Drew said he is planning on disabling the ability to link images in the forum but he never set a timeline.
He says its because of the new legislation but I suspect he as alterior motives. Namely a strong desire to keep his tender backside from being violated by boyz on the inside named Tiny and Brutus.
We can provide links to images, Drew just doesn't want us to embed any images in our posts. In other words, so long as the image is hosted on somebody else's server, he isn't required to keep 2257 records for it.
The forum no longer supports the [img] [/img] tags. Within the next week or two I'll be updating all forum posts to strip out any images that may have used these tags.
I haven't decided what we're going to do about avatars. Too many people have used graphic images in the past for us to be able to trust people. Thank the asshole that used the gaping asshole for his avatar when we remove all avatars.
Have you considered putting the image policy on the avatar upload page, and making people accept it before uploading? As it is, I think some folks ignore the Forum Etiquette page, so they upload whatever they feel like.
PS - You should make failure to abide by that rule grounds for immediate banning.
Yes, that's a good idea. However I have to keep in mind that there are people out there that constantly try to fuck with us. Some people just have to break the rules here to feel cool. Banning someone is an after-the-fact response to a problem that could land my ass in jail for 5 years. Unlikely but possible. I'm not compfortable with that. If we are going to allow people to upload avatars I will have to devise a system were there is editorial approval on any new images or changes to existing avatars.
One other thought about banning: it's really a pain in the ass to ban someone. It's too easy for someone to keep signing up with throw-away email accounts with different anonymous proxy servers. It's a shame that such a minority has to ruin it for the majority.
Maybe we should just switch to a subscription-based forum? I doubt these people would actually want to pay just to screw with us.
I can't give you a measured answer without thinking about the possible ramifications of changing to a subscription site. Considering that the new 2257 rules say you have to report somebody violating the law, I can see where one would have to be a real dumb-ass to give you a credit card ID then post an illegal pic. However, like I said, I need to think about that some more.
Another couple of ways to lessen your chances of some dickhead posting an avatar pic to cause trouble would be to only let senior members post pics or have a vetting system for avatar pics. If you went with the latter then you might choose to approve new pictures once a week, or at least at some specified interval so you wouldn't be overburdened by it. As you can see, I'm just throwing out ideas as they occur to me.
edited because, oops, I missed your first response, where I see you've already considered editorial review.
only allowing senior members that have reached x number of posts use the img tag isn't a bad idea if it's easy enough to administrate. Then there's the problem of reply with quote.
I could do this but I hesitate to do so. At the moment there's no incentive for someone to run up their post counts. I think creating a mechanism where some members have more rights than others will lead to people padding their post counts. If it's something lofty like 1000 posts that could be a decent deterrent but then again maybe not.
Post counts used in conjunction with account age would solve that part of the problem. That may be too much overhead or effort though. I guess it depends on if you want to allow just avatars or try to keep the forum as close to the same as possible. There's also the posibility that images aren't displayed until approved by a moderator. (This post was created by Oatmeal and approved by Hardware)
If you're worried about even one offending image then there's no way of getting around that. Not with the amount that some of the board memebers drink and post.
This more I think about the legislation the more it sounds unenforceable. -How will it be enforced? -What are the Penalties for first offense, second, third, etc? -How many images need to be posted and for how long before prosecution? -How do you prove the offending images are offending, authentic and not doctored? -Will a board like this be a target? -Can a site operator of a message board be held liable for their visitors actions?
-Would a warning disclaimer be enough upon entering the site?
The "beauty" of the new regulations, from the radical right-wing conservative "Christian" point-of-view, is that they now have the tools to hassle, prosecute and destroy those of us engaged in the legal enjoyment of all things adult-oriented through the use of spurious reporting and record-keeping requirements that do nothing to further their stated purpose of "protecting minors."
Remember, it was the IRS that took down Capone, not the FBI! Pornographers, studios, talent, websites, stroke shops and customers will be accused, taken to trial and, possibly, convicted for not maintaining records and reporting properly about legal products and activities.
Enforcement will, most assuredly, be selective. And, stating the obvious, the government does not have to win their case(s) to destroy their targeted victims!
Just wait for the knock on your door when the government starts taking down website operators, seizing their customer records and backtracking to individual members (i.e. us) under some trumped-up RICO prosecution.
This is entirely possible with the current administration. Do you think an Attorney General who authored the rationale leading to the torture and murder of "enemy combatants" in U.S. custody feels any reluctance to violate Constitutional civil liberties in order to take down a few perverts?
Well, the new 2257 regulations may just be the "legal" fig-leaf the rabid right has been looking for. And, besides, what better way than a sex scandal to distract the media from inconvenient realities like North Korea and Iran going nuculear, the Darfur genocide, rising gas prices, the dismantling of Social Security... yada, yada,yada... and, the Holy Grail, remaking the courts with idealogues who will rule in their favor as they impose their reactionary views of the Constitution on the country and trample over the Bill of Rights and individual civil liberties in the process.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
* corrected to "rationale" from "rational"... ooops
Drew , not sure if you want me to delete all my pictures right now , or if I can wait till the few threads they are in shut in 4 days . I can try to delete everything I've upped to the surver , though I'm at a friends place with very slow connection and it costs per min , so I'll have to do a little at a time .
Little Puck Interview
Posted - May 25 2005 : 4:24PM
