About posting pictures to akaQA.

I started my day here today with many messages sent to me concerning some pictures that were posted to the forum early this morning (morning meaning my time, eastern standard time). A number of members took offense to these pictures. akaQA does follow the guidelines of freedom of speech and freedom of expression and while akaQA is pretty relaxed on the content that is allowed here, there has to be a line as to what content can be considered acceptable. akaQA is a website that can be seen all over the world. Not all cultures or personal tastes are going to be as accommodating or as accepting of what others may feel is appropriate. This is why akaQA has moderators and administrators. These people will make the decision when there is a difference of opinion between the members concerning what is considered appropriate content for this forum. 

These are the ground rules for posting photos to the forum.

1. No posting pictures of people in the nude. No posting pornographic or sexually explicit/suggestive pictures. Art is not typically considered porn but some artwork is too sexually explicit/suggestive and can be demoralizing to either sex. When a questionable art photo or picture is posted, it will be up to the discretion of the moderators or admin as to whether the picture stays or is removed. 

2. No posting photos or artwork of nude children. To be specific, this means frontal nudity that shows genitalia. Any such picture or photo as innocent as it may be in the mind of the person posting it, will be viewed by the moderators as child pornography even if it is innocent of anything sexual. We will view it this way based on the fact that akaQA is an open forum and a person does not need to be registered to view what is posted here. It is an agreement between the moderators that we have to think there may be pedophiles lurking and reading. We have agreed that we would rather not have material posted here that feeds into their perversions. This is in no way saying that we think the person who posts such a photo is a pedophile, we are just doing our best to protect all children from the eyes and warped minds of perverts. 

3. Animal sex pictures as in animals engaging in sexual activities, or poses that could be viewed as sexual or doing acts that others may feel are repulsive or disgusting (ie: defecating, urinating, drinking urine or eating bodily waste) will not be allowed here. 

We are a mixed forum of many different sensitivities and in order to appease all sensitivities and make all member's time here as enjoyable as possible, we do have to make decisions concerning the content posted and the level of offensiveness of the posted material. When a decision is made by a moderator or admin, the decision is final and not up for debate on the forum. If you truly feel the decision was wrong, then you can click the "contact" link at the bottom of any page on akaQA and take your grievance to the administrators. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

* Amended 9/18/2012. 

The above rules include videos, music videos, posted text concerning sex, sexual activities with another person, sexual activities when you're alone, pornographic questions and discussions, comments eluding to sexual acts, paid sexual encounters, sexual body parts, any kind of human sex and even sex between animals. akaQA is now following a 0 tolerance policy concerning this subject. This includes speaking of sex in a cloaked, deceptive or camouflaged manner to try and fit it under the radar.  If we read the intent of your answer to be of a sexual nature, your answer will be removed. Sex/sexual jokes are no longer allowed. Cartoons/pictures concerning sex between real or inanimate objects are not allowed. Photos of things in nature or other objects that look like a human genitalia are not allowed. Questions about sex or genitalia including the breasts that are of a medical nature and worded properly, will be answered in a professional manner. All non professional answers will be removed. Once a correct and professional answer is given, the question will be locked to new answers. It is at the sole discretion of the moderators or the administrators as to what questions concerning this subject will be removed. 

Tying into this, it should be noted that excessive profanity is not allowed. Any question or answer that include words that are deemed profane will be removed by the moderators or administrators.  We will no longer simply edit the answer to remove the profane wording, we will now remove the entire answer. What gets deemed profane is at the sole discretion of the moderator or administrator viewing the posted text. Continuous cussing and swearing on the forum, meaning utilizing such words in many of your answers will earn you one warning and 5 days suspension if you continue after the warning. If you are caught doing it again after having a 5 day suspension, your next suspension will be a permanent one. This applies to all of the above posted rules.  For those of you who feel we are "all adults here" and should be able to post about sex or use profanity or post swear words, think again. There are children on this forum and the admin would rather have such comments and pictures removed than to take a chance that a child will see them. We also have advertisers who would rather not have their product associated with a forum that allows for open posting of inappropriate content, especially on a forum that is viewed by people from all over the world. 

The moderators and many members of akaQA work hard to keep this forum child friendly and family orientated. There are those people however who persist in crossing the line and feel it is their right to post anything they want to because they are here to entertain themselves and they enjoy posting what they know others find offensive. For those people; you've already met your quota on warnings. 0 tolerance means just that. This kind of "fun" is no longer tolerated on akaQA.