New Avatar & Sig Rules

[NintendoPie]

superchunk said:

RolStoppable said:

I haven't read each and every response in this thread, but most of the regular users in here (important emphasis) who support this rule are Americans. Or rather, it's basically just superchunk, although he had gotten along just fine with the previous rules, so it's not like he is really pushing for the enforcement of this new set of rules.

The real mindboggling thing is how it came to all of this though. A user, man-bear-pig, chose inappropriate avatars for pezus due to the outcome of a bet. The same user then makes a thread to complain about the avatars he chose, because apparently his girlfriend thought that he was gay. So the call against the topless avatars has more to do with pictures of men, rather than pics of both sexes. man-bear-pig's thread then gains support from quite a few users who have been speaking out against homosexuality in the past which consequently leads to making this whole thing look like the staff is giving in to homophobes. And that's really the odd thing about it. It's a site change that wasn't driven by the respected members of our community, but rather the troublemakers.

In the end though, the staff has once again shown to be sensible enough to take suggestions into consideration, so ultimately there probably won't be much of a change at all, just a stricter enforcement of the old rules.

Very good post that seems to summarize this event completely.

I'd like to point out as Rol mentioned, that even though I did state while at work I at times have to adjust my screens position to keep some avatars from being viewed,  I am 100% fine with the existing rules. They already covered NSFW content perfectly fine. I do think that there were a few users with almost naked women that clearly were crossing the boundary, yet they were never moderated. I also think there were one or two male avatars that should also be removed as well for the same reasons. Regardless if bare male chest is sociall acceptable or not. Its too easy to be misconstrued as something else and as such is NSFW.

However, similar to the 4-word rule from a few years ago... including the long whine session about it, this is just a reaction to something that was starting to get abused and carried away. In the end it really comes down to how the mods enforce their rule set. The only change I really see that needs to be said would be a thread that states: 

The site is starting to have a NSFW issue in regards to avatars. As such we will be paying more attention to the avatars you pick and requesting some of you to make changes. If you continue to make the same mistakes after warnings, you will be banned. Keep in mind this is a global site that should be viewable by anyone at anytime and as such, be respectful with your choices of content while staying true to your identity. Thank you, the VGC overlords.

Very well said SuperChunk. I'm not sure what I've said (because I'm sure it didn't ever really matter) but both of your views are great. OFE.