First and foremost, we’d like to clarify the reason that the changes to our suggestive themes filter had been made, specifically the section related to removing fetish art from the site, even if tagged under suggestive themes.

   Previously, we have had issues with a certain subset of users intentionally drawing art for (or requesting art from) unsuspecting and non-consenting users, some of whom were minors, that contained fetish art. This is called “fetish mining,” a practice wherein a user intentionally ropes another into participating in fetish works without the other user’s knowledge and consent. In order to combat this and reduce mod strain, we decided to remove fetish works from the “allowed” list under suggestive themes.

   Ultimately, after careful consideration of user feedback as well as several rounds of internal review, we decided that the removal of all fetish works was not going to help us combat this issue. Instead, it led to more uncertainty (as it is difficult to define what isn’t/is a fetish when it comes to suggestive work), as well as more moderator strain due to needing to delete all prior attacks/characters involving fetish. Instead, we have edited the filtering guide to once again allow fetishes, with the caveat that any works have to be non-penetrative (i.e. no people/objects are allowed to enter the body), cannot involve ageplay, consent play, or bodily fluids/waste, and MUST be filtered under suggestive themes. For those affected by moderator action following the previously made changes, you are free to reupload your characters so long as the works they are involved in keep in mind our guidelines. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused!

   Additionally, we have also added General Rule 11 to combat fetish mining. It reads as follows:

• 11. Fetish mining, which involves soliciting fetish art without the knowledge and consent of the user involved, is a bannable offense.

Other Updates

• A minor update has been made to the phrasing regarding NSFW content involving feral characters. Previously, the text had stated: “This includes characters who are sapient, alien creatures/animals, or monsters/fictional creatures.” This text was intended to specify that ANY feral creature, regardless of being made-up or real, couldn’t be drawn in suggestive or explicit situations. Due to confusion regarding these rules, we have altered it to read: “This also includes fictional or made-up animals.”

Additionally, we’ve made some minor changes to the following rules:

• General Rule 7: Specified that comments are included
• Upload Rule 1: Added additional bullet point
• Upload Rule 3: Added additional bullet point regarding uncredited photography
• Upload Rule 5: Specified policy on smaller creators
• Upload Rule 6: Clarified that characters based on current real life tragic events are not allowed
• Spirit of Art Fight Rule 6: Clarified that "point farming" is not allowed
• Filtering/Attack Guides: We're currently working on updating visuals and removing old/inaccurate images from our guides

   We acknowledge the unfortunate timing of this newpost. We’ve been actively working on these changes throughout the week, and believe it'd be ideal to sort everything out on-site before the stream so as to not confuse the influx of users that become active once the theme has been revealed. We understand the importance of this issue, and want as many people as possible to see the changes made, so we will be linking back to these updates in the next few newsposts to ensure that all users are well aware of the changes made.