Is it idealisitic to believe that a private citizen should be able to decide what goes on his website?

Perhaps we should socialize the entire internet.

But then neither you nor $spyed would be happy.

Yeah...had that happen to me on another art site. It seems that they are holding a double standard and being held to it.

Holy crap - with the amount of time that image has been up - you would think it reasonable to have figured out previous to this if there was some violation in it.

I love how they are so careful to protect everyone's rights to post their cell phone cam genital snapshots with this very same "freedom of speech"/non-censorship argument. Irony, anyone?

I really think you should (eventually, after taking out the aggression elsewhere) write a message to the policy team/mods though - I hear they can at least sometimes be pretty reasonable about reinstating things if you can present a good case about why the image is not against a stated site policy. I don't know any of the policy team people extremely well, but I've had good discussions with a couple of them even about issues we were not in agreement about. It's worth a try.

Honestly though - what are they calling this one on, is what I don't get. If this image is against the "real images of bodily harm" policy, than so is any other body piercing image. And if that's a call they are going to make, then a whooooole lot of other images should come down. And it should be stated in site policy, not singling out work.

The only other POSSIBLE issue I could see anyone trying to raise with this image, is to attempt to call it anti-American. But even if it is, that's still not against dA policy either. This image is certainly not hate speech - it's a well-presented editorial statement. That's why the mature/"ideologically sensitive" tag is there - because this kind of content is allowed, yes, even though it might offend someone.

No erections though. Kinda makes me wanna call Joseph and shoot a nice explicit erection series to post.

Yeah yeah, not a good solution. But I'm feeling for you on the frustrations. Kind of like the cops that go around ticketing people for not wearing seat belts, instead of taking time to fight real crime.

I find it both offensive and ridiculous that the moderators target your photography, beautifully executed and powerful art that it is, while allowing so many people to keep their badly executed camera-phone shots of cocks and hairy nutsacks up.

I tend to err on the side of calm, rational argument, but there are times when tearing someone a new asshole is far, far too appealing. This is one of them.

Preview:
A valid point. It's easy to buy the illusion of idealistic artistic freedom in what is essentially a personally owned, COMMERCIAL website ultimately dedicated to making money. Thanks for bringing that perspective back.

Believe me, I would be the LAST person to try and force my views on another private citizen. That being said, a certain level of "moderation" is perfectly acceptable. The point is not debate the presence of censorship, it's that there is no debate at all. When one private individual can decide what's right for everyone else to see, hear, or speak, WITHOUT DEBATE, it's a dangerous thing. What happens on the day when someone decides that your personal art is pornographic, and there is nobody left on your side to debate it?

Art SHOULD be loved, hated, and everything in between. It should be something that stimulates debate. Or maybe I'm just being idealistic again.

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Pain is fleeting. A picture lasts forever.

Yeah, I'm pissed off right now. Probably not the best time to write an well (four letter) worded letter to the mods. Probably shoulda done it before now, actually. I'll cool off. Put something together that isn't quite so angry.

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Pain is fleeting. A picture lasts forever.

In the whole debate thing I'd have to side with allowing people to post badly executed camera-phone shots of cocks and hairy nutsacks. NOT that I WANT to see that, mind you, but that it shouldn't be censored. Nobody is making anyone else look at these pictures.

If a little fist shaking stimulates some calm, rational arguments, then good.

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Pain is fleeting. A picture lasts forever.

Adam, I know whatever you write will be eloquent, even if it's simply the most gut-punching chain of four-letter words the English language and its semantic predecessors have ever heard.

I highly recommend writing the angry letter even if it's (hopefully) not the one you end up sending. Just to get it all out.

If I had another wall to tear down, I would invite you over to sledgehammer things. That not being the case - I'm thinking you should be prescribed a trip to the desert with the flamethrower.

Yeah, we already need another wind-down day, I'm afraid.

I suspect it's like many of these types of sites, where the idealistic goals that spark the creation are lost to the corporate mechanics of making it business.

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Pain is fleeting. A picture lasts forever.

DeviantART isn't telling you that your art isn't valid, but that it isn't welcome. My art isn't welcome a lot of places. Believe me... I can relate. But if you intentionally push yourself into places you aren't welcome, you're just going to shorten the list of where you are. I'd love to see an uncensored Doomsday-Dawn.com