Censoring the Forum Gallery??

I just got an email from some administrator of the gallery..stating that one of my images had been deleted. This particular image had been in the gallery since the inception of the "ourppa.com community.. The "possible" reasons for deletion given were, "partial or incomplete upload", "broken image" or " image not in keeping with PPA standards"... This image was hardly offensive, and was viewing fine since it was uploaded.. If PPA is going to become censors, at least have the courage to state specifically why an image that has been on the site for a long time is removed, and not just give 3 possible reasons... I surely hope this isn't some grand plan of PPA .. to play censors..

HR

Well, wouldn't contacting an admin to find out have been more productive than a post? Find out the reason, and then gripe if need be.

Hi Herman;

Besides the suggestion that Mark made, I have another. Look to see who the moderators of the Forum section are. Send them a PM telling them what they think happened and ask if you can send the image to see if they can tell you why it was deleted.

Considering that it seems to take 3 weeks, for an image to be approved, it could take that long to get an answer that way. So I think my idea may be quicker.

It is surprising that an image had been approved and appeared in the gallery all of this time only to now be pulled. I agree that a definitive reason should have been given. If it was fine, when approved, I can't see that standards changed.

We actually did two things with the Galleries today.

We removed images that had fully exposed breasts or genitalia. The forum committee decided at their fall 2006 meeting to not allow posting of these types of images on the gallery. More discreet nudes and boudoir type shots are still allowed. We went through today and removed some of the older ones that had been approved prior to the meeting.

We also ran a gallery utility that checks for broken links, corrupted or missing images or thumbnails, and other bad stuff in the data base and removes them.
The forum sends out an automated message when the images are removed. That is why the text is so generic.

Also, as an fyi, i am going to move this to the forum FAQ section for future reference.

Greg,

Is there a place that lists the new decisions made? I know this isn't the only one and it would be helpful to us to know what they were. Yes, it may bring up dialog on some of the issues that have already been decided but I believe it would still be a healthy way to handle changes.

It's fine that this action was taken, but it was a mistake to take it without announcing the change ahead of time. All it takes is a simple post letting people know what the new rules are, and then do the action. Even if it is announced concurrently with the action, that's still preferable to doing it being the scenes, unannounced. It adds an air of legitimacy, rather than a surreptitious feel to things. Transparency matters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by D. Craig Flory

Hi Herman;
It is surprising that an image had been approved and appeared in the gallery all of this time only to now be pulled. I agree that a definitive reason should have been given. If it was fine, when approved, I can't see that standards changed.

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Craig,

It appears as though the standards have changed and makes one wonder what direction this is going.. I got emails from 2 members suggesting I email my concern privately instead of doing a public post, so as to avoid "flame wars"?? Quite the contrary, I felt this to be an issue everyone should be aware of..

Prior to this forum, it was very difficult for members to really voice their opinion(s).. so I was elated when this forum was born.. The benefit(s) of this forum are many.... but the most important is that it is a platform for any and all members to express opinions, share educational information so that we may all grow from reading the posts... The successful threads are those where the posters remain subjective and factual while the "flame wars" ignite when emotions and egos flare up.. When a thread gets to this point, it becomes boring to me, and usually burns itself out eventually.. Despite all this, the forum should be open to all members and those members should decide what they'd like to read and not read..

Which brings me to the original, but related issue... censoring the photo gallery.. We are a professional organization that function in a creative environment... Most of us are quite proud of the images we submit to this gallery for all members to see and/or comment on if desired. This is not a print competition where specific criteria are used to decide if a print is worthy of the PPA standards necessary to hang a print... it is simply an easy way to share images and learn from images submitted by others.. So to suddenly be announced that henceforth, all images showing breasts and/or genitalia will no longer be allowed is screaming censorship!! This is a disappointing development for those of us who may enjoy creating images other than puppies, babies and sunsets.. and I can't help but wonder where this is leading..

It was mentioned that this may have been done, in part because it's a public forum that can be viewed by anyone. If this is the case there can be disclaimers or at least have some or all of the gallery moved to the members only section..

I hope others share my concern and I'd love to see your opinions here so that all members can try to understand this logic.

HR

I belong to several photography forums such as this and the issue of nudity eventually comes up. It is just my opinion, but the best method I've experienced--and yes, it takes more involvement from management--is the private thread. This is one that members must request entry to, fully knowing there may be nudity offensive to some, and/or violence (photojournalism does experience this) that the general public may not wish to view unaware.

Is this an option for us?

Again, I know the management of such a forum is not easy, but it is OURppa, are there ways in place for us to help define how the list is managed? Is our only input to be our vote of President of PPA?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Herman Robert

It was mentioned that this may have been done, in part because it's a public forum that can be viewed by anyone. If this is the case there can be disclaimers or at least have some or all of the gallery moved to the members only section..

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Herman,

I think that you have an interesting point about having a section of the gallery for members only. I have passed this idea along to Greg.

Actually, 18 USC 2257 and 18 USC 2256 provide a reason to stay far, far away from it at all.