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

[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.