I love the TMF so much because posts like these.... http://74.53.42.102/showthread.php?t=139081
And rules like these can co-exist. Scroll to the bottom I say more.
Dave2112
4th Level Black Feather Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Hiding in your closet....
Posts: 8,890
About Minors, "Ageing" and Missed Violations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings one and all. As many of you know, the subject of minors within the realms of fictional artwork and stories has come up quite a bit lately. Rather than answer each individual question and concern, I will explain it here once and for all.
Minor (MY-ner) n. : Any person under the age of 18 years.
Minors are not allowed on the TMF. In any way, shape or form. Period.
"Magically ageing" minor characters is also not allowed in any way, shape or form. Period.
There are many Stickies and threads throughout this forum that have explained over and over the lengths we have gone to in shaping our policies, so there is no reason to go into that again, other than to say we do not take this level of strictness with a particular rule lightly.
I have heard the arguements/complaints that ageing minor characters is an inalienable right of free expression and that it doesn't hurt anyone. These arguements are not being dismissed, they are simply being disagreed with by the Administrators and Staff of this Forum. Here is why:
There is no way to enforce a No Minors rule, especially a Zero Tolerance one, if we allow this loophole to be exploited. We all agree that we do not want the TMF to become a place for pedophiles to go to see/read about kids getting tickled. However, if we take a 14-year-old character and allow him/her to be "aged" arbitrarily, we all know that people are still thinking of the character as they've become accustomed to them....a 14-year-old. The character has been drawn as a kid, been created as a kid and it's a very thin and weak stretch to just say "Oh, just imagine they're older." Now, we know that in the realms of fiction and artwork, there are no real people involved, but this is not the point and will not be debated. This is not the Supreme Court, this is a privately owned (and free to join) website with rules of its own that supercede people's rights of expression when those rights interfere with the overall mission of the site. We strive to allow people to express themselves however they want, but as in any civilised society, there must be limits.
And speaking of expression. There's one thing I've noticed in the recent threads where folks have chimed in about ageing minors or even allowing them outright. They usually have a statement like "I'm no pedophile, but..." or "I don't condone sexual activities with kids, but..." in them. Let me ask you this, as this really does concern me to a great degree...
...then why are you making a stink about not being allowed to utilize minor characters? With the utter wealth of inspirational material out there from movies to television to music to books to God-knows-what-else...why does someone make the conscious decision to say "No, I want to write a story/draw a picture of this 15-year-old girl." Why is it so important that you choose a minor to start with, especially since by attempting to "age" the character, you've pretty much assumed that utilizing the character was wrong in the first place? And please save the "But that's my right of expression" arguement. It holds little water with me. The fact that someone's "right of expression" must include minors again concerns me a great deal.
And now for the final topic. Over and over I've heard the arguement "Well, this story is allowed to stay!" or "This picture is still up! You guys are hypocrites!" No, we are small in number and cannot be everywhere at once. If a post or thread with minor content is brought to our attention, we will deal with it. If it's there, it's because we have not caught it. If people are fired up enough about a minor post to let us know that we've left it there in the open forum, they can surely click the feature that says "Report This Post" so we can take care of it. That's it. If you don't let us know, we can't always catch everything. But, NOTHING is being left up out of any sort of preferential treatment or loophole in the rules. Period.
So, that's it. This is the deal. No Minors. No ageing of minors. We are not debating these rules, nor are we listening to arguements to attempt to persuade us to change them. Violations will receive a warning from the staff via PM, as we know not everyone reads all the stickies. However, a second violation after having already been made aware of the rules will result in a ban from posting in the appropriate sub-forum. We are serious.
So, NO Sailor Moon, NO Totally Spies, NO Simpsons kids, NO Winx Club, NO Kim Possible, NO underage Disney characters....
NO.....MINORS......PERIOD.
Thank you for your time and I hope this explanation has answered your concerns.
