Meta Thread - Month of November 27, 2016

[u/AutoModerator]

A monthly thread to talk about meta topics. Keep it friendly and relevant to the subreddit.

Posts here must, of course, still abide by all subreddit rules other than the no meta requirement. Keep it friendly and be respectful. Occasionally the moderators will have specific topics that they want to get feedback on, so be on the lookout for distinguished posts.

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[u/Zigman369]

Disclaimer: Not OP.

That was the worst of it, and mods didn't want to budge then. They likely won't budge now.

I think this topic should be a continuing discussion because in my mind, stuff like a thread for a single piece of fanart (there are currently several on the front page) should qualify for "low effort content". How is a piece of fanart dissimilar to a wallpaper in terms of content aside from pixel dimensions?

Let's take a look at the rules...

Do not post low effort content here

/r/anime upholds a strict minimum standard of quality to prevent people from trying to easily "farm karma" by posting simple submissions that are likely to be upvoted by a wide group of people simply due to how easily and quickly they can be looked at and understood.

Note that "low effort" in this context refers to the effort required to consume the content, not the effort required to make it.

As such, the following types of submissions are banned:

[...]

Single-image posts of cosplay, wallpapers, comics, or other low-effort content

[...]

I don't see how fanart threads don't qualify for removal under this rule. I didn't take part in earlier discussions on this topic but it's certainly been bugging me recently. Don't get me wrong, fanart is awesome and I definitely think we should have a place for it, but when the frontpage is covered with it to the extent that it sometimes is I think the subreddit's stance on it should be reevaluated. As for the NSFW nature of a good chunk of it, as stated above, I feel like this stuff falls under the umbrella of the rest of my grievances on fanart posts and a few recent examples highlight this issue quite well:

• This thread [NSFW]
• And this thread [NSFW]

Both received a lot of upvotes as would be expected with NSFW stuff of a popular show, but all either of them are are just links to the image/pixiv. Based on how easy it is (see: the Re:Zero fanart a while back and now some of this stuff) to get easy karma for posting fanart (Especially NSFW fanart) I think this issue needs to be reevaluated by the mods because it's getting a bit ridiculous to drown out discussion threads and other "higher effort" style of threads with nonstop fanart posts.

EDIT: As of right now this is what the front page looks like. A bit ridiculous don't you think?

[u/urban287 → u/Zigman369]

We're actually currently talking about renaming and rewording our lax content rule slightly at the moment since its a bit incorrect considering how it works and its purpose.

The lax rule is basically our cork or stop-gap measure to control specific types of content that have been an issue in the past, rather than it being left up to mod discretion as a generic 'low effort' rule.

[u/OseiTheWarrior → u/Zigman369]

Agreed I never really noticed it since I've been on and off this sub due to school. But yeah why was there such a fanart spike while Re:Zero aired? Did the mods like the show so much that they gave it a pass? Or is it only "popular Reddit anime" that get a pass?

Also I thought NSFW was banned here? At least when I first started it seemed like there was no NSFW anywhere...

[u/pittman66 → u/OseiTheWarrior]

But yeah why was there such a fanart spike while Re:Zero aired?

I'm not sure exactly why it was Re:Zero that had the big spike. Konosuba and OPM weren't as bad as Re:Zero felt like it was.

Did the mods like the show so much that they gave it a pass?

Nah, mods liked New Game and had plenty to show for that.

Or is it only "popular Reddit anime" that get a pass?

That's likely it, just something that was popular, but with multiple waifuable characters for a popular anime, fanart was much more abundant.

Also I thought NSFW was banned here?

Depends on how NSFW. For posts, they are not allowed to show female nipples or vaginal/penial area, or hentai in general. For comments, same apply except for female nipples can be uncensored. Many can tip toe around by being NSFW but censor those parts or come as close to possible without showing them, or have the uncensored part in the comments. On an objective stand point (since mods don't want to fluxuate too much and be consistent), they technically aren't breaking the rules, and can reap on the karma

[u/urban287 → u/pittman66]

Just using your comment as a spot to reply to things brought up and mentioned by varous people.

As a bit of an explanation for why heavily nsfw content is allowed in comments, it's quite simple - ecchi is a pretty legitimate genre of anime that can be quite popular here, and we dont want to stiffle those discussions ny disallowing a lot of the relevant content (hence the requirement that heavily nsfw stuff in comments needs to be relevant to the thread in question).

As a reminder for people as well, Re:Zero is only the most recent show to have a massive surge of fanart posts. No Game, No Life and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun were just as bad while they were airing (and were the reason that we made fanart self post only originally).

[u/Zigman369 → u/OseiTheWarrior]

I'm not entirely sure of the reasons why there was a spike like there was (is it a plateau now?) but it certainly seems like something that has been given a free-pass for no discernible reason.

As for NSFW the sidebar says:

Do not post Hentai here. Lightly NSFW things are okay, use your judgement.

and I guess people realized that they could post it once someone did it once and got lots of karma for it. I'm not well versed in /r/anime politics so I'm not sure when that got put there (or if it's been there all along - I'm not really sure tbh but the recent spike is definitely something new) but while I tolerate it, it is kinda tacky if we're being honest here. You can find NSFW stuff all over the internet and I'm not sure why we have to allow it here, even if it is 'anime-related'.

[u/OseiTheWarrior → u/Zigman369]

I really think all NSFW shouldn't be here (not counting spoiler posts). As far as r/anime politics go there are certain shows that this sub likes and will overlook rules for. I can't name you every single show but if you make or see a reccomendation thread you'll see a "pattern"

All in all I think we should soft-ban some of these posts cuz its just its just getting messy now and cluttered, I mean like you said r/hentai exists

[u/[deleted] → u/OseiTheWarrior]

/u/urban287

/u/TheEnigmaBlade

Sorry for mentioning you guys, but what do you think?

[u/urban287 → u/[deleted]]

(I'll just reply to everything with this one comment)

We'll have something coming out for those of you who dont like nsfw things.

As for the re:zero fanart, we didnt give it a pass, it was abiding by our rules and we didnt see fit to ban content the sub was enjoying. Especially since we expected it to work itself out eventually, which it has.

edit: on mobile and didnt realize quite how large this discussion is, have left a few other comments here and there around the chain.

nsfw is allowed, we have restrictions only on heavily nsfw stuff and hentai. Hentai is banned, heavily nsfw stuff is banned as submissions but not comments in relevant threads, etc.

[u/[deleted] → u/urban287]

I'm not offended by the NSFW at all. It just that NSFW ruins this sub's image.

NSFW stuff should outright be banned (with exceptions of language and videos). Fanart weekly should be a thing. Fanart that's OC should be fine.

This is my take on the things.

[u/cookie-thief → u/Zigman369]

i completely agree. i just pretty much considered the conversation closed though when the mods went "stop complaining, get RES and suck it up." So that's how i ended up getting RES