bummed

[einahpets]

So bummed out.  Found out tonight that one of my favorite Merlin artists, Lenxen1984, got banned from DA.  My guess is she was reported for mature drawings and DA deemed it crude.  Anyway, I have a little more information about it on my recent roundup-recs post. 
Then again, this is also in line with the crap fanfiction.net just pulled this week. 
However, while writers have the choice to find another host site, social sites for artists to interact and share work is limited.  Sure you can use a photo bucket or scrapbook on LJ to host the art, but why isn't there an AO3 for us to host, share, find, and interact with new work?  I'm not the biggest porn girl, but I have a few that can be seen as m/m or bestiality.  If I woke up one day and found those pieces removed or my entire gallery restricted, I'd be very upset.   

Comments

[dk323.livejournal.com]

That's so sad that she got banned from DA. I agree -- it's a shame that there aren't more places for artists that are like DA. I found an artist on DA whose work really impresses me and I'd be upset if he were banned.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

It's just a bummer all around. I guess the only silver lining is that the art isn't really gone, jut really hard to access and the artist can never upload more unless they make a new account. *sigh* I hope she doesn't come in and delete her account now that it had been banned. I dunno even how much control a DA user has after an account had been banned.

[alby-mangroves.livejournal.com]

WAAH :(

I had a story removed from FFn this week, and an email to say it violated their terms.

I've never laughed so hard in my life - they'd removed the one story with absolutely no smut or profanity.

I hope AO3 host images soon, but I'm pretty happy that at least we can include images in the posts, even if they are embedded.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I actually moonlighted as a crappy ass writer back in the day, and I decided to see if anything was taken down. I seemed to have survived, much to the relief of the few fans XD

It's nice they include embedding images, but if the host site decides to delete the source image, it's not very helpful in the long run.

[alby-mangroves.livejournal.com]

The fic they pulled has now been returned!! LOL Apparently it was removed in error. Ridiculous.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

Love that they would rather delete then warn users.

[phoenixacid.livejournal.com]

Ao3 IS working on an art gallery though. It's just taking some time. Hopefully we'll have one up soon! :D

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

We can only hope they move along on it. Though like any new feature they'll need some guinea pigs to work out the bugs. I'd be happy to help!

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

My heart is breaking for you reni and I feel so angry about the whole situation, that artists don't have a place like A03 to put their art. I wonder why A03 is being slow about it? It almost makes me wonder if they are planning a separate archive for visual media and another one for audio media? I wonder where fanvids would fall, in that case.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

It's a bummer, because I think they have been saying they want to add image hosting but it's literally been years. The hope wanes after a while and when something like this happens, well it's disheartening.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Ok, I didn't realize they'd been talking about it for years. That is rather discouraging.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and I know a lot of it is probably getting the coding and all the BTS stuff worked out. Takes time sadly.

[itzcoatl.livejournal.com]

That's terrible, I'd been following Lenxen's work and I loved her stuff. She reminded me a bit of a modern Aubrey Beardsley.

The more sexual stuff of hers that I saw was always very beautifully drawn and always artistic, never crude.

You would think the mature filter would be enough. what on earth is the complainent doing clicking on something under a filter anyway, if they know they object to mature content?

Even if AO3 starts up an artist specific section, I assume you are going to run into the same problems of being banned for certain content. Really you need an independent site actually run by people who do art, and who realise sexual art isn't necessarily porn.

What happened on fanfic net? I didn't hear anything about that, did they start purging certain content or something?

[asya-ana.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! So Aubrey Beardsley. I hate that she's been banned.

[itzcoatl.livejournal.com]

Yes, I love her intricate pen and ink patterning, it's so pretty.

[asya-ana.livejournal.com]

On ff.net, they started pulling works that had 'obscene' words in titles or summaries.

[itzcoatl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't know, that's interesting. I don't know what the thinking is behind it, whether it's just to ensure all "obscene" words don't appear unless they are behind a "mature" cut or what...

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Does AO3 ban for any reason?

