On a perception of censorship
There is a debate going on today about the contents of some diaries, particularly regarding posting of pictures containing nudity. I feel that I need to address some points here:
First, this is a quote from our Rules, which everybody agrees to when they start a diary here:
Linking to images or web pages outside of The Open Diary by use of HTML tags is allowed, but under certain restrictions. All pictures and links are subject to our content guidelines, and must be of a PG-rated nature or better. Posting obscene or offensive pictures or links to offensive sites in your diary may result in removal of your diary by our staff.
I believe that this statement is clear, but let me reiterate – you would not see full frontal nudity of a woman in a PG movie, and we can not allow such images here.
Many people have said that the pictures in question should be regarded as art, and not as pornography. That is not the point – nobody here accused them of being pornographic, only of being inappropriate for this site.
The problem that we face as a community is not what type of pictures these particular ones are, but where to draw the line. As owners of the site, we are compelled to look at the bigger picture – if we allow these pictures, where do we stop? When somebody comes back and posts a picture of frontal nudity of a man, is that okay? Or do we allow that, but disallow a picture of a man and woman having sex? The point is, we have to draw a line that we can hold the members of our community to, and allowing posting of pictures like this just opens the door to having to allow other, potentially worse, images.
I have heard several complaints from diarists stating that since they have paid for their diary space here, they should be able to post whatever they want. I’m sorry, but while you did pay for access to this space, it is not owned by you. It is owned by us, and we have to consider the feelings of the entire community. To post such images on a private diary is perfectly acceptable, but once it is made available to the site as a whole it must adhere to the guidelines of that site. Think of the argument this way – you are not allowed to walk naked on the sidewalk in front of your home, simply because you live there. Your home is part of a larger group of people, a community, and as such you agree to follow the rules of that community, out of respect for the other people there and the laws that they abide by.
This is not a free speech, or even a censorship argument. A diarist pays for the privilege to keep a diary in this space – it is not a freely available, public space. As a result, asking the user to follow the rules of the site is not censorship, it is simply asking the diarist to adhere to the responsibility he or she has agreed to.
Our responsibility, on the other hand, is to ensure that ALL of our diarists have a comfortable, friendly environment to keep their diaries in. For that purpose, we have established these rules, and ask everybody to follow them. If a certain image offends members of our site, then it is within our rights (and certainly within our responsibility) to ask the person who posted the picture to either make it private, or remove it from public view.
Our staff has been deeply split from the beginning about whether or not to allow posting of pictures on diaries. There are those among us who have maintained that it would always lead to a dispute such as this one – and that allowing posting of pictures was more trouble than it was worth. I’ve always held that allowing pictures is a positive thing – because it gives our diarists the ability to enhance their diaries, and to share more with their readers. However, this will only work if we can all agree to follow the rules – and to respect the feelings of the community as a whole. Let me be clear about this – people who continue to post pictures that violate our Rules will have their diaries removed from the site. There are plenty of other sites that will allow posting of any content the author wants, but Open Diary Plus is not one of them.