* PLEASE READ * - Community Rules and Guidelines

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Lillith

Hi!
This forum is a great initiative, but I have a question about the rules and guidelines.
It states no nudity or intimate parts, which sounds like a bit of a deal-breaker for a forum focused on showing off the sculpting process of the human body.

If it's a requirement for the hosting service I would strongly suggest a different host be found as soon as possible. If I had come to the forum "blind", as an artist I would never have made a user after reading that. The only reason I went ahead anyway was the mention that this forum was inspired by the now long gone The Joint, a forum that was what it was precisely because you could discuss all the things relevant to doll making that wasn't always welcome on the more general doll forums.
Nothing kills the creative flow and the willingness to share a project as quickly as having to sit and censor yourself at your own work table.
So I am hopeful that this is just an oversight and something that can be fixed.

admin

Lillith

I figured it was better to include initially until I could fully grasp the legalities and implications of having human inspired nudity on the site. I will need to do some research into what may or may not be required to allow unrestrained mature content - if we need to restrict that to logged in users who are verified over 18, for example.

I will prioritize that research. I agree that especially for the sculpting process it is vital to have included.

Lillith

I don't know where you are in the world and I don't know what rules apply there, so I can't really help with the wording.
Possibly make a difference between real human nudity and doll nudity? A doll is a created object, after all, not a person with feelings and a right to privacy.

When it comes to the over all philosophy around it, though, it could be argued that doll making is sort of a hobby for adults anyway. I don't mean 'adult' as in some arbitrary number of years old, but more in the sense we tend to use tools and materials that require a certain level of maturity to use responsibly.

And when it comes to the BJD hobby in general, the same is still true. To some extent, at least.
These dolls are not play line dolls made for children. In fact most makers will clearly state that their dolls are not intended as children's toys, but are exclusively intended for an adult audience.

On the other hand, I don't believe for a minute that anyone could possibly be shocked seeing naked doll parts, after signing up for a doll making forum, regardless of age. But I know some places have laws that are kind on puritan and not very well adapted to reality, so, well... You do what you need to do.

admin

Lillith

Hmm... that's actually a really good point. I started to work on adding a policy acknowledgement for mature content with a dedicated tag as a quick solution, but you are right. Nudity in art has existed for hundreds of years, and its everywhere. After doing some more research I think it's actually fine based on everything I've read. We should be good to remove the tag entirely, we just need to have clear rules that outline what is acceptable vs what is crossing the line into sexually explicit content.

It looks like there may be implications with advertisers and how search engines favor the site in their algorithms if it thinks the content is questionable, but I'm not very worried about that aspect of it. The intent of the site is to be heavily art focused and I think it will read as such.

Lillith

I agree, advertising and search engine optimization feels like a non issue for this place.
This is not a pay per click kind of place, nor should it be. This is a niche within a niche and we actually benefit if only the people who are actively looking for this place finds it. Not in a gate keeping sort of way, but for everybody's sake.
There are places better suited for general doll discussions, it's likely better to focus on what makes this place different.