The Anti-Censorship DNP Pledge

@Background Pony #C37A  
Context is irrelevant in this case. It doesn’t make it any better or justified. Censorship is censorship and the support for BLM doesn’t leave much for one to decipher.

@Background Pony #C37A  
Yes? Again, explanation is not an excuse. And there are very few explanations, which also need strong proof, that would actually justify the actions in question.

@Barhandar  
And if they don’t?

@Background Pony #C37A  
They don’t what? If the explanations don’t justify the actions? Then my stance on this simply won’t change. Full context allows for a more informed opinion, it doesn’t have to result in a different one.

@Background Pony #C37A  
No, we know plenty that several admins are extremely far gone into their politics, intolerant of disagreement and both egg other people to be extremely hateful or just conveniently let slide past the rules. Ask for screencaps in 4chan if you want, this is not the thread for that.

@Barhandar  
If they don’t resign.

@Cammera  
Obligatory “twitter was a mistake”. Its auto-suggestions and general feed manipulation, just like Youtube’s, make it too easy to get immersed in an ideological echo chamber.

@Barhandar  
I asked if you think they should resign without question.

<Edit: Wild offtopic. Please pour coffee down my nose before I try to contribute.>

@Background Pony #C37A  
Then some people will leave and the entire staff team will be distrusted, as they’re obviously not capable of preventing censorship from happening (again).  
@Background Pony #C37A  
If they genuinely acted under duress, can prove it, and have managed to remove the source of duress, there is no reason to resign (BUT also no reason to hold onto the changes), just probation to safeguard from this being done again. So no, “unconditional” resignation isn’t what I call for, however due to the circumstances involved in this - including repeatedly and publicly stated opinions of said admins - it very much approaches unconditional; the head-staff appear to be in favor of this change on personal level and acting under duress is extremely unlikely.
 
P.S. Now that I have formulated my thoughts a bit more, the responsible head-staff must be unconditionally barred from making “accepting new staff”, i.e. HR, decisions and hence ability to manipulate staff positions, as I believe said decisions can and will become politically motivated. And the hiring process needs standards to make sure it doesn’t result in staff of just one (or extremely similar) ideology, regardless of what said ideology is.  
However, this is independent of the “don’t do censorship” point.
 
P.P.S. Now that I’ve pondered this a bit more, it’s basically probation and I am willing to downgrade “resign” to “be put on probation until you’re capable of no longer bringing your political stance into the rules”. As such my stance now is “undo censorship, undo enforcement of censorship, put the head-staff responsible for this in probation where they can prove they’ll no longer go full political”, probation being basically moderator/assistant position that doesn’t have access to abilities of changing rules, hiring new staff, or erasing the tracks, but can still moderate == prove not involving politics anymore.

Nah, Revenge would be to make them post the pictures they censored onto their own profiles.
 
Also, You’re falsely accusing me of wanting revenge. Nothing I posted here was censored. I’ve never even posted anything even remotely nazi related or even searched for it on the site. The accusations make no sense and are just incorrect name calling. Are you going to apologize?
 
I’m disgusted by how dishonest they are about their actions. They should clearly state the censorship they’re pushing so hard for if it is the correct choice. They call it curating, or removing hate, they do it without open discussion, even closing down discussion of it, and their actions caused horrible harm. They did it all with incredible bias. I’m DONE with accepting censorship.
 
If you don’t get rid of the censors from their positions of power and force transparency they’re going to keep pushing for it. Do you think they’re thinking about what they’ll do next time, “We did this too openly. Next time we’ll have better optics and better PR and word things better. Then we can censor.”
 
If you don’t require 2/3rds majority vote to change rules then its only a matter of time until we have to go through it all again. Voting is very easy to setup.
 
I am very open to hear what else we could do to discourage people who lust after power from specifically seeking out positions in administration and moderation. Because they want to censor they always try very hard to get into these positions of power so they can lord over the community.

@Barhandar  
My thoughts:  
You may be thinking about dialing back your rhetoric but I recommend you don’t because you’re the firebrand the community needs. When those responsible publicly apologize (if they do at all) then maybe softening your stance may be warranted but not now.
 
Even if responsible head-staff are “unconditionally barred” from making HR decisions they can still influence said decisions if they remain on the team, because they’ll be in contact with the people allowed to make the decisions. The source of internal politics on Discord would still be there so who’s to say it won’t come back?
 
I don’t think probation is good enough because like I said they’ll still be on the team and have the same networks which existed before. Maybe I’m too Machiavellian in my thinking but probation, besides being a softer version of the public humiliation that Pony Prints wanted, only requires responsible parties to be more withdrawn until a point in the future. Otherwise it requires policing their beliefs regarding censorship which you argued against. I personally think the best thing is a full resignation + a period of being barred from the staff team, after which they can join as an assistant and work up the ranks like anyone else. That’s more than a slap on the wrist but isn’t too draconian.
 
