Community Suggestion: Expand the ToS/Etiquette page's statement of clarity on NSFW content

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Expand the ToS/Etiquette page's statement of clarity on NSFW content

Feature Upgrade · Generic · Created by tjtrewin
completed
nsfw tos etiquette rules adult
I would love for there to be a crystal clear statement on what is / isn't allowed in terms of both written and visual NSFW content on World Anvil. There is a broad statement so far on the Etiquette page, but it has frequently been read as a "hard no" (both by myself and others).   There are many worldbuilders and writers in the community who want to share their content but sheepishly come to members of the World Anvil Team to check if things are ok E.g. smut and suggestive content (but not detailed in sexual acts), erotica (detailed in sexual acts), visual content (biological anatomy of species, suggestive content, artistic nudity). This can also apply to graphic content and depictions of violence, warfare, and gore (e.g. disease articles?)   It would be much clearer and easier for everyone if there was a short and to the point statement on what's allowed in NSFW content, along with how to mark it correctly as NSFW either in an article, image, or manuscript (many people think that just using a tag rather than the checkbox for articles will be okay).   Gumroad has an excellent example of this and is crystal clear whilst still being a professional platform:   https://help.gumroad.com/article/156-gumroad-and-adult-content   This would give great peace of mind to many creators :)

The Team's Response

Hello everoyone!

Thank you for your feedback. I will review what is written currently, but from what I read many of the above comments, are comments of people that have not actually read the Etiquette guide. And i do not know how to improve on that.

To quickly respond to some of the above. As long as your article is marked as 18+ / NSFW

  • Violence
  • Nudity
  • Sexual acts

    • Are all allowed unless this got against laws in the United Kingdom and the United States of America and is not from a literary prespective it is not allowed.

    Note on Nudity/Pornography

    To expand to this with examples.
    Writing about a sexual act is allowed. Erotica/BDSM themes are also allowed.
    Describing visually or in writing the sexual / reproductive acts of a species is allowed
    Artwork or Animation of humans or other creatures during a sexual act is also allowed. Photography or video of real humans during sexual acts is not.

    Note on Sensitive topics

    Writing about a Fascist organization is allowed. Glorifying Nazism in any way shape of form is not

     

    Conclusion

    As you can understand, not everything can be defined, and that is why at the end of the day, there will always be a part of human judgement.

    For the time being you can consider the Gumroad guide to be true for World Anvil as well, pretty much for the same reasons.

    Also, it should be noted that in almost 4 years of operation, there has been only 3 instances of anything like that even being an issue brought to us to resolve.
         
    As a final note, this was not a FEATURE request, and requests of this type will not be answered in the future. This is a discussion about policy and if you have any concerns you can message me directly
      The policy has been updated and can be found here:
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    Current score

    86/300 Votes · +10110 points

    Votes Cast

    • +50

      by Apachewarrior7
      on 2021-04-12 16:13

    • +10

      by AmélieIS
      on 2021-04-12 10:10

    • +50

      by Kiltia
      on 2021-04-11 18:19

    • +20

      by Evanenites
      on 2021-04-11 12:42

    • +20

      by AvalonFaery
      on 2021-04-11 10:57

    • +300

      by Hexingale
      on 2021-04-11 10:22
      There are a lot of things I am curious about as an artist. I have some thoughts posting artistic nudity in my world as a reference to biological anatomy of a race. I am not sure whether or not this result in a ban. Having a detailed specifics on NSFW pages and images would greatly help people like me who are interested in anatomical studies and more.

    • +10

      by NightShift
      on 2021-04-11 09:17

    • +200

      by SiobhantheWriter
      on 2021-04-11 09:15
      I would love this as well as some of my articles touch on sensitive topics and I have marked them as 18+. But my novels also deal with sexual content and violence. I would like to know how to handle this for when I publish them. Whether or not there is a way for chapters to be specifically set up for those who are prepared/old enough to handle the topics safely.

