Community Guidelines/Ratings changes and Discussion

[acelion]

@Tiger
I still have no idea what you are talking about.

Let's say you use a pony character generator to make a pony character.

There's your one. for the next pictures of your pony, you have to post only drawn pictures.

you can have all of your characters in your character gallery. there's no limit on that. but those characters also can't have more than one character creator picture.

So say you 1000 characters in your character gallery, you have...2000 pieces of those characters (2 pictures per), only 1000 of those pictures could be from say a pony generator, and the other one must be drawn but you can have as many pictures you wish.

I tried to clear that up, sorry if I didn't.

[Frank LeRenard]

Yay!
Hopefully people are pleased with the eradication of the Moderate category. If I recall right, it was a fountain of confusion not just for users but for staff.

One thing:

Item I.C.8 has been added.

Has it? I don't see it here: https://www.weasyl.com/policy/community


@anubis, at the risk of causing further confusion....

When you go to submit something, you get five categories to choose from: Visual, Literary, Multimedia, Character, and Journal Entry. Just so we're on the same page, "Character" is what's being referred to here. It's used to post pictures and descriptions/stats of your characters simultaneously, so it's used as a reference page for a specific character. Don't necessarily need to use it, but it's handy. If you just wanted to upload images of your character (without statistics or backstory), you'd be better off uploading it as a "Visual" submission, for example.

Weasyl previously completely disallowed all images created by character-generation software, such as, say, this: http://generalzoi.deviantart.com/art...sion-254295904

Didn't want people just clicking buttons and taking screenshots using someone else's software (and artwork!), because Weasyl is supposed to be more like an art gallery than a social media site. But the Character category is for reference, and not necessarily artistic merit. Some people can't draw and can't afford to commission artwork, but still want to create a reference page for their characters. So to be fair to those people, they get to use character generator software for that purpose.

It's limited to one generated image per Character submission, probably because character generators are by design easy to use and produce samey-looking artwork, so the site looks ugly if people spam that kind of thing in their galleries. Staff can correct me on that if that's wrong, of course.

So if you're not an artist and can't afford a commission, you can upload one "Character" submission made using generated artwork to create a reference for your character, and then any subsequent artwork of said character you want to upload has to be drawn by you or someone else and cannot be created using character generator software.


If this still doesn't make any sense, then maybe this rule change doesn't apply to you. I'm noticing in your gallery you have no "Character" uploads and seem to do all your own artwork anyway.

[Furrhan]

My biggest problem with this is that the whole thing feels like a relaxation of the rules to me, especially with regards to the General category.

I still feel that the general category should not contain anything sexualised and should definitely not show drug use.

I mean, considering ratings for films and games, anything sexualised would straight away give a movie a PG-13 rating and any drug use excluding alcohol and tobacco pushes them straight into the M category.

Succinctly, I feel that the General category should be defined as "suitable for all ages", the "Moderate" appropriate for people ages 13+ or perhaps 15+ and "Explicit" then over 18.

I think a system like this would provide better protection for those who wish not to view adult content as well as being clearer both for those who are uploading content and those who are moderating the site. This clarity is especially important given the new similarity between the "Moderate" and "explicit" categories.

I also STRONGLY object to the use of the word "comedic" below:

May include incidental or comedic use of drugs such as marijuana, sativa, hallucinogens or prescription drugs.

As I said in the previous content ratings thread, drugs are a serious problem in today's society and I would prefer that younger viewers of the site not be desensitised to the danger they pose through their use being shown in the general category and especially through their use being portrayed or described as comedic or fun. Such description to me inherently downplays the danger and harm of drugs.

TLDR: I'd like to see sexual/fetish stuff and drug use removed from the general category, and drug use no longer described as "comedic" on the ratings page.

EDIT: I think the best thing to do, actually, would be to merge the "moderate" and "Mature" categories instead of the "general" and "moderate" categories. I think the way it is now basically defeats the purpose of having a "general" category at all.

[anubis_werewolf]

Let's say you use a pony character generator to make a pony character.

There's your one. for the next pictures of your pony, you have to post only drawn pictures.

you can have all of your characters in your character gallery. there's no limit on that. but those characters also can't have more than one character creator picture.

