So, several weeks ago, a member showed up in my chat box, screaming about how some guy it didn't work out with decided it would be fun to post pictures of her breasts on his profile.
I made one fatal mistake: I listened to her.
While TOS #5 does restrict posting of content that could threaten the safety or rights of another member, TOS #7 says if two members get into a fight, let them duke it out - we don't play referee.
The accusing member turned out to be a button-pushing, ungrateful little snob. Apparently, sticking my neck out for her meant I had to put up with loads of disrespect from her.
So, going forward: I'll put it delicately:
Get it yet?
If you remember none of the above tips, remember this: You might have uploaded your boobs to a private folder, properly marked it NSFW, restricted access to the folder to just you and your boyfriend, but all it takes is one misunderstanding and you've just become the net's newest amateur porn star. "Right-click/Save Image As" is a bitch. And, if you get yourself in that situation, don't even expect a "nice boobs" from me.
The Terms of Service, paragraph 7 again: "You are solely responsible for your interactions with other .com Members. .com, Inc. reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other Members."
While perusing the Fubar.com photo queue, the part of the site where bouncers review the pictures the community reports to us as offensive, I noticed nine pictures reported of fully-clothed, newborn children. All nine were clearly safe-for-work, and they were all reported by one person (an account with no primary photo or salute) on one person. Any bouncer who sees something like this immediately notices red flags: this person is usually trying to get the site involved in his personal agenda against the other person.
When questioned about it, his response was that those children were all abuse victims and the album's owner was the abuser, and he felt that reporting the pictures as NSFW would be the appropriate solution. I advised him that if he had concerns about the welfare of someone's children, a better solution would be to call the proper authorities, not simply report his photos. (The slippery slope followed; he immediately accused Fubar.com of advocating child abuse.)
A member who has a reputation for putting up risque photos of herself was reported over 30 times by one female user. Her issue: the owner of these photos allegedly had a conviction for statuatory rape in her hometown and therefore didn't belong on the site in her opinion.
I advised her of the same thing I told the sockpuppet in Case 1: if you have a problem with someone, take it up with that person, or call the proper authorities. Again, if the owner of the photos is not violating Terms of Service, the bouncers have no reason to get involved. (This, of course, resulted in... you guessed it, another accusation that Fubar supports illegal activity.)
Fubar is not required to get involved in any personal business between you and another member. If you suspect the site is being used for illegal activity, violating TOS yourself will not resolve the problem.
Generally, you're better off following these simple steps:
Because, when you do that, you are representing that the pictures you are reporting are NSFW and need to be moderated. The bouncers take their work seriously, and time spent reviewing pictures that are clearly SFW is wasted, as we could have been helping someone with a more pressing issue. Most importantly, abuse of any of any reporting tools can result in the termination of your own account.
Moreover: bouncers do not have access to any proof that your allegations are valid, and then, marking a picture NSFW isn't going to stop a sex offender from being a sex offender.
If you see a photo on the site that is clearly illegal (something constituting "Sexual Performance by a Child," for example), this is a completely appropriate use of the Report this Photo feature, and you should also notify us right away. Bouncers are trained to look for this and have special procedures in place to address this.
Make my life easier... Follow this, please. This starts Thursday, November 26, 2009 - Thanksgiving day.
Baby J's Blog on the new policy for primary pics
For those who don't want to follow the link, in a nutshell, no more bare chests, bras, panties, or lingerie are allowed to be in your primary.
My take on it is that too many people decided to see how close to crossing the line they could get, and admin got tired of hearing complaints that someone is marking their primary photos.
This will, no doubt, lead to the usual grumbling about free speech and how one person's shots are more classy than others and how people should have the right to show skin on an "adult" site, but bear in mind the following:
You can now stop coming to me because your super-sheer panties got flagged. I'm probably sick of your whining, anyway.
Related: "But Other Chicks Have Worse!", "Flagging Photos - The Life Cycle"
Problem: Unable to comment on MuMMs
Date: 8/6/09, 04:00 fu-DT
Status: Resolved 8/6/09
It appears someone broke MuMM comments. Members are reporting an error message akin to "Error: sorry, failed to post your comment" when they attempt to post a comment to an existing MuMM. These members seem to be able to comment on everything else without issue, however.
Resolution: fixed mumm comments... database filled up. woops.[babyjesus[
Many, many moons ago (last November), I wrote a blog trying to explain what Fubar considers NSFW. While the guide had a lot of information in it, it was in no means the complete and comprehensive guide, but still targeted key points I use when determining what to place the big bad NSFW stamp on. Since this guide came out, I've gotten many requests to review photos that had been marked by a bouncer at one point or another. Sadly, it seems that people still make up their own rules when it comes to what they think they can display in public.
