The Anti-Censorship DNP Pledge

@Barhandar  

 
Sorry, no. They fueled the fire until it became self sustaining.

@Background Pony #4AB7  
Do you see people complaining en-masse (i.e. with the same vigor as about censorship) today about similarly one-sided choice to align the site with BLM the organization? That was “few weeks” ago.

@Barhandar  
Yes. If you do not notice it then you are blind.

@Barhandar  
honestly most of use who disagree with aligning the site towards that have started to leave, I think we were just waiting for something to demonstrate our intentions to leave so it would be more impactful.

I’m genuinely happy to see so many artist stick by their freedom of expression and speech so solidly, even when being called names for it. Weather a change is made on this site or not, you all standing by freedom over your popularity shows and I’m sure many can respect such a choice, either side they’re on.

@Barhandar  
People were assured, repeatedly by multiple staff members, that policy change was to be a temporary measure.

@Background Pony #7C5E  
Then the real headstaff went “lol nope permanent”. And followed up on it with “yo, remember all the times we’ve promised that Aryanne will never be banned? woops aryanne is now banned”.

@Barhandar  
Well, yes.  
That’s why there is more outcry now than there was about the BLM policy, I thought you were questioning why people are up in arms about this compared to a few weeks ago.

@Background Pony #BDEB  
Is mlpol ‘the left’? Because if you read their posts they have been trying to deplatform and shut down Derpi for months because their posts keep getting deleted. Maybe it’s working.

@Barhandar  
People are up in arms now since the previous BLM incident proved they will already silence and shadowban anyone they don’t approve of no matter the person’s reasoning, this new incident just proves a slippery slope is in effect and being pushed not even by the whole staff but by a select few members with there being possible outside influence too considering the people involved with that Atlantic article.

woop, #7FE3 here, meant to reply to @Background Pony #7C5E

@Background Pony #7C5E  
No, I mean that people were a lot less up in arms about BLM policy just before the nazi policy than when BLM policy was just introduced, i.e. people have calmed down sufficiently for the next stage of frog-boiling.

So, seems I can talk about recent site changes here.
 
I just found i can’t even take the downvotes off the pictures that got me shadowbanned from all BLM pictures.
 
I tell you, I’ve never felt so suppressed in my life.

Regardless of whether you are for or against recent changes I believe no images already on the site were removed by the mods, and I’m a strong believer in archival. I’ve personally been on DNP for ages, but “artist upload only” and when I request takedowns of images I did it’s mainly because I’m ashamed of my old drawings, not because I have a grudge with the site or its policies.
 
If you’re taking a stand and moving elsewhere I just want to ask that you consider to not opting for full content wipes and choose the same DNP option I did, preserving your older works. This whole situation is horrible enough without losing a large backlog of pony artwork from here. I’ve uploaded a lot of commissions I got over the years - including one from you, Datte, I’m obviously biased - and I would hate to lose those images from here if artists request to wipe their entire tag.
 
Erasing your drawings only takes a single SQL query and maybe a few seconds for it to execute, you’re not really overwhelming the system and sticking it to the staff. The deletion itself is a minor inconvenience, the real cost is losing a large archive of works off a site that, for better of for worse, has been in existence for years.
 
The future of any clone that pops up is yet uncertain, and if everyone moves their content off this site to another that’s then shot down for any reason that’s not just a loss for Derpibooru, but the fandom as a whole. If you believe in archival too, by all means upload your works to every site you can find, the more the better, increasing your chances of it staying available for everyone. Just think back to when Tumblr nuked NSFW artists’ blogs on a whim; for many images that was the only source.
 
The bottom line is
 

@WyrmSpawN  
Probably easier to do it that way, rather than only restricting lowering the score. I tried to upvote something only vaguely related (not even sure what tag I was actually blocked from) and couldn’t do it.

@DJDavid98  
Not an artist and not sure if the pledge do involve asking for full removal, but wouldn’t that be better for actually sending a message?

@DJDavid98  
It hurting users is the point. However, I agree with you for an entirely different reason: namely, visible protest is better than invisible one. If someone has wiped themselves off the site, they might as well not exist for any considerations, but someone who DNPed and refuses to support the site anymore is still visible and noticeable influence, including on other people; moreso if they have explicitly written out why they have done such.
 
That said, wiping everything but rules-legal picture explaining why that was done is even more effective as it combos awareness (“huh, Derpi went full BLM?”) with dissatisfaction (“I can’t see this artist’s works here anymore? Dammit!”).  
Also how easy it is to wipe someone’s uploads or artist tag is irrelevant, because the point is “you want to keep artists on site? Your own policies and taking a political stance, not harrassment from users or any kind of dislike of the community, have made me leave.”

@Background Pony #81CE  
It’s sending a message for sure, but at the same time actively harming the community as a whole by making certain drawings less accessible. The specific people having to deal with removing artwork might have even had no say in the this policy being enacted for all we know. Like I said, send any message you like, but I urge everyone to at least not delete history while doing so, if their morals allow.
 
@Barhandar  
Requesting to wipe previously allowed images that are now no longer allowed will also make them “invisible” in that sense, and it’s essentially taking the fact that no previous content was wiped and making sure it happens anyway.

@DJDavid98  
The problem is that this is pretty much the only message they can send to show their distrust of moderation.
 
Especially because the moderation gave them no choice by the way they enacted their decisions.
 
I agree with you, there are some people here I wish weren’t leaving, and I hope they’d keep their stuff around, but at the rate the moderation is reacting to stuff right now I have little hopes.

@DJDavid98
 

 
I’m not an artist, but their morals are likely why they are doing this in the first place, and you’re asking them to weaken their stance.  
If you have issue with that, take it up with the mod staff who have forced their hands.

@Background Pony #4800  
I would say that a DNP request on its own will have the desired effect on the staff, whether they need to wipe images as part of that request does carry weight, but not adding that clause does not make your DNP any less valid or effective, and in both cases you achieve not having any new images on the site, only affecting the period where this policy actually applies.

@DJDavid98  

 
That’s the entire reason this site decision upsetted people in the first place.
 

 
They’re more than free to relinquish their post to confirm their displeasure.

@DJDavid98  

You have made the point that removing everything some artist made is one small SQL query. There isn’t a “having to deal” with it.  
>and it’s essentially taking the fact that no previous content was wiped  
yet  
>and making sure it happens anyway.  
And on the way preventing said content from being potentially used to promote an agenda or as evidence for artist supporting said agenda.

@Background Pony #7C5E  
I’m asking them to reconsider their stance by all means if they were planning on wiping their artwork from the site. If their morals don’t allow it then my message is indeed lost with them, but I speak more for anyone still on the fence.
 
@FrankFronk  
The thing is, the site is forcing censorship on you. Not asking for previous works to be deleted is a decision solely made by the one requesting DNP and is something that doesn’t have to happen.

@DJDavid98
 
If archival is your worry, there’s already plenty of archival projects that have been going as long as derpi has been around. Derpi is far from the source of all possible pony content.