(P.S. This thread was originally left unlocked so that members could have an opportunity to ask any last questions about the rule. The intention was always to lock this thread once that was done. It has been cleaned up and closed. These are Rules, not a debate thread. Rest assured, nobody's post was removed because they did anything wrong. We appreciate the support we have gotten from the clarification of this issue and are glad that it has been resolved with the help of our members. - Dave )
Mimi
Senior Moderator
Iron of Reparation Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 8,156
No Minors Rule for Artwork Forum
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is a violation of forum rules to post or request any form of tickling media that contains minors: Whether it be art, stories, pictures, video, mainstream sightings, etc. Fictional or not. No minors, period.
If you see a thread or post that contains artwork depicting a character to know or believe to be under the age of 18, please use the "Report Post" function to bring it to our attention, as we do not have time to check every thread and may miss some of the violations. Thank you.
I've been hiding under my bed long enough. I would have posted this in the general discussion board, but I was banned from that. And most of my posts were deleted by admins and mods... Why? Well I'm just a fun loving guy so who knows. Anyways I would to talk about the above posts. I'm glad we have mods and admins who know the difference between right and wrong. Especially when it comes to child pornography.
Now as the rules above dictate children and aging aren't allowed, yet pictures showing both are deleted once found UNLESS you are a mod with an admin backing you up. Right? Now I heard the argument 'MTP said it was alright than it must be.' Well 1 reason. And that is this picture is clearly child pornography. Not a child standing blank-faced starring forwards. But a child wearing provocative clothing standing in a provocative setting in a provocative pose. Well I'm going to count that as 3 reasons.
Now I would post this in that cute little post dedicated to me, but as everyone has already claimed I already have! I'm obviously Drew70! No way there are two people who aren't biased and can see things for what they truly are, right?
lol...
Well I better quickly claim that I'm not Drew70 before someone comes in and says "I knew it was him all along" in a pathetic attempt to be funny.
I was actually thinking about stopping my rants against this place, but I'm not going to now. It's just to fun. And I can show everyone what type of coward I am.
So lift the ban against me on the general discussion and I'll happily post all my rants there. If not... well we'll see who the real cowards are.
As MTP told Drew 'he can banish me, but would rather not' or some bullshit...
And rules like these can co-exist. Scroll to the bottom I say more.
Dave2112
4th Level Black Feather Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Hiding in your closet....
Posts: 8,890
About Minors, "Ageing" and Missed Violations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings one and all. As many of you know, the subject of minors within the realms of fictional artwork and stories has come up quite a bit lately. Rather than answer each individual question and concern, I will explain it here once and for all.
Minor (MY-ner) n. : Any person under the age of 18 years.
Minors are not allowed on the TMF. In any way, shape or form. Period.
"Magically ageing" minor characters is also not allowed in any way, shape or form. Period.
There are many Stickies and threads throughout this forum that have explained over and over the lengths we have gone to in shaping our policies, so there is no reason to go into that again, other than to say we do not take this level of strictness with a particular rule lightly.
I have heard the arguements/complaints that ageing minor characters is an inalienable right of free expression and that it doesn't hurt anyone. These arguements are not being dismissed, they are simply being disagreed with by the Administrators and Staff of this Forum. Here is why:
There is no way to enforce a No Minors rule, especially a Zero Tolerance one, if we allow this loophole to be exploited. We all agree that we do not want the TMF to become a place for pedophiles to go to see/read about kids getting tickled. However, if we take a 14-year-old character and allow him/her to be "aged" arbitrarily, we all know that people are still thinking of the character as they've become accustomed to them....a 14-year-old. The character has been drawn as a kid, been created as a kid and it's a very thin and weak stretch to just say "Oh, just imagine they're older." Now, we know that in the realms of fiction and artwork, there are no real people involved, but this is not the point and will not be debated. This is not the Supreme Court, this is a privately owned (and free to join) website with rules of its own that supercede people's rights of expression when those rights interfere with the overall mission of the site. We strive to allow people to express themselves however they want, but as in any civilised society, there must be limits.
And speaking of expression. There's one thing I've noticed in the recent threads where folks have chimed in about ageing minors or even allowing them outright. They usually have a statement like "I'm no pedophile, but..." or "I don't condone sexual activities with kids, but..." in them. Let me ask you this, as this really does concern me to a great degree...
