Wyȝe, welcum iwys to þis place

[atrusovaartist]

I always thought Reddit was a place where people could share things they created.A few days ago I posted one of my original paintings. People loved it. We had wonderful conversations about art, emotions, and how everyone saw something different in the same sunset.

About two hours later I was permanently banned from r/MadeMeSmile for “self-promotion.”

I accepted that different communities have different rules.But then something even stranger happened.Soon afterward, a moderator from r/pics started going through my account. Not just the new post—many of my older painting posts disappeared as well. One after another. Then I was permanently banned there too.

Maybe it was the same moderator. Maybe it wasn’t. I honestly don’t know.

What surprised me wasn’t even the ban itself. It was realizing how much power individual moderators have over what millions of people are allowed to see. One decision can erase years of posts from a community and instantly cut off your ability to participate, even if those posts had been happily sitting there for months or years.I’m not saying moderators shouldn’t have rules. Communities need moderation.But it does make you wonder where the line is between protecting a community and allowing a single interpretation of the rules to completely reshape what people can share.

The funny part?

I wasn’t advertising anything in those posts. I wasn’t posting prices or asking anyone to buy anything. I was simply sharing my original paintings because I enjoy discussing art with strangers from around the world.

Anyway…

Here’s the painting that apparently caused all the trouble. 🎨

[lady-of-vitreous-sight]

Little miss strongest under the heavens has been finding that while might makes right. While she alone has the right to act however she wishes and force her justice onto any other. Recently the narrative contrivances have been giving her a funny feeling in her stomach.

[rimonoroni2]

my general opinion on what people should be "allowed" to portray and what topics they should be "allowed" to explore in fiction is that you can make whatever art with whatever themes you want but i'm also allowed to think the way you handled it was tasteless and should've been done differently. my negative opinion on your handling of sensitive topics is the price of admission for publicly showcasing your work. this is not a pro-censorship stance because i am not The Government

[rimonoroni2]

this is getting really popular so i’d like to add the important caveat that your criticism of a work is no more unassailable than the work itself. just as one is entitled to be critical of something someone else is entitled to disagree with that criticism. i add this because some of you pretend to give a fuck about thoughtful analysis and then when someone points out flaws in your argument you declare that all criticisms are valid. this is untrue. the status of a hater is no more sacred than that of a liker. get off your high horse and engage in the thoughtful discussion you pretend to believe in or perish by my blade

[utopians]

duuuuuude you have GOT to come out tonight we're enacting cruelty upon those who have transgressed so badly that we can justify any act against them... and you KNOW we're interpreting our delight as moral righteousness... Yeah it's fucking crazyyyyyyy get an Uber

[asofteredge]

hey everyone, just curious:

what is everyone's criteria for blocking people?

[awakefor48hours]

"You should create for yourself" and "it's okay to feel discouraged when creating your own original projects if no one interacts with them" are two sentences that should be able to co-exist with each other

[awakefor48hours]

On the one hand, you should kill that capitalist in your head that tells you to make art only for the enjoyment of other people. On the other hand, it's totally fine to be disappointed that you spent hours or even days on something that only got 4 notes. You can feel both ways.

[evardstentacles]

fuck everything. whats the media people ASSUME youre into. what are people surprised that you havent watched/played/whatever

[elucubrare]

a long time ago in a discussion of non-toxic masculinity, a podcaster i was listening to said that he felt positively masculine when he (anecdote simplified) noticed that his friend looked hungry and made sure he had a sandwich. and that's lived in my head since because there's, like, a lot to unpack there, right?

[n.b. in the rest of the post read "traditionally designated as" before "masculine" or "feminine"]

feeding the family is certainly a masculine virtue, but only in the sense of providing money or labor that allows food to be made. noticing that people need food and providing specific food items is strongly feminine. so already we're at a place where the thing that makes the speaker feel specifically masculine is something that's most commonly a feminine trait.

and then there's the really obvious thing, which is that this is something that in no way needs to be gendered: this is an act that makes the speaker feel like a good friend. the goal is, of course, to define a positive masculinity against the posited aggressive, violent "true" masculinity of the right; but it highlights the impossibility of defining virtues as specifically masculine or feminine. if something is virtuous (watching out for a friend's well-being), then it is virtuous for everyone. the artificiality of the constructs "masculine" and "feminine" is made crystal clear by the fact that, in attempting to outline a specific masculine virtue, the speaker immediately chooses one that has historically been feminine.

[n1ntendos]

I AM HAUNTED BY A PAST I CANNOT GO BACK TO !!!!!! anyways

[cyndakiller]

I think men should be sluttier and show more crotch and bulge and bush and pubic hair

[floridensis]

made some great friends today

[jennelikejennay]

When I see people say "abolish copyright, it only serves big corporations," I imagine saying, "The whole system of employment only serves big corporations....so abolish wages. People appreciate service workers and will tip them even if they don't have to."

Like. Clearly you have not tried to pay the bills on book sales.

We definitely need to reform the copyright system so they actually protect small creators instead of Disney, but a state of total anarchy has never yet been demonstrated to protect the vulnerable. In the absence of regulation, the strong oppress the weak. Bad regulation only helps them oppress the weak more, but no regulation is not the answer.

How to do that is a complicated question. I have some ideas. But I feel like once the end goal is protecting the individual who does the creative work, it's not that hard to brainstorm better solutions.

[prince-atom]

I saw someone say "as a work for hire creator, you're not using copyright anyway" and I knew then that that person should never be given any power whatsoever.

[lake-erie]

this year’s prom theme is… *opens envelope* Great Lakes Invasive Species And What Boaters Can Do To Stop Them

[football-in-tuxedos]

And the subject of tonight’s ecology panel is *turns on powerpoint* Enchantment Under the Sea

[moonshinemagpie]

marco rubio is a great example of why waiting passively for the next old guy to die is not how americans save their democracy

[qqueenofhades]

I appreciate all us Tumblr oldsters absolutely roasting that "do you have any friends 4x your age" poll, truly.

[spin-the-wheel-polls]

You are an adventurer in a generic fantasy world and you use this weapon!

Do you like it?

YES!!!!!

yes

Eh it's okay

No

NO!!!!!!!

Remaining time: 1 day 13 hours

[cheaphalloweencostume]

the idea that a sex scene in fiction is fundamentally useless/simply for audience titillation UNLESS they’re fucking infodumping exposition while they bone or something is so funny and myopic to me. like, you really genuinely believe for real that there is NOTHING to be gained about your understanding of a story or characters simply from how they approach and engage in sex? really for real?

[cheaphalloweencostume]

i'm not convinced that art only has something to offer us when we personally want to participate in the activities being depicted