the number of grudge reports their mods have to sift through.
How loli is too loli when there’s no objective measure of what puberty looks like?
ha! well, that simplifies that decision, at least, and saves me $5. “characters who look obviously under 18”? look obviously under 18 to who? I literally can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people on tumblr claim that a drawing of an adult character is “obviously” a minor. There is just, no way for this policy to be enforced in a way that is predictable and fair.
…on the other hand, maybe I should get a PF account just to have a front row seat to the conflagration of drama they’re clearly heading towards. lol. It’s times like these I miss fandom_wank.
ETA: reading further about this, it looks like the mods’ intent was to only ban explicit art where there is no possible way the character depicted could be over 18, which is better than what I was thinking but this policy is still so vague and bad.
And of course half the comments are about how the policy doesn’t go far enough and everyone raising concerns must be a pedophile, lol same shit different day
The whole thing is going to be an absolute shitshow to moderate. Because they opened the door wide for fandom policers to step in and use the reporting tools as mass-harassment devices. And, as history has taught us, due to the vagueness of the terms, the policers will go after:
content featuring a ship that ‘threatens’ their OTP, twisting themselves into a pretzel to justify one or more of the characters being underage (Sheith is a prime example of a ship that went through exactly this)
content featuring otherwise adult characters who are flat and slender and have young-looking faces (get ready for ~*~child-coded~*~ to come back with a vengeance, folks!)
content with the 15-17 fictional character crowd (so pretty much the majority of NSFW of shounen anime) but again, only if it’s not an Anti-Approved Ship. In other words, no reports against NSFW Klance, plenty against NSFW Plance, for example.
content based on the age and identity of the artist (in other words, no reports against a teenage anti’s NSFW of anime teenagers, but plenty against similar content from a teenager who isn’t an anti or an adult artist).
Hell, even without all of the above, anime itself, due to the widely-varied and stylized styles, is going to throw a gigantic wrench in all of this. Because this character?
Konata Izumi, from Lucky Star, is 18 years old in her canon.
This character?
Yoko Littner, from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, though having no officially-stated age, is generally headcanoned by the fans as being 14 years old, based on dialogue in show.
It is going to be a complete and utter shitshow of abuse of the reporting tools.
Hahaha. Oh, anime!
When we were writing the first version of the AO3 TOS, half of the discussion was: “What dumbass behavior will this rule enable?” I was thinking of Literate Union, not antis, but all of that paranoia and cynicism has fended off a lot of later tomfoolery on AO3.
I feel like Pillowfort is assuming good faith, which is great in individual conversation and terrible when trying to fend off fandom wank on a site level. If they want to ban loli/shota art styles, that’s their prerogative, but they really need to idiot-proof their rules better.
If the issue is primarily legal, they need to put that front and center and discourage anti-type behavior now.
If the issue is primarily squick, they need to make it clearer whether we can trust the site owners to stick to the current policies or whether some other thing is going to suddenly be against the rules in the future.
•buy toys/dolls/crayons
•play with Legos
•play old videogames/dress up games
•weave friendship bracelets
•watch cartoons
•use stickers
•draw pics of your favorite characters
If it makes you feel nice, do it.
Don’t even worry about what other people think, because it doesn’t matter–if it brings you happiness, it’s not “ridiculous”, or “immature”.
You deserve to enjoy yourself.
Let me share with you what I consider to be the most important less I’ve learned in my adult life:
“Growing up doesn’t mean you can’t have Zebra Cakes. Growing up simply means that, if you want to have Zebra Cakes, you buy them for yourself.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Bear?” Well, let me explain. For those of you who live outside of the US, this is a Zebra Cake:
It’s a little pre-packaged snack cake that is horribly cheap and junky and really not that great, but it is like manna from heaven to me. I fucking love these things. When I was a little kid growing up, my mom bought Zebra Cakes but once in a blue moon. They were intended to be put in mine and my siblings’ school lunches, but my brother and I would eat them whenever we wanted, so Mom just didn’t see the point. (They also used to be kind of expensive, at least for our family’s budget.) Needless to say, the coveted Zebra Cakes were a luxury for me, and were one of the tastes of my childhood.
Fast forward to my college years. I was living in an apartment with three other people, doing my own shopping and cooking. I was in the grocery store, picking up some stuff, and I happened to walk past a display of snack cakes. Among them were several boxes of Zebra Cakes.
I paused at this, chuckling to myself. Oh man. Zebra Cakes. I haven’t had those in years. I loved those when I was a kid. I reminisced happily and thought about how much I missed the taste of Zebra Cakes, then started to walk away.
And then I stopped dead.
Because I had realized that there was literally nothing stopping me from buying a box of Zebra Cakes. There was nothing stopping me from buying ten boxes of Zebra Cakes. If I wanted Zebra Cakes, I could have goddamn Zebra Cakes, because it was my money and my decision to make.
I put two boxes in my cart (they were 2 for $5) and never looked back.
Here’s the secret I learned that day: The idea of something being “just for kids” is, by and large, bullshit. What you do on your own adult free time with your own adult money is, by its very nature, adult stuff. It’s like comedian Eddie Izzard (who frequently performed his routines in drag) once said when someone asked about him wearing ‘women’s clothes’: “They’re not women’s clothes. They’re my clothes. I bought them.”
I am 25 years old, and yesterday I bought myself a shark lunchbox. Look at it. Look at how awesome my lunchbox is.
Was this lunchbox intended to by bought for and used by a child? Yes. The tag said it was for ages 3 and up. But it was bought by and will be used by an adult, and anyone who thinks that’s wrong is probably just jealous that they don’t have the self-confidence to rock a shark lunchbox at 25.
So like. Being “mature” and “an adult” doesn’t mean you have to completely abandon the things that made you happy when you were younger. It just means that you may have to approach them in a different way.
Pay attention, there’s a lesson here
I hesitated reblogging this, and I am not entirely sure why.
LEGO. I just turned 42 and I have LEGO sets allllll over my house. Why? Because I wanted them, and because it is my money and I will spend it how I like, MOTHER.
As long as you aren’t bankrupting yourself, buy the things you *want* to buy, the things that bring you JOY.
you are missing out on so much if you just stick to “adult things”
Zebra cakes make an excellent “the secret to happiness” metaphor.
My wedding cake will just be hundreds of zebra cakes stacked together
my wedding cake will just be hundreds of zebra cakes stacked together
^Haiku^bot^8. I detect haikus with 5-7-5 format. Sometimes I make mistakes.
This doesn’t really fit the theme of my blog but i’m drunk ernough that this sounds like the most profound shit ever so read and learn and go write shitty fic about your favorite childhood anime. Go write Pokemon and Sailor Moon and Toy Story fanfic. There’s no age to enjoy things so just gi do your thing and be glorious you fucking glorious moron
marvelfangirlandsherlockian4ever 