Suggestions

[quote name="Churrell" date="2021-03-22 07:35:26" ] Anything to let Plague Flight fly ;P Plenty of sites have a "by clicking Proceed I acknowledge I am, well, usually 18+, and if they're lying, well that's on them, no? Maybe the trick is to make this site compatible with actual parental filters so that even if a minor clicks Proceed it won't show? Idk how parental filters work, I'm not a parental ;P To be clear I'm not DYING for this site to have a parental filter, it's just that I've seen the issue of minors coming up a lot lately in regards to the Plague aesthetic, and I'm trying to address every avenue that might help Plague be Plague. I think a gore filter is a great idea for anyone who is sensitive to it. Tbh I don't think it's strictly necessary as a parental filter if the site really is 13+ - if I were 13, I'd feel insulted and stifled if my mom kept me from being able to see this site in full. (When I was 13, the danger was supposedly talking to strangers on the internet, not seeing cartoon gore - and look, this site is FULL of strangers talking to each other, some probably ARE 13) But I'm not saying this just so we can have uber-nasty-gorefest skins. Even *I* think there's a reasonable limit to how gorey something should be on a site like this. But I DO think the limit we currently have is not reasonable - I once tried to order a beautiful and also pretty cute skin someone made, a zombie/fossilized Snapper mother with babies inside, no blood or guts (maybe bones but I don't quite remember) but the skin got denied from being printed. I've heard people say that the site's gore limits have to do with advertisers not wanting to advertise on something gorey... in which case maybe they're not allowed to be transparent with us about it? But I really hope they will be if they don't do something about this restriction. [/quote] The thing is, I dislike when rules for gore (and swearing etc..) are put down to 'the site is 13+' as if the only reason to have those rules are for those 13+ year olds. To me, this often implies that if you are an 'adult' you should be comfortable with gore, with swearing and that if you aren't, something is wrong. (not saying that the person I quoted is saying that or even thinks that, just that is how those types of posts often come across to me) Basically it seems as if the only reason to have such rules is to 'protect the children'. I agree that the rules are unclear and potentially go too far in the 'no gore' direction, and I do think that having a filter system in place like this could help make it so the rules could be loosened. That is why I support suggestions like this. I just dislike the implication that the only reason to have such strict rules are because of hypothetical minors (which I agree there are definitely a lot on site) and not because gore tends to be something that many adults are sensitive to.

I like the idea of tagging, but not user-made tags. Ao3 tagging functions largely because of volunteer tag wranglers who manually clean up & organize tags & correct incorrect tags. That's far too much work to throw at FR staff.

However, I think having a shortlist of basic tags could work, including general descriptions like flowers, jewelry, the relevant festival for fest skins, things like gore, and yeah perhaps spiders/insects, and maybe styles like vaporwave, that users would self-select when they submit an accent or skin. So when a skin is reviewed for approval, staff can just confirm if any tags don't belong, and if they're missing anything obvious. In terms of the backlog of existing skins/accents, ideally users still present could help and submit their tag suggestions for their skins, and staff could chip away at the remaining backlog of inactive users bit by bit (and maybe it could be a communal thing, like threads where folks help suggest tags for skins X thru X or whatever).

wrt having a toggle for certain skin tags so you don't see them, and allowing skin/accent artists a bit more freedom with gore in that way, that would be GREAT!!! (but if that's not feasible, at the very least a tagging system would be awesome.)

i MASSIVELY support a skin/accent tagging system, mostly because i support the creativity of the artists and people like myself who are sensitive to specific kinds of content. for example, theres some holiday skins/accents from plague, arcane, shadow and nature that trigger my trypophobia super bad. do i think they're good? yeah, of course! artists work hard on these things. do i wish i had a toggling option to not see them equipped on dragons? also yeah!

for older skins/accents + ones by inactive artists, i do think the staff should add tags themselves and also listen to community feedback regarding them as well. any new ones should have the option for the artist to add tags themselves. its a little bit of a complicated issue to deal with considering the amount of skins/accents on the site, especially ones from inactive artists, but something should be done so 1. people like me don't have to see content that can be triggering to specific phobias 2. artists have more freedom and aren't constricted by harsher guidelines (obviously there still should be rules but they can be a little loose with the blood/gore/body horror knowing that they'll be tagged accordingly)

i support this somewhat, but I agree with thaumiel in the difficulty of implementing the tags.

I support tagging and filtering skins, but only if FR staff are the ones who decide what is tagged and filtered. I don’t want FR to have the issues of AO3, and the staff already need to approve every skin that gets added.

This filler system sounds like it could also be used by players who don’t want to see certain eye types.

I'm sorry to bring this back up to the top of the pile again. I know this is a highly controversial topic, and I'm not trying to fan any flames. I understand why this would be a huge benefit to users who don't like gore. Even if I personally think the PG 13 cartoon gore on FR is mild overall, especially compared to other PG13 petsites like Subeta, I respect that others find it disturbing and would rather not see it. This tagging system could work, but it would be very complicated and difficult to implement in a way that's fair to everyone.

My main concern with this is how it would effect skin and accent artists.

The problem here is that this tagging is highly, highly subjective. Some types of gore squicks people out more than others. How much is too much? Some people don't like bugs, some people don't like too many eyes or limbs, some people don't like blood, some people don't even want to see skeletons. Some people are ok with some of these things and not others. Who gets to decided how much is too much? This could cause a lot of drama and issues for artists, even if the tagging system works in a way that encourages artists to tag their skins on their own.

My worry is that if it's determined an artists work is 'too gorey' or has 'too much body horror', and their work is then invisible to a large number of users, then there will be bias against these skins over others. Even users who don't have the skins blocked might be hesitant to buy them because they are tagged or flagged. It will be increasingly difficult to sell these types of skins, and decrease their value. And then, at a certain point, the skins might as well not have been approved by Staff for printing at all.

When users go to make new skins, they might then be thinking: How can I make this so that the tags and filters don't block some users from viewing this, so that I can reach the widest audience and make the most in sales?

Some might not think this is not a bad thing, but there are users who do like making spooky gorey dragons, and may also see fewer and fewer spooky skins being made. Skins with lots of seraphim eyes are also incredibly popular right now. At a point, it might as well be that some skins are just disallowed from FR entirely. In the case that tags are voluntary and selected by the artist, it might encourage artists not to use them at all. And then there could be upset when someone sees a skin that arguably should have been tagged.

Basically what I'm saying is that this tagging or filtering system could further complicate the skin market, and could effect creative process of artists, and that's something to consider.

That's just my two cents.