Feedback Letter

Dear Furaffinity Staff,


   This is a letter regarding concerns about the recent amendment to Section 2.7 of the Upload Policy. While we fully understand your goals in attempting to remove content that sexualizes minors, we are worried that this recent change could have unintended consequences for other artists on the platform.


   In particular, we feel that the wording regarding "childlike proportions" is vague, and does not fully account for the nature of Pokémon/Digimon. Although most of these characters draw inspiration from real-life animals, they are not identical, making it hard to properly compare their proportions due to artistic stylization. We fear that the wording of the rule places too much of a bearing on the moderator's discretion, and that while one might view a certain depiction of a character as "childlike", another might not. Issues similar to this have allegedly occurred, where artists have claimed to receive contradictory information on Trouble Tickets that they have submitted. Additionally, the emphasis on proportions made some artists concerned that their non-Pokémon/Digimon characters would be affected, despite the change ostensibly only applying to Pokémon/Digimon.


   Furthermore, we were disappointed when the update on May 22nd stated that certain characters might need to be "aged up", since their canonical depictions could be identified as childlike. As the previous post stated that there would be no blanket bans on species, we interpreted it as meaning that all canonical depictions of characters would be allowed. We feel that requiring certain characters' canonical appearance to be altered is arbitrary; their fantastical appearances are far removed from any real-life analogue, unlike the "1000 year old lolita" archetype, which resembles or closely resembles a human. Rather than a rule primarily focusing on the character's appearance, we would prefer to have one that looks at how they are "presented as children". This includes context such as the scene being depicted, the behavior of the characters, and how/if the artist in question usually portrays/has a fascination with underage characters (if they have such images). If the artist's depictions of underage creatures and Pokémon/Digimon look suspiciously similar, their work should be scrutinized more closely.


   Moreover, some of us feel that the rule as currently written might affect them due to them having a "chibi" or otherwise exaggerated art style, despite never having drawn sexual imagery involving underage characters. In turn, we worry that this rule might lead to people erroneously or maliciously reporting content and creating a negative stigma. This stigma has also led to some artists reluctantly leaving the site, as although they fear that their content might be mistakenly flagged, they feel that going to a smaller platform might negatively affect their livelihood. To this point, we suggest there be a clearer distinction between content flagged for a childlike appearance, and content flagged for depicting underage characters—unless, as mentioned previously, the artist in question depicts such characters nearly identically. We hope that this feedback is constructive, and helps in the overall goal of making Furaffinity a vibrant and safe community.


Sincerely,
UP 2.7 Discussion Discord