...then why are you making a stink about not being allowed to utilize minor characters? With the utter wealth of inspirational material out there from movies to television to music to books to God-knows-what-else...why does someone make the conscious decision to say "No, I want to write a story/draw a picture of this 15-year-old girl." Why is it so important that you choose a minor to start with, especially since by attempting to "age" the character, you've pretty much assumed that utilizing the character was wrong in the first place? And please save the "But that's my right of expression" arguement. It holds little water with me. The fact that someone's "right of expression" must include minors again concerns me a great deal.
And now for the final topic. Over and over I've heard the arguement "Well, this story is allowed to stay!" or "This picture is still up! You guys are hypocrites!" No, we are small in number and cannot be everywhere at once. If a post or thread with minor content is brought to our attention, we will deal with it. If it's there, it's because we have not caught it. If people are fired up enough about a minor post to let us know that we've left it there in the open forum, they can surely click the feature that says "Report This Post" so we can take care of it. That's it. If you don't let us know, we can't always catch everything. But, NOTHING is being left up out of any sort of preferential treatment or loophole in the rules. Period.
So, that's it. This is the deal. No Minors. No ageing of minors. We are not debating these rules, nor are we listening to arguements to attempt to persuade us to change them. Violations will receive a warning from the staff via PM, as we know not everyone reads all the stickies. However, a second violation after having already been made aware of the rules will result in a ban from posting in the appropriate sub-forum. We are serious.
So, NO Sailor Moon, NO Totally Spies, NO Simpsons kids, NO Winx Club, NO Kim Possible, NO underage Disney characters....
NO.....MINORS......PERIOD.
Thank you for your time and I hope this explanation has answered your concerns.
(P.S. This thread was originally left unlocked so that members could have an opportunity to ask any last questions about the rule. The intention was always to lock this thread once that was done. It has been cleaned up and closed. These are Rules, not a debate thread. Rest assured, nobody's post was removed because they did anything wrong. We appreciate the support we have gotten from the clarification of this issue and are glad that it has been resolved with the help of our members. - Dave )
Mimi
Senior Moderator
Iron of Reparation Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 8,156
No Minors Rule for Artwork Forum
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is a violation of forum rules to post or request any form of tickling media that contains minors: Whether it be art, stories, pictures, video, mainstream sightings, etc. Fictional or not. No minors, period.
If you see a thread or post that contains artwork depicting a character to know or believe to be under the age of 18, please use the "Report Post" function to bring it to our attention, as we do not have time to check every thread and may miss some of the violations. Thank you.
I've been hiding under my bed long enough. I would have posted this in the general discussion board, but I was banned from that. And most of my posts were deleted by admins and mods... Why? Well I'm just a fun loving guy so who knows. Anyways I would to talk about the above posts. I'm glad we have mods and admins who know the difference between right and wrong. Especially when it comes to child pornography.
Now as the rules above dictate children and aging aren't allowed, yet pictures showing both are deleted once found UNLESS you are a mod with an admin backing you up. Right? Now I heard the argument 'MTP said it was alright than it must be.' Well 1 reason. And that is this picture is clearly child pornography. Not a child standing blank-faced starring forwards. But a child wearing provocative clothing standing in a provocative setting in a provocative pose. Well I'm going to count that as 3 reasons.
Now I would post this in that cute little post dedicated to me, but as everyone has already claimed I already have! I'm obviously Drew70! No way there are two people who aren't biased and can see things for what they truly are, right?
lol...
Well I better quickly claim that I'm not Drew70 before someone comes in and says "I knew it was him all along" in a pathetic attempt to be funny.
I was actually thinking about stopping my rants against this place, but I'm not going to now. It's just to fun. And I can show everyone what type of coward I am.
So lift the ban against me on the general discussion and I'll happily post all my rants there. If not... well we'll see who the real cowards are.
As MTP told Drew 'he can banish me, but would rather not' or some bullshit...