We need new blood for staff to ensure that “manipulation of staff positions” that has already happened doesn’t cause more problems down the road. I honestly believe you are highly qualified to take up the reins, whether as an admin or even a community representative. You stuck your neck out before this got rolling and you’ve been the most eloquent and ardent advocate, on this thread at least.

@Pony_Prints<3  
This, so much this. I never drew aryanne and I’ve often disliked stuff I perceive as “Look am edgy plz laugh”, but that doesn’t mean I’m a brat who wants to tear the house down and not allow anyone else to ever see it.  
If the house needs to be torn down it’s because the brats are in charge, really.

Also, on the topic of accountability, is there any audit log in derpi? Like how you have one discord or reddit have?  
 
 
If not, I’d like there to be one after this.

I don’t agree with the recent changes for more censorship. It’s been decided that positive and neutral art about one hateful ideology, but not others like communism, will be censored. This shows that the choice was clearly political, either because the staff casted a blind eye on their own ideologies or because they were bending the knee in order to appease “woke” cancel culture people. Both options don’t assure me of any platform neutrality as an artist. So far proper communication and justifaction have been lacking. The justification for this censorship that it somehow stops people from doing bad things in real life is pure hypocrisy. Art of rape is allowed even though real rape exists, and art of violence is allowed even though real violence exists. Real pedophilia isn’t mirrored by censorship of foalcon. Real race supremacy doesn’t lead to censorship of zebradom. Should it? I don’t think so.
 
Instead of getting mad at seeing what you don’t want to see: use the filters.  
If your faith in your fellow human beings is so low that you really think that someone looking at a picture of a nazi cartoon horse will turn them in a genocidal freak: you should not be the one trying to control what others can and can’t see.
 
I’ll see what the staff will do. In the meantime I join the other artists. DNP.

This makes me feel just awful. I loved this site and community so much because of how free and open it was.
 
I hate that people want to change things they don’t like personally just for themselves, impacting so many other people who were happy.
 
So selfish.
 
And that rule about LGBTQ comfort/demeaning… A death knell.
 
No group should be above humor, art, and being demeaned.
 
Equality is the level setting of all to be mocked by all.

@WhiskeyPanda  
Amen

I can’t remember if it was brought up here or in a 4chan thread, keeping track of like five separate threads does that but there were questions about how to find derpi artists in pillowfort, and if there was a PF community set up for them.  
Is there any interest in one being made to let peeps find those who are leaving over this more easily?

@Background Pony #A8BB  

Notice the contradiction. They don’t have to remain on the team to still be in contact, moreso, if anyone tries to block said contact by banning them, or worse, following them offsite, it’s liable to make it worse by getting current undecided staff on their side instead of ours.  
Also, literal silencing.  

Full disclosure: I believe that they won’t be able to do so, because they’re behaving in a manner inconsistent with having patience.  
Nonetheless, what probation does is give time. Yes, time does not discriminate. The head-staff might “cool down” and realise they’re making a mistake, and improve - or they might convince the rest of the staff to partake in the same ideology and hence destroy the site for good. I do not actually emotionally care about what will happen after a month of probation and that might be one of subconscious considerations for it.  

That is also a good idea. But again, see above about inability to actually block them from talking with the staff.  

Pfffft, no. I am not qualified for actual control, because I cannot stay on track for long enough. I get bored - of anything - quickly and can only work through that boredom with a lot of willpower, and I am scarce on willpower even for IRL matters, much less a site. Advice, sure, being a friend so that a lifeline exists for people wanting to get out of wokeness, sure, all of that I can do without being on staff.
 
 
@WhiskeyPanda  

By the way, I have thought about it, and it’s the very literal slippery slope fallacy. “If you look at pictures of a nazi pony, you’ll become a nazi/promote nazis!” It skips a lot of steps in between by assuming all these steps will be followed, the definition of slippery slope.

@Cammera  
you can find most artists including myself here.
 
https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/1351307

In all honestly, it’s probably very likely the administration doesn’t care at all and would only reverse it to “save face” like a PR team for any corporation.
 
They did it for their own interests, and they’re big enough to get away with it. Maybe I’m wrong, I’d love to be wrong. But that’s the pattern.
 
Their language is the wallet. The best course of action on top of the DNP is revoking whatever donations you’re giving to the site. Then, just maybe, it might work.

@Background Pony #1714  
is there website after all they can do whathever they want

@Background Pony #B7DB  
Yeah, yeah, privately owned and all that jazz.
 
But just because you can do it, doesn’t mean it won’t bite you in the ass later on.

@Background Pony #1714  
i know if you dont like it just go to other art site there lot of them why derpibooru there thousand of art websites outdare. when i dont like a site change of politic i move to another.

@Background Pony #B7DB  
The only problem is that Derpibooru currently holds the monopoly.