I eventually followed up with a blog called Flagging Photos: the Life Cycle to explain what happens when photos are reported. I attempted to answer an often-asked question: "Why flag mine when other people have worse?" It seems the answer I put down wasn't good enough (or, more realistically, wasn't the answer they wanted to hear).
The thought came across to me today that I'm going to put together a blog, chronicling everyone who asks me to unmark a picture and claim "other people have worse than mine" as a reason. The names in this article have been removed to protect the identities of those involved. Originally, I was going to link to their profiles, but... Why give them points?
Date/Time: 5:36 AM 7/10/2009
The first on this list had an animated picture of a set of breasts being squeezed together. There was no face in the shot (and, even if there was, the picture would STILL be NSFW for being a pair of groped breasts). She asked me to unmark it.
Me: Can you tell me exactly what's SFW about this picture?
Her: its dosnt show nipple and shes wearing a shirt
Me: She's actively groping them, and they're the only things in the shot.
Her: girls have more revealing picstures then this of themself on here as default i dont seem the harm in this one
Me: People always resort to "other people have worse..." You did, however, ask me to review THIS image. It's still NSFW. No bouncer in his/her right mind would let that one slide.
Her: wow thanks
Me: I'm sorry, but I won't unmark this. It's a valid flag.
Her: mmmhm
Date/Time: 3:28 PM 7/13/2009
A back-and-forth PM session took place involving a photo where the subject was wearing lingerie.
Lingerie is normally safe-for-work, unless it's too revealing. In her case, the panties were see-through.
Her (2009-07-13 13:28:48 PDT): this pic got marked and it was fine before, dont show anything and i am not covering anything. {URL snipped}
Me (2009-07-13 13:38:59 PDT): The bottoms appear see-through. Even if they aren't, would you consider this a picture safe for someone at work to view?
Her (2009-07-13 14:07:31): yes i would consider it fine at work, if you cant see anything sexual then why not, that would be like having a see thru shirt on the bottom half but the boobs part is covered and all you could see is belly then it is the same thing since it is see thru but cant see any private parts.
To me, logic dictates that showing a belly button is safer for work than showing vulva. At least, I've never seen anyone get kicked out of a bar for showing her belly button.
Me (2009-07-13 21:04:02): I think you need to review what's considered NSFW with regards to how this site works. If you're looking for a place to put up pictures of yourself in public in various stages of undress without anyone having any objection to it and without risking violating TOS, you may want to consider another website. There are plenty out there that allow you to post that sort of thing without requesting you filter your own content. Here, you have to at least respect those who don't need to see that out in public.
Her (2009-07-13 21:16:27): ok well you cant see anything in that pic at all, if you go to top people on here how many have their titts hanging out and barely hanging in the shirt? but those are ALL OK RIGHT? just seems like they are all friends with the bouncers so they are allowed to get away with whatever they want. i understand if something in my pics were showing something bad but they arent. as i said before if you cant see the GOODS then why is it NSFW? i read your blog thing and i am not showing anything bad, not grabbing anything, not showing just my ass or whatever, and that was what you posted, i didnt make it up. just seems this site is very biased and lets those top people get away with everything. and i can clearly go thru there and see alot of pics with huge titts hanging out of their clothes but you guys all let that go and then come after me when i am not showing anything
The TL;DR version: "Other chicks have worse. Why flag mine?"
I responded with a four-paragraph-long diatribe. In short, I told her that "other chicks have worse" is a stupid response, tastefully-done cleavage is actually safe-for-work, the site's community-moderated, and for the love of Sharon Stone, cover your coochie. The little exhibitionist didn't reply, but her status message is currently showing her distaste for us bouncers.
More to come. Bookmark this blog.
Original author date: 7/10/2009. While every attempt has been made to preserve the conversations above, minor edits may have been made to protect the identity of those highlighted.
The current Fubar name color scheme was recently updated. It is now as follows:
The status icons are also listed here, for your convenience.
Originally posted 8-16-2008.
Edit (1/23/09): Added "Good" and "Evil" status icons; corrected criteria of what makes a user "red"; removed "aqua" since levels 55-57 are no longer offered. (6/21/09): Added Cherry Bomb, Pimp Hand, and Pimp Shield icons, and cleaned up punctuation for continuity.
Let's talk about... Screen captures. The only external software you absolutely need to accomplish this task is an image editing program to save your output.
That's all there is to it! Now, was that hard?