two suggestions to increase popularity

[foxboyprower]

The site doesn't allow cub artwork. I'm not a fan of it, but banning cub artwork splits the fanbase. It's the reason so many furries left to join inkbunny. If we want to make a site for all furries (which I'm hoping for), shunning part of the fandom (regardless how creepy it may or may not seem) isn't a great plan. I know some great artists that won't be a part of places like furaffinity simply because some of their work is cub stuff. I don't like that kind of work, but the site will have lost the rest of the great work they have to offer. Allowing users to block keywords would keep the cub artwork where they don't have to see it.

Also... Wow this sounds bad coming after my previous suggestion, but allowing minors to join the website. I've heard minors aren't allowed to join. I understand the adult nature of furry work, but locking them in a SFW mode until they turn 18 would be a relatively easy solution. If they can't join, they'll lie about their age and join anyways. Not allowing a certain age group to join makes the site feel like it's supposed to be adult oriented rather than building a community for all furries. Preventing minors from joining was one of the reasons myspace sucked.

I don't want to see this site die. Barring certain groups of people and content makes the site suffer. If 100% of the furries can't join, it can't be universally accepted and will fade away as another fad. Please don't let this happen.

[Temrin]

For the cub thing, i didnt read anything specificaly in the ToS that banned people from drawing young/baby characters. The only thing was to "Not draw them in adult situations" which i would assume is for legal reasons. Underage in sexual situations is against the law and on a website that shows a lot of adult situations it can become compromising. The only reason why Inkbunny is allowed to have adult cub art on that site (as far as i know when i asked around so dont quote me on this) is because they do not allow humans to be portrayed on their site, PERIOD. No artwork, no photo's, etc, of any human. of age or under. Because with the mixing of humanity into a site where fictional underage characters can also be portrayed in sexual situations was is compromising and not showing humans at all was the only way they got their contract with AlertPay to sell prints etc. (which fell under because Alert Pay backed out of their contract for whatever reason. )

Even if you SFW younger peoples accoutns, they can still lie and make an account to view adult art. Theres not really a sure proof way to stop that from happening.

[Swanda]

As far as I know Inkbunny allows tag filtering as well, but that really didn’t help the site at all when adult cub art is allowed.. I know a fair deal of FA users who left IB when FA banned adult cub, to get away from it.

So either way it’s an issue that Weasyl will lose potential users over.
So yeah, a big no to that suggestion from me.

[foxboyprower]

You make a good point about the legal reasons. Banning human art would be far more restrictive than banning cub porn.

In regards to the minor situation, I understand they can still lie, but my concern is about the image that gives the site. It just gives the initial impression of an adult art site rather than a furry community.

[RadioCatastrophe]

This has been discussed before the beta in a thread or two. Weasyl won't be allowing it for legal reasons, nothing moral about it, so leave it at that. This topic has been thrown around countless times on FA and it all comes down to "What server would allow a site to host this?" or "How legal is this? There was a law passed during the Bush admin banning this". Adding something that doesn't belong on an art site (yeah porn is here but some people can make sensual acts artistic believe it or not) won't make it popular to ARTISTS.

[Temrin]

I would also like to make a note

@ foxboyprower It is -not- a furry community. It is an -art- community. It is not just for furry art it is for all forms of artwork. This site was advertized originally as a furry site, yes, but that is not the case anymore. It is for everyone.

[Wuvvums]

I think the popularity of cub porn is over-estimated. By that logic, inkbunny would probably be more popular than furaffinity because it wouldn't be banning cub. But cub splits the userbase just as much as not having it and the reputation the site has pretty much turns most non-cub artists to FA instead. Even if you aren't drawing cub your work can be quite invisible in comparison to it there.

I just think inkbunny becoming the solution to cub made it a very niche site and I don't really want that to happen here.

[Shane]

I'm echoing Temrin here, but Weasyl isn't a furry art site so I don't think it's really too concerned with splitting "the fanbase". It's goal is to appeal to a broad range of creators, from digital artists to photographers, and writers to musicians.

[Sneak]

Since this website is General Art, not Furry, the inclusion of cub porn would certainly drive off any potential General-Art artists.... if the inclusion and heavy dominance of furry art hasn't already. Even with the ability to block tags. To be honest, I think the existence of cub porn split the fandom long before it was ever disallowed on FA.

Anyways, I guess what I'm trying to say is: Inclusion of cub porn would drive off many more than it would bring in. I think Weasyl will be fine without it due to its features and other content.

[Tiger]

Are you talking about specifically cub porn, or all cub art in general? Because yes, cub porn is not allowed and I feel everyone else has thoroughly explained why. But if you are talking in general, cub art IS allowed. See this part of the Community Guidelines-

Minors in Sexual Situations: Submissions and other uploaded content must not contain characters who are, or are depicted as being, under the age of eighteen and are engaged in sexual situations. Depicted as being under the age of eighteen can mean one of two things:

The character is referred to or implied as being under 18, whether in a visual or written piece, or;
The character in question has small child, or infant-like proportions. Furthermore, photographs must not contain any improperly clothed minors regardless of the situation depicted.

According to that, cub in general is fine, but not cub porn. If I'm wrong about this anyone can feel free to correct me.

Regarding your second point, minors ARE allowed. They are just restricted in access to art intended for users 18+ years old. If minors were not allowed, why would certain art need to be marked only for users 18+? There certainly is a chance that a minor will sign up as an adult, but it's up to the staff to handle that kind of situation. Also, I'd like to know where you heard minors were not allowed to sign up as that is completely false. The site is not for adults only.

And lastly, Weasyl is not a completely furry website. A large portion of the userbase is furry/furry related because it was advertised the most on websites like fA, which is furry. Right now since Weasyl is still beta a lot of art will be furry related, but I am confident that when the site opens up to everyone there will be much more than just furry art.