    • +100

      by Mara Jaena
      on 2021-04-11 05:59

    • +300

      by A Revolutionary Kobold
      on 2021-04-11 05:32

    • +50

      by subtletylost
      on 2021-04-11 04:22

    • +300

      by ErinRigh
      on 2021-04-11 04:14

    • +300

      by rikia
      on 2021-04-11 02:14

    • +50

      by SerKanra
      on 2021-04-10 20:38

    • +10

      by A Glamorous Unicorn
      on 2021-04-10 14:25

    • -100

      by Leakimka
      on 2021-04-10 10:51

    • +10

      by anomalous.algorithm
      on 2021-04-10 08:33

    • +20

      by DeadGod
      on 2021-04-10 01:49

    • +100

      by StephenMvS
      on 2021-04-10 01:06

    • +10

      by A Wild Dryad
      on 2021-04-10 00:58

    • +50

      by Bakugoes
      on 2021-04-10 00:24

    • +10

      by AvalonArcana
      on 2021-04-10 00:18

    • +50

      by DarkChronos
      on 2021-04-09 20:25

    • +50

      by Gabranth
      on 2021-04-09 18:03

    • -100

      by A Frightened Orc
      on 2021-04-09 15:58
      Making rules specific can have a much worse effect since people can abuse the "letter of ther law". Specificity in ToS has put many companies in bigger legal trouble than not.

    • +100

      by corasnowbooks
      on 2021-04-09 14:32

    • +100

      by KajetanWrites
      on 2021-04-09 13:30

    • +100

      by Noxxi Greenrose
      on 2021-04-09 13:15

    • +10

      by Michael Chandra
      on 2021-04-09 10:24

    • +50

      by Sloqush
      on 2021-04-09 10:20

    • +20

      by TheWaterLilyTora
      on 2021-04-09 08:58

    • +100

      by Projekt
      on 2021-04-09 07:38
      This will come in use with what I have planned for Loshart.

    • -10

      by Sicariouse
      on 2021-04-09 04:37

    • +300

      by MLHammond
      on 2021-04-09 04:21

    • +300

      by tipshoodie
      on 2021-04-09 02:50

    • +50

      by Vaen
      on 2021-04-09 02:11

    • +10

      by DM Torment
      on 2021-04-09 01:57

    • +300

      by BasicDragon
      on 2021-04-09 01:29
      Yes please, it's a freaquent question in #help on discord and on other platforms! (NaNoWriMo being one of them)

    • +50

      by Kakurine
      on 2021-04-09 00:55

    • +300

      by FelthWorkshop
      on 2021-04-09 00:42

    • +10

      by Hanhula
      on 2021-04-08 23:29
      Istralar has some very NSFW moments. I've so far either refrained from writing them, or restricted them to Private articles.   This all being said, I'd love for there to be a line down the bottom mentioning that the NSFW restrictions between the site and the Discord are different. We don't need a repeat of the Thanos incident ;P

    • +20

      by A Adorable Dimensional Horror
      on 2021-04-08 21:56

    • +20

      by Spectral42
      on 2021-04-08 21:24

    • +20

      by Skampus
      on 2021-04-08 20:49

    • +20

      by brass_phoenix
      on 2021-04-08 18:31

    • +300

      by A Fierce Hobbit
      on 2021-04-08 18:05

    • +50

      by Stormbril
      on 2021-04-08 17:56

    • +10

      by Lyraine Alei
      on 2021-04-08 16:49

    • +100

      by Timepool
      on 2021-04-08 16:35
      I've been using a big ol content warning on my graphic articles, but that's just with gore/violence. Eventually I do want to touch on subjects that would be NSFW in the other sense, but I've kept from doing so due to this!

    • +300

      by thechosenone
      on 2021-04-08 16:17

    • +300

      by spartango
      on 2021-04-08 16:13

    • +10

      by EliseTheGuardian
      on 2021-04-08 15:09

    • +10

      by iamthetot
      on 2021-04-08 14:59
      My world will eventually be touching on sensitive topics and it would be very nice to have clear rules about what I can and cannot write about.

