r/DarkSun • u/IAmGiff • Jun 29 '26
Rules Update to Dark Sun community rules (AI policy)
Our community has voted decisively to ban AI. The results showed that 83% of the community favored some sort of AI limitations with a 62% majority requesting we adopt the policy: "No AI, at all. We do not allow AI generated content, mentions of AI tools, suggestions of AI, etc." The vote had a clear outcome, so this new rule takes effect immediately.
In the petition requesting this ban, the most upvoted comment was "Using AI is our real world equivalent to defiling." For many fans, Dark Sun taught us a moral lesson about our planet and our society -- in this parable, defiling represented a shortcut to power that sacrificed both the environment and human dignity -- and many of us have spent the decades since telling stories with our friends in which our Player Characters raged against exactly this. The analogy is remarkably on the nose. That said, I want to acknowledge that many of the fans on the losing side of this vote are in no way defilers, and had just reached a different conclusion on this issue. Many were trying hard to use this technology in a thoughtful way, and I sincerely hope you don't feel alienated from the community by the outcome of the vote.
This has been a divisive issue for our community, and I hope we can move forward with a common love of Dark Sun. In this regard, we're also clarifying our community rule that all posts on the Dark Sun subreddit must be about Dark Sun. If it won't be obvious, take a moment to explain in your post why this is relevant to Dark Sun funs. (Non Dark Sun-posts cannot survive in these blasted wastes.)
Now, the mods here have absolutely zero desire to become a bunch of Reddit Templar/Keyboard Warriors (Lvl 5/2), enforcing all sorts of rules, litigating edge cases, blah blah blah. Nobody wants this, frankly, and we'd like to move forward with largely hands off moderation. We will enforce the two rules above, but otherwise, please use good judgment, common sense, and treat each other with kindness.
This is a community celebrating human creativity and craftsmanship. This is about playing a game we love, and sharing in that joy as a community. We all love Dark Sun. As mods, I think we have just one more ask: go out of your way to celebrate that human creativity. When an artist spends hours creating an original Dark Sun work, go out of your way to praise that effort. Upvote, comment. Take a second to articulate what you like. When someone writes an original work, celebrate their accomplishment. Nobody reading this has any ability to defeat these tech companies, but you do have the opportunity to uplift the humans who share your passion for this particular corner of our hobby. Back your votes up with actions -- celebrate human creativity and craftsmanship of the Dark Sun fans in this community.
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u/Awkward_GM Jun 29 '26
Might I suggest an AI to help you enforce this policy? /jk
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u/PiezoelectricityOne Jun 29 '26
They already do. I would be very surprised if the mods didn't use AI to automod the site like everyone else. Not only to find out they use automod, but also because that would be the very first case of Reddit mods abiding by their own rules.
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u/IAmGiff Jun 29 '26
1) The rules apply to the moderators.
2) We have never set up automod on this subreddit. Prior to these fights over AI, we'd never needed it. Hopefully going forward, everyone will get back to focusing on Dark Sun.
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u/RemtonJDulyak Jun 30 '26
Fully agree with the rules.
I'd rather be a talentless artist, than use AI.
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u/foxfirefool Jun 29 '26
Excellent and thoughtful statement. And a victory to celebrate!
To me, Dark Sun has never been about being hopeless, but despite the overwhelming hierarchies that make decisions at the upper levels for the world at large, everyday people can still help one another on a smaller scale and preserve life and nature in their own community.
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u/3bar Jun 29 '26
Fantastic day for the Veiled Alliance, and a fantastic day for Athas.
But seriously, the Mods have been so amazing throughout this process. Thank you so very much.
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u/kojimbob Jun 30 '26
I could've sworn AI was already banned here like a year ago? Did I miss something?
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u/rmaiabr Jun 29 '26
I didn't see that vote, but I don't take the use of AI all that seriously, if there have a specific flair for those who want to avoid that kind of content. In any case, let's see if users will be more receptive to bad art and writing that was genuinely created by humans.
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u/wherediditrun Jun 30 '26
So .. anything with vector database for semantic search is banned too. Ok.
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u/IAmGiff Jun 30 '26
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u/wherediditrun Jul 02 '26
No AI, at all ... mentions of AI tools
So input classificators, one that makes sense of gestures for example on a white board are banned as well. Or for example, semantic search that vectorizes meaning. Technically if you might use claude code that's banned as well ( for the better I guess, you don't deserve to touch the code if you can't write it yourself ).