One of the reasons I went with AO3 for putting my fanfic there was that they had a broad policy of allowing anything. I wonder if their interface makes it easier to make sure tagging is done properly (ie, mature content, etc?) because I'm pretty sure you have to select something for that field before you can post.

[itzcoatl.livejournal.com]

Ah, I have no idea about AO3's policies. I don't write, I read stories on AO3 but I have no idea what their policies are like.

I don't know if their policy for visual works would be different than that for written works...

From what I'd seen of Lenxen's work on DA, she always seemed to be very careful about tagging. And anything mature was always safely behind a mature filter. (Though maybe she slipped up, I don't know.)

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I don't think AO3 does ban you based on your fanwork.

[itzcoatl.livejournal.com]

reni_m just linked me to the wiki about AO3 and I had a look. Ah, I didn't know it was set up by fans for fans and with the idea of having freedom of expression etc. That's lovely. I didn't realise there was that background behind it.

In that case, I totally take my previous comment back, and it would be great if AO3 had an artists part. That would be perfect.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I have been very happy with AO3 as a writer, although I know some people have had issues. Everyone I know has been happy with AO3 too (well, all the writers).

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

She really has such a lovely feel to her work. And I agree, some of the attitudes on DA make me wonder why they click on something.

The whole reason AO3 started was to make a safe haven for any and all fanworks. So I'm going with the assumption that if and when an fanart section opens up we'd be given the same courtesy.
http://fanlore.org/wiki/Archive_of_Our_Own

[itzcoatl.livejournal.com]

I dind't know the background on AO3, I just assumed it was a site like any other. Thanks for that link. Oh, that's quite inspirational that it was set up for total fandom freedom of expression. I had no idea.

In that case an artists site should be perfect there. I'd certainly switch over to it. (not that I paint anything controversial, but it's the principle of the thing. *G*)

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I know right? It's kinda liberating. I'd switch over for the same reason.
But I won't embed an image myself until they start hosting.

[asya-ana.livejournal.com]

There is very clearly artistic merit in these images, most of which are not explicit. I'm really appalled!

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

It's really a combination of the attitude of the users on DA and the higher ups. Sadly, it's a popular site and allows for exposure. But the limit on content has something to be wished.
Thanks for spreading the word on Twatter. <3

[spacii.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

That sucks Reni, I'm sorry.
I swear sometimes it feels like certain sites just roll over and allow themselves to be censored by others. I freakin' hate that.

I used to moonlight on ff.net. My old account is still around too and has porn on it, which I find hilarious. What did they do this week though?

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

It's such a shame, because she has beautiful work.

ff.net went in and deleted stories that were too mature or had swears in it. No warnings or anything.

[spacii.livejournal.com]

If she moves her work to another place I'd like to see it.

Wow! Seriously? No warnings at all? AND FOR SWEAR WORDS? WTF?!

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

You can still find it if you search her username.
http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Lenxen1984
Though I dunno how long it'll still be up.

[spacii.livejournal.com]

Those are AMAZING! *_*

[chicago-ruth.livejournal.com]

I know it's not as great a substitute in terms of archiving, but Tumblr seems to not ban NSFW stuff (if all the porn blogs are any indication) and it's kind of more made for pictures than text?

But that is a fairly shitty situation. :/

And while AO3 does have plans to host art, I'm not sure that's a good thing right now... they haven't exactly fixed the code on the fanfic archive yet. -_-

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I don't like how there's limited interaction though. I can't really say much since I don't have a tumblr, but the fact a picture just goes from reblogging to reblogging is just so unappealing to me.

I definitely agree. AO3 has its heart in the right place but the speed of fixing the current code is probably overwhelming without adding image hosting into the mix.

[chicago-ruth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree that tumblr isn't the best place for conversation. People sometimes do it via reblogs, but I've posted fics/meta there and was always disappointed by the lack of proper interaction.

At most, you'll see comments on fic/art in the tags. I've taken to checking out every single reblog, just to see if anybody has added their own tags. If you see "OMG ALL MY FEELS" that's probably a good thing. (or not if you hate "feels.") Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of people who don't bother tagging. :/

[baenigma.livejournal.com]

What? D:

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's so frustrating when a site does something like this.