My Writing vs. the New Blog Policy · 5:47pm Oct 20th, 2013
If you haven't seen it yet, FimFiction no longer allows NSFW blog posts. (http://t.co/W5x6Oj5ASB) I don't intend to rant (much), but on a site that hosts tremendous amounts of highly objectionable sexual material (my writing included), the decision is perplexing, and is made more so by their other decision: not to share the reasons behind it. I'm not going to scream that the sky is falling, or that it's the end of clop as we know it, but given that blog posts flagged NSFW were hidden unless a user toggled mature content on, the same as stories, the staff's silence on the reasoning behind the choice gives me nothing I can hold up to think charitably of the thought processes. At the end of the day, though, the thought processes would be a cold comfort anyway: the decision itself is what causes harm.
So, at the risk of sounding overdramatic, the decision has a chilling effect on my willingness to write blog posts about Smoke. I err on the side of caution with the NSFW option, out of respect and concern for those who might have a different view of what's inappropriate. I can't be cautious anymore. No one can, which leaves only one option: if the blog entry's not squeaky clean, don't post it. This leaves me unwilling to post anything about the content I write on the blog, beyond simple "Yep, working on a chapter," notices. Things like the character notes I've been posting, or any discussions of the chapters themselves, I'm not comfortable posting here, and will have to find a new home for, or abandon completely. Tumblr came to mind, but tumblr is absolute crap for actual discussion and conversation; the design is meant to be author -> audience, with minimal traffic the other direction.
I'm not sure what, if anything, I'll do with the blog posts or art (should I commission or receive more), but if I get it figured out, I'll let you all know. Suggestions are welcome, but please be aware that I hate social media and anything tied to my actual identity is out of the question--so no G+, Facebook, etc.
Edit: Oh, and the chapter I promised isn't being held up my this. It's being held up by Disgaea D2.
I thought they said it was going to be temporary.
Guess not... wow... why take that away? it discourages update and makes authors less likely to like it. This is dumb and unfounded, I hope they put it back so authors can keep doing what they do freely, this isn't NSFW images now this is blog posts WARNING you of it.
Gentle breeze guide your way, and a warm smile welcome your return.
Art and NSFW blogs could be relocated to DA, if that seems like a sensible idea to you. I agree that it's extremely frustrating they won't state their reasons for taking away the NSFW blog feature. Some have suggested that it has something to do with advertising, but all they'd need to do is disable ads on NSFW blog posts the same way they already disable ads on Mature stories. The fact that they won't provide any reasons for the decision is extremely worrying.
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DA actually has very strict, enforced rules about sexual content. The image I commissioned before would certainly be okay on DA. If I commissioned one that's genuinely explicit, it wouldn't be. Images are a concern for the future, not the present, but I don't want stuff scattered around.
I'm not involved enough with FimFiction to consider it full on worrying, at least not in a pragmatic sense (if I find that stories like mine aren't welcome here, or the environment grows hostile to NSFW content, I'll just shrug and move on), but I agree with you that choosing not to explain is more detrimental than explaining. As I said above, I'm left with nothing to point at and say, "I disagree, but I can understand the motives." Instead, I'm left with what looks like a foolish decision that they've closed ranks around--and I've never once seen that turn out to have been for the best.
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Well, FA and IB are also options but much fewer people are likely to follow you to them :(
Also, one of the mods did mention in the comments that no matter what they'll never put a stop to NSFW stories, so that's not something to be concerned about.
All I can think of is that stories have at least cursory inspection before they can appear (no matter how low of a bar they need to pass) while blog posts do not, and this causes some sort of legal problem for the site. Still stupid.