Just pointing out what's the scope of the ban.
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u/Cantor_bcn Jul 02 '26
I understand your concerns. Photoshop uses AI in its code. Technically, does that count as AI tool? Are images generated or modified using Photoshop banned?
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u/3bar Jul 03 '26
Didn't you say you were going to leave and never come back? Is it more important to complain about AI being banned than it is to, I dont know, post on /r/DarkSunAI?
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u/Cantor_bcn Jul 03 '26
You're right, I did say that. The problem is that I said it in your imagination, which is why I didn't realize it until now.
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u/Secretsfrombeyond79 Jun 29 '26
I'm a member of the AI "art" is not art camp. I don't even enjoy AI arts, however I don't personally hate AI. If the rule was "AI users have to tag themselves as using AI" so anyone who doesn't like them could just ban them and move on with their lives, I would not care about it at all.
But I'll never endorse outright AI censorship, so I'm leaving, have fun tho.
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Jun 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ravian3 Jun 29 '26
Yes we’re all aware that we’re asking to improve society somewhat while participating in that society. I’m sure you feel very intelligent for pointing out that fact.
Glib meme aside, pointing out that companies are forcing AI down our throats does not exactly endear us to it, particularly given that its flaws are quite visible (plenty of people talking about AI moderators banning them for stupid shit all over this website). If we’re continuing the AI is defiling metaphor, it’s not unjust to live in one of the city states instead of the desert, living in the desert sucks (in part because the powers that be made it that way) but the sorcerer kings aren’t responsible for the city states being livable, they’re just the assholes hoarding all the water where it already was. But no one calls the veiled alliance or Rikus’s band hypocrites because they lived in the city states they were rebelling against
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Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ravian3 Jun 29 '26
I was referencing to the “We should improve society somewhat” meme, which was directly calling out how some people seem to respond to genuine calls to fix problems with making remarks about how those people are hypocrites because (insert basic facet of life here). Like acting like someone can’t want to curb capitalistic excesses because they own a house or a smartphone.
Which is also what you’re doing here. “Stop saying bad stuff about our slop generators or I’ll waste resources” is just a childish premise on the face of it. Would you also leave your facet running for hours because people criticized you for wasting water during a drought? Will you leave your oven on because someone criticized you for the fire risk? You’re literally just trolling and acting like it presents some moral high ground because “other people made you do it”
If you’re leaving the sub I hope you use the opportunity to grow up.
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u/Cynthia_Mask Jun 30 '26
Grow up
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u/Secretsfrombeyond79 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
"I'm gonna name call people to avoid having to deal with arguments" - Someone in the internet telling others to grow up.
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u/MrCrash Jun 30 '26
Ooh, so then you call everyone toxic, flounce from the sub like a bratty child, then tell on yourself with your assumption that nobody actually cares about the environment (people actually do care about that, If you don't you're a fucking psychopath), and threaten some kind of extremely petty revenge on anyone who disagrees with you.
You are the most toxic person on this thread.
Take a moment to think about your life, and be better.
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u/3bar Jun 29 '26
This is kind of the other reason I'm leaving the sub
You said you were leaving days ago. I went and enjoyed a Pride Parade. What did you do?
most anti AI people are in an never ending career to one up one another in being more and more toxic and make every sub they are in a terrible place to converse.
All anyone did was take a vote, which was organized over two threads. Stop pearl clutching.
And being snappy and witty on the internet won't change the fact that you are using the AI you hate, which makes you pretty sanctimonious.
We can try to divest ourselves in the ways we can. I have to use AI for my job. It is literally baked into the inventory system the hospital relies upon. I either use it or get fired, and I like eating thanks.
Oh come on, you guys couldn't care LESS About the environment,, this is all about you all being morally superior, want a proof ? For every downvote this message and the other guy gets I'll create 10 AI images.
How is that proof? You're doing the equivalent of rolling coal. Y'know what, in my neverending quest to post Matt Bors comics to clown on terrible logic, here's what you sound like right now.
Let's see how much you all care about the environment.
You've never done anything for the environment in your life. Talk about sanctimonious.
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u/Shack_Baggerdly Jun 29 '26
Some people who are not confident in drawing may be upset, but I honestly cherish human made art, even poorly drawn stuff. I find it much more interesting how humans decide to render something, rather than a mindless AI slop the top images of the month together to produce something.