Why is Hot-Guy gone?? (the official story) | hewhopleasures's Blog

RE: Profile Photo

EPNeil says: 

Just letting you know, we received several complaints about your profile photo.  I've gone ahead and deleted it - please try to use something a little "safer"!

HeWhoPleasures says:  that's completely ridiculous. he was fully covered. we've been through this before and I made absolutely sure he was covered and it was signed off by EP.

I HEREBY SUBMIT AN OFFICIAL COMPLAINT AGAINST ANY AVATAR THAT SHOWS ANY SKIN WHATSOEVER, OR HINTS AT SENSUALITY, SEX, OR RELIGION. PLEASE HAVE ALL OF THEM DELETED IMMEDIATELY. THANK YOU.  

EPNeil says: 

Could you please let me know when and who signed off on this logo? 

HeWhoPleasures says:  It was a while ago. I think her name was Sue?

My original avatar simply had the word CENSORED over the genitals and you could (if you looked closely) see things. There were complaints (which I disagree with, but respected the community so I acquiesced.)

I place a red block behind the CENSORED, but Sue(?) said you could still see some pubic hair and that the entire genital area needed to be FULLY covered or I could expect more complaints. So I stopped trying to be humorous and rebellious and made the read area more than large enough to cover any potential offense.

This avatar has been up for months without issue. It is only now, after I've challenged some people's political views in story comments that complaints are coming in. This is a clear case of cowardly retaliation. NOT ONE PERSON, since I posted the new avatar, has mention to me that they feel it is offensive. As a matter of fact, I get many many compliments on it and have made many friends because of it.

I have seen avatars that are BLATANTLY phallic that have existed since I've been an EP member and they get no complaints. I have seen practically naked female avatars and no one seems to complain (to EP - there was much open discussion about this issue a while back, not this cowardly faceless "tell the authorities" thing).

I apologize if I'm beating this thing, but the fact that I have to have this conversation about a fully covered human body is so offensive to me. It is not a picture of graphic sex (not that there's anything wrong with that either). It is not showing a rape, or murder, or mutilation, or hate symbols or acts. It is a human body and it is fully covered to comply with society's uptight values.  

EPNeil says: 

We have not received any complaints about any of your comments.  Perhaps this is related, perhaps not.

In terms of the photos, we do see plenty of complaints over blatently sexual member and group logos, and we try to keep things in check.  You say they get no complaints - that is very far from the truth, we just don't make those complaints publicly viewable.  In any case, with the size of the community (and the size of our staff), a lot does escape our notice, so we depend on users to report any offensive material.  If you do see anything you'd consider offensive, please flag it.For your particular image, we looked at it here - while technically things were covered, you can't tell me that the intention of the photo was not to drive attention to certain parts of the photo, given the obvious way you positioned the censored block.  Perhaps you can try posting it again with some minor changes.    

HeWhoPleasures says:  I'm sorry Neil, but that's tantamount to saying a bathing suit is intended to drive attention to certain parts because of the isolated coverage. I self-censored the image MORE than the dots seen on television, more than the blurs seen in magazines, and much more than many other risque avatars on EP.

If you tell me EP policy states that complaints warrant deletion, fine. I respect that, and care too much about EP and what it stands for to jeopardize my membership. But please don't try to tell me the intention of my photo. Because the intention of it was not to draw attention to hidden body parts, but to draw attention to CENSORSHIP issues implemented by judgmental hypocrites.

Respectfully,
HWP  

EPNeil says: 

HWP,

I can see your point.  We don't condone censorship by any means, but it's a real gray area as to what people consider appropriate and what they consider inappropriate, and we try to do the best that we can.  I'm glad that you care so deeply about EP and have given thoughts to many of these issues.  Managing a community of this size is quite an undertaking, and at the end of the day, we rely heavily on feedback from active members like yourself to figure things out.

If you'd like, you can re-upload your image with some modification, and we can move on from there.

HeWhoPleasures says:  Agreed, and thank you.

I know it can't be easy for you guys, considering the diversity we have here and I appreciate (most of) the measures you've taken so everyone can feel comfortable.

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Well... still waiting to see what "some modification" means.....