When this instance first started, I don’t think it was fully anticipated how large it would get. The place where this instance was when I first stepped up as admin was wholly unsustainable long term. There was little direction as to what the instance’s intentions as a website were, and the specific intentions it seemed to lean towards (being a sort of reddit 2.0) is not something we have the ability to handle. Neither monetarily nor legally.
The expectations that this instance specifically would be replacing reddit nsfw content entirely is not realistic, and the expectations that have been had for what all of lemmy is capable of has been much higher than what the backend side of things is at right now. Rome was not built in a day, and the same is true for communities of this nature. We are utilizing a platform based on a philosophy that hasn’t been widely used outside of email since the early Internet, while now having to work the laws and limitations that the current Internet now presents as well. It’s an experiment, and just like all other communities we have made mistakes and are trying our best while figuring this out together. This is not a business, we are not shareholders, we are simply passionate volunteers.
Right now, our team has been paying attention to concerns and feedback that have been raised. We are currently actively engaged in a discussion of what the next steps are from here. My hasty implementation of the current restrictive content policy was not something to do long term but an attempt to reign in a community with what felt to have little restrictions and many issues popping up. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of managing a community like this. The current policy as it stands right now, has been a band aid while we discuss further how to move forward. And we have been.
And thankfully we have a much bigger back-end team than before. What has helped the most to provide insight is that we have a back-end team member who has active experience in hosting adult websites within the legal span of the law. We also have backend team members who are helping to build mod tools not just for lemmyNSFW but with active collaboration with others across instances as well.
As we have discussed rule changes and throwing things at the wall, our biggest aspect has been determining if we are on the same page as a team. Unfortunately, a now previous back-end team member decided that he was not. And that’s ok. However last night, instead of moving forward and deciding that our ethos as a team moving forward isn’t for them there was a post that was made that compiled our original rough draft for new content guidelines and attempted to pass them off as that is going to be our full go to as a community. It isn’t. We are discussing things and hashing things out as a team still but have made significant progress moving beyond what was discussed. When changes occur, we will make a post clarifying such changes. We ask for patience, please.
I hope that you don’t geoblock states. I understand if you must do it, but the age verification laws those states are trying to create were already ruled unconstitutional years ago by the US Supreme Court. I guess we can’t predict how current courts will rule on it, and I know being small you certainly wouldn’t have the funds to defend any lawsuit. But, with some exceptions (Pornhub being the big one), most sites have chosen to ignore those laws.
Anyway I hope I’m not too negative in my tone. I really appreciate how thoughtful you guys have been, and support whatever direction you end up going in.
Just my opinion, but I say it’s better to err on the side of caution. The big players will sort it out in time. The risk is being taken on by those volunteering their time to keep the site running, while the reward is primarily just going to the rest of us. That being said, it’s also easy for me to say since I don’t live in a state with those laws.
I absolutely agree with you, and don’t want the site operators to take on more risk than they have to. It sucks to have to try to comply with an unconstitutional law, but if it’s necessary to minimize risk, I totally understand.
Geo blocks are kind of a bad solution to a bad problem, especially since geolocation can be very inaccurate. People outside the states in question get blocked based on IP just because the network infrastructure is tied together. Heck, in the past I’ve seen my IP address get geolocated more than 1000 miles from my physical location.
Anyway, I understand why it’s a very effective solution from a legal / CYA point of view. The laws themselves may be illegal / unconstitutional, but like you said, only the big players are going to have the resources to challenge it in court.