We've had a few derps over the last few weeks, and inconsistencies in general for years. I think it's time to break it down a bit so people know what is going on in the art posts. Before I start though, I will say that things change constantly, even minute by minute, so it's kind of inevitable that some things will look inconsistent. Hopefully this gives you a broad picture on how it all works so it's less of a complete mystery though.
Anyway, read up below!
Why is There SO MUCH SAUCY in Some Posts?
This is probably more directed at the Anthro and Humanized collections since I think those are the most overwhelmed. Regular drawfriend might have one or two. This is just what people draw. We have no control over what is popular in the fandom. Most artists have just embraced the idea that drawing something suggestive is going to get way more attention than drawing something normal. Particularly when it comes to drawings of the human body. Artists need to eat, and nothing grows a patreon like producing what people want. Turns out, a huge chunk of the fandom likes this stuff. We are only human.
I will say though, cute art tends to do really well too! If you are an artist who doesn't want to get into saucy, there is definitely a market out there for adorable styles and topics. It's a lot more challenging and a bigger grind, but plenty of people have done really well for themselves just drawing adorable ponies in adorable situations.
Why Saucy Tag At All?
We all like to pretend we are immune to discomfort, but it's prevelant enough that it's worth giving people some kind of heads up so they can browse a post without too many worries. If you are a straight guy, it might be weird to see some greek god level physique dude in his underwear showing off. If you are a straight girl, it's probably wakward to see a girl with bedroom eyes, a micro-bikini, and an breasts that even the best plastic surgeon on the planet would scoff at.
I'm not a psychologist and, frankly, everyone reacts differently, but this is what I've had as feedback over the years, so we hide the overly sexual things in these posts to spare people the reactions they don't want to feel. The goal is still to saucy tag as little as possible, but sometimes you just can't avoid it.
What Justifies a Saucy Tag?
Some artistic skin-showing is still acceptable outside of the tag. This evolves over time and changes, but the general jist of it is if something is provactive it's usually hidden. A pony from behind with butt visible won't be tagged, but a pony from behind with butt visible looking at you with bedroom eyes would be. Butts are all over the show, and they aren't always a sexual thing. In the humanized post's case where this is a lot more common, it's slightly stricter depending on what kind of clothing is being worn. Lingerie will almost always be tagged unless it's completely squeaky clean innocent.
I don't like to tag beach scenes despite knowing sometimes it does make people uncomfortable, but if we are dealing with a micro-bikini barely covering anything, or one character taking a piece off another, I'll go ahead and tag it usually unless again, it's super innocent or a mistake. Typically though, a regular bikini you would see at the beach and a character doing something non-provactive will be untagged.
Why Does Stuff Slip in Sometimes?
I go through a tsunami of art every day. Some submissions aren't in high resolution to see those "details" at a glance, some are pulled from Twitter which just scoops up everything in our compiler, some are technical derps, and some I just genuinely miss. I can cite 2 examples over the last few weeks in particular that shouldn't have been in the post at all.
One was a 100% explicit image that Twitter grabbed instead of the safe version. Unfortunately, the explicit portion was a window on the side, and in our editor once images are uploaded, that side just happens to be scrolled off the page. Since images are shown in large format, they tend to be cut off with a scroll bar at the bottom. This caused that explicit section to be completely off the screen when I went through for the final check, making me think the compiler grabbed the safe one as expected. Turns out it didn't!
The second was a low resolution image in lingerie. Apparently the lingerie was see-through, but it was so small that I didn't notice in the final check.
A few people have wondered if we are opening up to posting artistic nudity behind tags. As an artist, I'd be all for it, but no, we are not. If there are any form of visible genitals, the image won't be posted even under a saucy tag. This is just how the USA works. I'm sure all of the Europeans out there are laughing, but that's the world we live in.
It's Still Super Inconsistent!
I get that, but I've always hated strict, unchanging rules. If you have known EQD at all over the years, you know that we fluctuate and change pretty constantly on what we do and do not post. I've fought with the mods all the time over the years about their giant blanket rule pages. In the end, if you think something should be hidden, or if something slips through, the absolute best way to get it fixed is to email me directly at [email protected]. I check it periodically throughout the day for any explosions on the site.
I try to keep things somewhat standardized, but it can be as small as the expression a character is making that causes the tag to be added or not. An example is the typical vegas bunny suit that we see people draw a lot. Sometimes it's an innocent scene where the characters are just in the suit talking in a changing room. Other times it's a character posing in said suit. There is a good chance #2 will be tagged and #1 will not. At the end of the day, I still try to avoid tagging if I can for viewing convenience. I could be wrong though, and if enough people bring it up, I'll gladly hide something. The best way to do that is raise a stink and email me!
Now Back to Pone!
Hopefully that removed some of the mystery.
For a TL;DR - No, EQD is not adding full nudity and if something slips in, please email and I'll will remove it. Yes things can seem inconsistent and stuff is missed, but I try to keep it as smooth as possible for anyone out there that doesn't want to see those things. In general though, the humanized and anthro posts are always going to be more female character oriented and there will be some skin showing just due to what the fandom currently produces. If you want to change that, get into art and starting drawing us some clean stuff! The post could definitely use it.
