Thank you for hosting this channel for user feedback. Although the content I post will not be directly affected by the update to Upload Policy § 2.7, I have been indirectly affected -- as most all of us have -- by the tidal wave of controversy stirred by this change. Most notably, some artists I follow have left FA or deleted submissions in protest of this change.

I think that the actual change in the text of Upload Policy § 2.7 is perfectly fine. The change is quite minor as I understand: the addition of the phrase "or fantasy creatures" to the end of the paragraph defining what a minor is.

However, what I do take issue with is the communication surrounding this rule change. Through the initial announcement and repeated follow-up announcements, would-be clarifications have done anything but clarify the situation. As a result, what might have been a fairly pedestrian change to specify that non-real creatures can also be depicted as minors (duh) has grown into a bureaucratic bogeyman of new internal policies, updated standards, lists of baby Pokémon and Digimon, visual tests of adolescence, and daily demands for more precise criteria by which adulthood will be ascertained -- to eliminate the perceived vagueness in § 2.7.

Clearly, few users are reassured by the repeated clarifications.

That's because subjectivity is built into determinations of most depictions. If someone draws a smile, how do I know it's a smile? The upturned lips, perhaps the baring of teeth, and the narrowing of eyes are good tells -- but these same descriptors could just as well describe many a snarl. It's a fool's errand to try and describe how one determines if a character "looks young".

Instead of verbally narrating the act of judging whether a drawn figure's bodily proportions are adult-like or childlike, I think it would be more fruitful to spend this time and energy building trust among the community that this will be a fair and equitable process. It is up to the staff to decide how you might enact this -- perhaps you could implement some sort of community review of flagged images. What seems like a _necessity_ to me is that this rule change must be delayed for a long time -- until January 1st, 2024 if need be. A lot of people's trust in the staff of FA has been damaged, and the bulk of the moderation's effort right now should go into reassuring users. A lot of people worry -- for good reason -- that their submissions will be arbitrarily flagged for deletion, because the communication of this longstanding rule has been so dramatically out of touch with everyone's intuitions of what constitutes a childlike depiction of a fantasy creature.

Bullet-point summary of my thoughts:
* Including the phrase "or fantasy creatures" in UP § 2.7 is fine. It's a minor change.
* FA's announcements have caused widespread fear over this rule update.
* Through these announcements, FA has damaged a lot of users' trust in the system.
* The priority should be on restoring trust, not listing criteria for judging "childlike appearances".
* FA could build a procedure for community volunteers to review flagged images and decide if the character(s) appear childlike.
* Regardless of what changes are made, the rule change should be delayed beyond July 1st, possibly until January 1st, 2024.