Unofficial BLM-related Policy Change Discussion Thread

Considering that the "Ask Mods Important Questions" thread was locked due to a flood of comments about this recent policy change, and the discussion then spilled over into the vent thread in General Discussions and the politics thread in Generals, I've decided to start a thread for people to discuss these policy changes, as suggested by LightningBolt here.

This seems to be the correct place for such a discussion given this forum's rules. Hopefully they can unlock the "Ask Mods Important Questions" thread since people can post comments about this topic here now.

I'm staying out of this discussion (I've found arguing on the internet to be a waste of time), just thought I'd provide a thread for it to take place — have fun!

I ask that before you post a question here, please consider if it has been answered already by this post.

@byte[]
I found the answers in the vent-thread far more usefull.
Also the people angry about this are mostly active users here, whats with the constant /mlp/ strawmanning?

@FrecklesFanatic
Because it's convenient

@FrecklesFanatic
apparently there's a ring of close to 1,000 /mlp/ anons who go out of their way to downvote any pic on derpibooru that they perceive as "leftist" or whatever; unsurprisingly, many of these anons were concern trolling in the other thread as a means of disrupting it. honestly i'd be surprised it they don't try that same ploy in this thread too.

@Bexar Bandito
There isnt even close to 1000 active /mlp/ users in generall. Totall. What the hell are you on about?

@FrecklesFanatic
Misinterpreting a post I made about a large collection of active users who have knowingly abused the vote system.

And before you start, /mlp/, yes I already see that you linked this thread too. Try harder next time.

@byte[]
yeah that's my bad and i'll cop to that. still, from what i've seen on /mlp/ there are a LOT of people there in full-on meltdown mode over this latest rule as you can see here and i wouldn't be surprised if some of these anons were a factor in why the other thread got locked.

@Bexar Bandito
This is bull. /mlp/ had a thread recently to encourage everyone on the board to post in it, even if they're just lurkers. Don't remember the total, but I know it didn't break 400 unique IPs over 2 weeks. I've also been browsing /mlp/ for a very long time, and this "ring" that's dedicated to downvoting leftist stuff is something I have never heard of. The most I've ever seen that somewhat relates to what you're saying is ONE anon who downvotes every gay image he comes across, who is most likely on the spectrum.
Declaring raids on 4chan is against the rules too and it results in your posts being deleted and a possible ban.

@byte[]
How can you "abuse" a vote system? If they are active users, and they dislike, say, rape pics, and they just blanket dislike any picture with rape in it, is it abuse? I would think not, they are using the system exactly as it works.

@Infrayellow
Exactly, theres 4k posts on /mlp/ daily, if there were 1000 fucking /mlp/ active "raiders, the board would have ten if not more thousand qactive users… whcih would translate to far more posts
https://4stats.io/
Thinking there is some thousands strong /mlp/ taskforce hunting derpi is insane.

@byte[]
The answer to that is a solid no from me, dawg.

@FrecklesFanatic
You might want to give the rules a read, then, because the scenario you describe is quite literally against them. They're at the bottom of the page.

@FrecklesFanatic
The vote system is for quality control, Favs however are a personal matter

Well to me anyway. Most of my votes are favorites, I downvoted a few for memes.

@Bexar Bandito
Just to be dead clear, I am not one of those anons from /mlp/, and I have NEVER used /mlp/ nor 4chan to begin with.

If you cant express you dislike a pic with the dislike button, what is the dislike button for? Quality control is not a answer since art is subjective

@byte[]

It depends on the image and how long after. I can't really give any specifics on what would be allowed because the scenario is unique to every image. However, in general, the answer is yes, once it's no longer current we will resurface the images.

What is the duration for an event being 'current'?
At what point does it become 'current' again?
When people make enough inflammatory comments?
When enough people complain?
When the 'right people' complain?
When a lot of similar images start getting posted at once?
Whenever a mod feels like it?

I realize these are nigh-unanswerable questions, but that's the exact problem with this rule, it's far too vague and essentially gives the mods carte blanche to remove anything they deem inappropriate at the time, rather than what the rules deem inappropriate.
The tag system and blacklists already accomplish what this new policy is attempting to fix, if people start spewing 'rapid froth' in the comment sections as you put it, then enforcing the rules you already have should be enough.
You are attempting to fix a problem with a hammer when you have a perfectly good set of screwdrivers.

@FrecklesFanatic
I think its there to judge the quality of the art itself, rather than the subject material. It doesn't get followed all the time obviously.

@Infrayellow
Yes, but what constitutes "quality" in a piece of art? Thats subjective and different from person to person. So, by default, you are judging and giving out likes, dislikes, faves on your subjective opinions. So beeing subjective about what you like and dislike on derpi cant be against the rules as it is the only way to admister these "points" in the first place.

@FrecklesFanatic
If that's the interpretation of what downvoting is not to be used for you got out of reading the rules, then I am disappointed in you.

@Background Pony #AC85
I disclaimed that they were essentially unanswerable for the reasons you stated. I don't know, it depends on the image, on the time, etc. If you were concerned about our application of rules being vague, then I really don't have anything for you, because our rules are in general a little bit vague.

You have the option of whether to trust that we will enforce our rules in a way that you agree with.

@Background Pony #AC85
There's nothing wrong with the mods removing content for any reason from the site. You continue to act like using derpibooru is a right when its a privilege. Its been pretty clear so far that the art that has been removed has been quite literally racist drivel meant to smear and insult the George Floyd protests. Acting like this is some slippery slope towards your favorite crayon-scribbled hoof fetish pic being removed is absurd.

@FrecklesFanatic
Comments have more gravity.

@Background Pony #AC85
That's the problem with social media, the rules are intentionally vague.

This is both necessary and infuriating: too specific, and people can always find ways to adhere to the letter of the rules while subverting the spirit of the rules.

However, vagueness leads to the "rules" being nothing more than the whim of whoever happens to have "mod privileges" at any given moment.

@Ninji
Any commentsection with more then 10 replies is usually pointless drama and not worth reading.

@Background Pony #8E9A
So you're conflating the protesters with the rioters?

Because from what I've seen, most of the stuff removed was making fun of violent rioters, not peaceful protesters.

@Background Pony #8E9A
"There's nothing wrong with the mods removing content for any reason from the site"
Yes there is. For a site that advertises itself as a pony archival site, it should abide by that and allow ALL pony content, no matter how offensive/tasteless (we have a filter system, WTF happened to filtering what you don't like??). If it comes to it, it should also not pick sides, and remove left leaning extremist shit too. Derpibooru is the biggest website in the brony fandom, and as a result has the largest influence and shouldn't pick sides when it comes to distributing its content. With great power comes great responsibility.