    • +20

      by A Frightened Velociraptor
      on 2021-04-08 14:54

    • +50

      by Snake__Venom
      on 2021-04-08 14:23

    • +50

      by gaytheil
      on 2021-04-08 14:11

    • +300

      by Barron
      on 2021-04-08 14:05
      As Ademal stated, Ethnis will have its share to NSFW content, we don't hold back with worldbuilding!

    • +300

      by Naelin
      on 2021-04-08 13:58
      I intend on writing more nsfw content but I have received contradictory information on what is allowed and how, and I fear spending time an effort to then have to take content down. It would be super useful to have clear detail on:   -Which kind of content requires the article to be marked as nsfw (artistic nudity? classic art nudity like the David? Blood? Talk about sensitive topics?) -Which kind of content is off limits -Which kind of content has to be hidden behind a subscriber group. (And are self assigned subscriber groups ok for this?) -In regarding to the topics themselves, what is the distinction between written and graphic (Is a written narration of sexual acts or very sensitive topics ok?)   That link from Gumroad seems like a good, clear example.

    • +20

      by Alishahr
      on 2021-04-08 13:14

    • +50

      by arty
      on 2021-04-08 13:07
      personally I don't see myself having a need for this anytime soon but if the need ever arises it would be super handy!

    • +300

      by Davina
      on 2021-04-08 13:00

    • +50

      by shyredfox
      on 2021-04-08 12:56

    • +100

      by A Lambent Eye
      on 2021-04-08 12:56

    • +300

      by Soulwing
      on 2021-04-08 12:52
      A clear clarification would be highly desirable and honestly quite useful for many content creators here uncertain about what is ok to write about and what not + how to correctly mark it.

    • +200

      by Toblin
      on 2021-04-08 12:42
      *has never ever asked for permission* But yes, would be helpful.

    • +300

      by SolarCat02
      on 2021-04-08 12:36
      I have been asked about this too (and sent them to TJ) so yes, this would be a good thing to add to clarify for a great many people and a great many reasons.

    • +50

      by Ravenlebirb
      on 2021-04-08 12:22

    • +300

      by Catoblepon
      on 2021-04-08 12:13

    • +100

      by A Sneaky Mlem
      on 2021-04-08 12:05

    • +300

      by HellsPurestDevil
      on 2021-04-08 12:03

    • +200

      by A Roaring Dragon
      on 2021-04-08 11:22

    • +300

      by DaniAdventures
      on 2021-04-08 11:21

    • +20

      by Adcheryl
      on 2021-04-08 10:55

    • +300

      by Oneriwien
      on 2021-04-08 10:51
      I need to know because of reasons.

    • +100

      by Serukis
      on 2021-04-08 10:45

    • +10

      by Sodose
      on 2021-04-08 10:43

    • +200

      by JohanWq
      on 2021-04-08 10:29

    • +100

      by Dhelian
      on 2021-04-08 10:00

    • +50

      by Shadow Malachi
      on 2021-04-08 09:59
      I agree with will give clarity to what is acceptable and what is not specially those who are creating dark fantasy worlds

    • +50

      by undeadcorvid
      on 2021-04-08 09:46

    • +50

      by GorkamWorka
      on 2021-04-08 09:38

    • +10

      by thechangeling
      on 2021-04-08 09:37
      I don't have much in coins to offer, but I'd really enjoy this- I use a lot of old paintings to illustrate my world, with a lot of artistic nudity featured. Knowing just how much is ok to show without having to mark the article as nsfw would be great.

    • +10

      by AzounIV
      on 2021-04-08 09:36
      Yes, I believe it would help to improve clarity for creators and readers, alike.

    • +300

      by KrostaTina
      on 2021-04-08 09:27

    • +300

      by Ademal
      on 2021-04-08 09:26
      Ethnis gets vivid with sex, drugs, and violence. I'd like this as well.

    • +200

      by Pingu_sAge
      on 2021-04-08 09:25

    • +300

      by tjtrewin
      on 2021-04-08 09:19
    Hello! <3 I hope you are having a nice day!

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