The Anti-Censorship DNP Pledge

@Background Pony #12BA
It was a very stressful day in general and feeling like I was about to be stabbed in the back/that I somehow made a horrible decision that was going to destroy the site didn’t help. That and female hormones can crop up at the worst times. :x It’s all in the past though. I just mostly give that for context as to what was going on around that time and that the announcement should not have happened like that.

• can be easily filtered  
• is often worth preserving and archiving  
• can, and almost does except in the crudest cases, have multiple layers of meanings, or multiple interpretations  
  And thus the sentiment that artwork should be censored as little as possible.
   
  Meanwhile, I don’t think anybody really objects to ensuring comments are kept civil. An inflammatory comment probably took between 10 seconds and 2 minutes to type out, has little to distinguish itself from thousands of near-identical comments, and almost certainly has exactly one meaning - a derogatory and inflammatory one. And thus there’s no value in preserving it, and little argument that it should be deleted.
   
  For a concrete example: one image that was deleted was an Aryanne, walking/skipping with closed eyes and a generally smug/content expression, and pink text above her saying “gas the kikes”. Now, there’s absolutely zero question that someone actually saying “gas the kikes” to someone ought to have his comment deleted. But in art, there’s a lot more room for interpretation. It could just be there for plain shock value. It could be - almost certainly was - playing on the juxtaposition of a cute, happy pony, pretty pink letters, and possibly the most hateful message one could utter in this day and age. A play on absurdity. And by deleting it, you deleted a much more significant amount of effort by a practiced artist, than in deleting the comment that anybody could have typed in five seconds.
   
  Now I’m not saying the image saying “gas the kikes” ought to be restored. However, I’m just using it to demonstrate that it’s more nuanced than an equivalent comment. So when less clear-cut cases are concerned, again, art will always have more intrinsic value, and much more room for interpretation of intent and extraction of a meaning outside any direct hateful message.
   
  Also, art has much less capacity to directly hurt anyone. If someone replies to you directly with harsh language, you will likely be insulted. If an image exists that is filtered, you will not be affected. If an image exists but slips through your filters, it is still not a direct insult aimed at you, and you can filter it and never encounter similar images again.
   
  Basically, my argument is that if the aim is to ensure the community is civil, and doesn’t devolve into something aggressive, or into something like 4chan or gab, then applying strict rules to comments is absolutely necessary and useful! But that doesn’t necessarily have to fully extend to images. Of course Derpibooru is not going to adopt an “anything legal is allowed” extreme stance like Rainbooru, for example; I’m not arguing for that. I’m only saying, if comments and images are treated separately in the rules, it might be possible to be more permissive in the images, while still ensuring all community interactions are kept to a high standard.
   
  Heck, you could even ban “favourable discussions of nazism” in the comments, and I doubt too many people would be particularly unhappy.

@Raptorshy
The people in the thread are pushing too much for “clarification about the rules” and nowhere near enough for mod accountability. That’s the only thing that matters.

So this thread is a hugbox designed for people to agree in? I thought part of the point of free speech was so ideas had to respond to challenge.

It’s true people are annoyed about the conversation going in circles, but I think what adds to the annoyance is a few people have actually changed their viewpoints and see why censorship is bad. If anything, the best people to engage those new to this conversation would be the people that eventually changed their opinion.