Forum Restructuring; Adult Content Policy

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takyoji
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Forum Restructuring; Adult Content Policy

Post by takyoji »

Forum Layout
So I've had some clear ideas on restructuring the forum, primarily of reducing the amount of individual forums.
As it stood originally:
  • Werewolves
    • What Should a Werewolf Be?
    • Werewolf Film, Comics, Novels, etc
    • Freeborn & AB Films
  • General
    • Introductions
    • General Stuff
    • The Pack - General Business
    • Website Updates, merge into The Pack - General Business
    • Entertainment
    • Meetings and Conventions, merge into General Stuff
    • Tech Support, merge into General stuff, or delete
  • Creative Den
    • Artwork (werewolf-based)
    • Artwork (non-werewolf), merge into Artwork (werewolf-based)
    • Writing (werewolf-based)
    • Writing (non-werewolf), merge into Writing (werewolf-based)
    • Costumes/Props
    • Classifieds
    • Link to other sites, merge into Classifieds
  • Roleplaying
    • Informal roleplaying
    • Formal roleplaying
    • Roleplaying Games, put under Entertainment?
Thus afterwards the result would look like:
  • Werewolves
    • What Should a Werewolf Be?
    • Werewolf Film, Comics, Novels, etc
    • Freeborn & AB Films
  • General
    • Introductions
    • General Stuff
    • The Pack - General Business
    • Entertainment
  • Creative Den
    • Artwork
    • Writing
    • Costumes/Props
    • Classifieds & Links
  • Roleplaying
    • Informal roleplaying
    • Formal roleplaying
Artwork and writing would still preferably be werewolf-oriented, just with unrelated content being slightly discouraged. Some of these changes I've already lightly made, but I haven't merged/deleted anything at all (just put a forum under another as a subforum).

Adult Content
So I've had an idea on revising the content policy but in a way that should cause the least possible amount of alienation to anyone.

The premise would be having a separate hidden forum section, that's only visible by manually opting into an 'adult' group. It would not be a place for all sorts of generic humanly-anthro "furry kink p0rn", and would keep a rather werewolf-related focus with narrow posting limitations. It'd be a separate forum category which would include boards of: General Discussion, Artwork, and Writing. Sexually explicit content would be permitted (but only in the select forums), it would only be werewolf-related (not a catch-all for all 'furry pr0n'), and the art section would possibly be limited to having artwork posted by the creators, not the fans, perhaps.

My rationale is:
  • It shouldn't alienate those that take no interest in it, as it would require manually opting in, and it's not intended to turn the whole community into some raving porn website. It would preferably barely even be known by most of it even existing (as it wouldn't be promoted or anything)
  • There is a very large amount of active, or previously active members of this forum, that admittingly partake in online communities of similar nature, but most of those communities are just generic 'furry' communities without a werewolf focus
  • It would filter out any borderline "suggestive" artwork or other creative works from being in non-adult sections, as the content administration would probably become more stringent in the non-adult sections. It would still allow an area for artists to post their content that's on the border of being completely spotlessly clean and mature (whereas borderline content would go into mature), whereas by comparison there are some communities that are too overly strict on realistic canine anatomy that don't allow an artist to post at all
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Re: Forum Restructuring; Adult Content Policy

Post by Meeper »

I've not had time to consider this much, but I'd like to comment on the adult content side of things.

I'd suggest a reporting/warning feature (if there isn't already one in place), and some guidelines/rules about appropriateness for comments as well as content. I've had a few comments here that have made me feel a bit uncomfortable. While I have done some anatomically detailed pieces that were modified before I uploaded them, it would be nice to have a place to display those pieces in their original state for C&C without having to worry about getting variously off colour comments. So basically encourage a level of professionalism in the commentaries.

Obviously I don't want to turn it into a prude show, but there's acknowledgment and discussion (even of sexually/violently explicit content), and then there's random dots of "That's hot" or requests for views or versions or otherwise forgetting one's manners. So, a rolled up news paper to bop noses with would be good I think.

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Re: Forum Restructuring; Adult Content Policy

Post by takyoji »

There is functionality present currently to report a post, perhaps additional options may have to be added (e.g. 'creepy/disturbing comment'), as I think the stock ones only cover standard things (spam, trolling, malware, etc).

As for the posting guidelines, yes, they'll need to be significantly revised, as I kind of cringe from the wording I chose when I was practically like 16 years old, and that it'll need to be redone in sake of the policy. I think for the most part, the 'adult content' idea will be a work-in-progress, of figuring out what's deemed appropriate and what isn't (and maybe even a temporary subforum allocated for that, only for a few months).
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Re: Forum Restructuring; Adult Content Policy

Post by Meeper »

I'm not seeing any real problems with this restructuring proposal, but I've some further ideas.

Creative den:
I'm wondering if it might be an idea to extend "non-werewolf based" as a standard sub forum for each discipline, Artwork, Writing, and Costumes/Props (art and writing has a non-werewolf forum, but costumes/props does not). Perhaps place these sub forums at the bottom of the page, so that you need to scroll through the page of werewolf oriented threads, or at least read down at the bottom of the page to see the non-werewolf oriented sub-forums in their respective fields.

Alternately, give everybody their own personal non-werewolf gallery, so you click a button at the bottom of each thread page to access a member's non werewolf stuff. In this way all the werewolf works are openly displayed and promoted via the forum, while the non werewolf stuff is a soft opt-in on an individual artist/writer level, further diminishing the promotion of non-werewolf oriented works by removing the ability to view everyone's non-werewolf content en masse via the forum, while still promoting artists/writers in a fuller capacity, hopefully keeping them more interested in coming back maybe.

Admittedly I haven't thought these ideas through thoroughly, just putting it out there.

Forum merging (other):
Similarly to hiding artist/writer non-werewolf works behind a button, perhaps do this with things like tech support. e.g. Put in Tech Support or Meetings/Conventions forums hidden behind a simple button to save space, which should look neat and tidy arranged in a line at the top of their respective General Business and General Stuff forums. I don't know if that's doable, it may be an ugly hack, I don't know. Perhaps put these buttons somewhere up front. I might make some mock-up images of what that might look like.
While the empty can may rattle the most, of equal or potentially greater import is what the reputably quiet cans are really full of.
All names are but souvenirs, in the end. Make good of your stay, so that they hold happy memories ~ Some guy.
Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something.
To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
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