So say you 1000 characters in your character gallery, you have...2000 pieces of those characters (2 pictures per), only 1000 of those pictures could be from say a pony generator, and the other one must be drawn but you can have as many pictures you wish.

I tried to clear that up, sorry if I didn't.

I'm not sure what the pony generator has to do with this, but okay.
Could a Mod or Admin take a look at my Character gallery and see if I'm breaking any rules with all the characters I have in there?

- - - Updated - - -

Yay!


@anubis, at the risk of causing further confusion....

When you go to submit something, you get five categories to choose from: Visual, Literary, Multimedia, Character, and Journal Entry. Just so we're on the same page, "Character" is what's being referred to here. It's used to post pictures and descriptions/stats of your characters simultaneously, so it's used as a reference page for a specific character. Don't necessarily need to use it, but it's handy. If you just wanted to upload images of your character (without statistics or backstory), you'd be better off uploading it as a "Visual" submission, for example.

Weasyl previously completely disallowed all images created by character-generation software, such as, say, this: http://generalzoi.deviantart.com/art...sion-254295904

Didn't want people just clicking buttons and taking screenshots using someone else's software (and artwork!), because Weasyl is supposed to be more like an art gallery than a social media site. But the Character category is for reference, and not necessarily artistic merit. Some people can't draw and can't afford to commission artwork, but still want to create a reference page for their characters. So to be fair to those people, they get to use character generator software for that purpose.

It's limited to one generated image per Character submission, probably because character generators are by design easy to use and produce samey-looking artwork, so the site looks ugly if people spam that kind of thing in their galleries. Staff can correct me on that if that's wrong, of course.

So if you're not an artist and can't afford a commission, you can upload one "Character" submission made using generated artwork to create a reference for your character, and then any subsequent artwork of said character you want to upload has to be drawn by you or someone else and cannot be created using character generator software.


If this still doesn't make any sense, then maybe this rule change doesn't apply to you. I'm noticing in your gallery you have no "Character" uploads and seem to do all your own artwork anyway.

No Characters in that gallery? I submit a lot to my Characters gallery. I'm looking at them right now. There are dozens of them in there

[vulpixdotus]

I'm not sure what the pony generator has to do with this, but okay.
Could a Mod or Admin take a look at my Character gallery and see if I'm breaking any rules with all the characters I have in there?

- - - Updated - - -



No Characters in that gallery? I submit a lot to my Characters gallery. I'm looking at them right now. There are dozens of them in there

You have a "Characters" folder, you don't actually have any Character submission types.

[anubis_werewolf]

You have a "Characters" folder, you don't actually have any Character submission types.

Okay? I'm not sure what you mean. I have all my characters submitted under my Characters gallery.

[vulpixdotus]

Okay? I'm not sure what you mean. I have all my characters submitted under my Characters gallery.

If you enter the submit menu in Weasyl, it should become a bit more clear. You see you have your Visual option, but you have the Character option as well. The new guidelines are referring to the Character option, but all of your submissions are of the Visual type. Therefore, by my interpretation, you should have nothing to worry about.

[anubis_werewolf]

If you enter the submit menu in Weasyl, it should become a bit more clear. You see you have your Visual option, but you have the Character option as well. The new guidelines are referring to the Character option, but all of your submissions are of the Visual type. Therefore, by my interpretation, you should have nothing to worry about.

But when I submit my characters I'm putting them under Characters though.

[Frank LeRenard]

But when I submit my characters I'm putting them under Characters though.

https://www.weasyl.com/characters/anubiswerewolf
"There are no characters to display."

You're using a folder you created for "Visual" type submissions that you called Characters: https://www.weasyl.com/submissions/a...folderid=77756
POINT IS: I don't believe you have anything to worry about if you keep on as you were.

[anubis_werewolf]

https://www.weasyl.com/characters/anubiswerewolf
"There are no characters to display."

You're using a folder you created for "Visual" type submissions that you called Characters: https://www.weasyl.com/submissions/a...folderid=77756
POINT IS: I don't believe you have anything to worry about if you keep on as you were.

Yes, I put my Characters into Characters. So why does nothing show up in that gallery? It should be the same thing.