i just wrote a long email to cohost about the recent community discussion on lolisho. im crossposting it here.
hey!
i really appreciate you being open-minded and honest in your recent discussion post. i do think you should allow non-realistic depictions of underage sexuality, and here are some reasons:
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its not actually harmful. no real children are involved in the production of such images, and no one who doesnt want to see it has to
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with your robust tagging system, which is only getting better with time, it would be extremely easy for people to filter out this kind of content
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there are very limited options for posting it elsewhere. a lot of people who draw lolisho have the option of hoping not to get reported on twitter or posting to pixiv with censorship.
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because other options are limited, people who do want to post or see it would be loudly and eagerly supportive of your site if you were to let it be. i would certainly pay for premium membership, and i know a number of my friends would as well
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there are a number of people who are so against lolisho that they will weigh in on conversations that they have no real stake in. be careful when youre reviewing community opinions to only listen to people who actually want to use your site
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moderating the ages of cartoon characters is a nightmare. saying "no photos or photorealism" is a simple enough rule, but if you ban lolisho too.. how would you rule cases where people with a cutesy artstyle are drawing adults? where people are drawing post-pubescent teens? where the characters are 15 in canon but stated to be aged up in the art? where the characters are petite adults? where the character is an old vampire in a small body? what about shortstack / little people (midget) art?
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i have seen it happen a number of times where if a group gives some ground to censorship, more is demanded of them. for each of the questions above, do you think an anti-lolisho faction of your community would agree with your decisions?
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i feel like you already know this, but there are a lot of reasons someone might be into lolisho. many of the people i know who draw it are queer abuse victims. we're not bad people. we're tired of being lumped in with predators for simple artistic expression.
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despite what some people might say, it is legally and socially feasible to host underage fiction. ao3 is a shining beacon for freedom of expression (although not a particularly social platform). i hope you'll follow their example
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allowing sexuality is one of the biggest things dividing you from tumblr. if you ban some aspects of sexual expression, what differentiates you from them?
regardless of what you decide, thank you for being open-minded and non-judgemental in opening this discussion. we appreciate being treated with fairness and compassion. i know you could stand to get in some hot water if you do take our side, and ill understand if youd prefer to avoid that.
im hoping for a positive answer though. im hoping to have fun with my friends online without worrying about being banned for drawings. im hoping to enjoy your platform for a long time to come. you're doing great so far.
thank you,
knifequeer
