Gallery specifications...

[Limeyaku]

Can we have a discussion about the galleries? I know, I know, there's enough of it, but really...it seems like there are a lot of problems I've been seeing lately.

The first situation I'd like to bring up is a friend who uploaded pictures of her costume in progress and had them all deleted. I saw these, and there was nothing wrong with them. So what, she had some chest showing. And I mean that. The rest of her body was covered, just her chest was open and some cleavage was bared. Everything was covered just fine, but there was skin showing.
What about all those DOA beach cosplayers? How does that differ? And the theif Rikku's in little more than bikinis? She said it was based on her age...if that's a rule that's going to apply to one person ( you must be of age to post skin-baring pictures ) then it should be clearly stated and applied to all. No matter where they're from, who they're friends with, what their body type, how popular or unpopular the costume is, etc.

Speaking of appropriateness...I just saw ElmStDreamers photos get deleted. As soon as I finished posting my comment, nontheless. xD I was expecting that from her comment though...

O_o i thought it looked great. cosplay IS an art. she's wearing a COSTUME she made and displaying it in her own creative way. super-kudos!!! *O*

art is defined as what the artist sees it as.
'gross' and 'inappropriate' is also opinion based.
i've seen INSANE MULTIPLE amounts of pictures on here that have nothing to do with cosplay. personal photos, 'modelling' photos, whatever. and theyre still up. they could be offensive to me.

gavin just did a jesus cosplay. KUDOS TO HIM. ( he makes a good jesus! XD ) but other people are gonna be offended.

how is something like that judged for deletion? ( O_o... is that a word? )

opinion is everywhere. to live with it you must be openminded. if you dont want to be, then dont look at what you dont want to see if you dont have to. no one made you click this picture. *shrugs*

there is material that /is/ defined as offensive, but imo, this was done tastefully and creatively. its not like shes actually cut open with intestines floating around her or somehting. -_-;;

if members are getting frustrated and upset over their images being deleted, I'd just like to see a clear, obvious set of rules that rule out any photos that will be deleted.

just from these two instances, it seems like all photos with cleavage and blood should be gone already, apparently..

what about all those Kyo cosplayers with blood from their mouths oozing onto their dresshirts? thats /not/ gross? and DOA swimsuits and X2 gambler cosplays? hows that deemed appropriate 95% nudity when some cleavage on another cosplayer and nothing more, is not?

if people are going to react as much as they are to this, i'd like to suggest either ( again ) a set of CLEARLY defined restrictions, or a photo-rating system to warn users about the content. ( blood, boobage. DEAR LORD NO! NOT CLEAVAGE!! my virgin eyes! T_T )

i understand the rules myself and they are clear for what they state as of now, dont get me wrong. but it seems a lot of cosplayers are having things deleted with little or no reason or warning. *shrugs*

i apologize if i come off as snooty or b*tchy, which i apparently usually do, ^_^;;; but i thought this should be addressed... i also have no clue where it goes and my computers too slow to search all the threads/forums so fell free to move it to wherever. ^_^;;

~lime

[Karisu-sama]

Jesus cosplay does not sound in and of itself as a reason for a photo to be deleted, nor is crossplay, "offensive" though both may be to some people. PG-13 or less is one of the gallery rules, and of course poses distinctly count too, not mere skimpiness.

Ie: a pic of guy in a trenchcoat giving the appearance of flashing people, and a pic of a guy with someone strategically placed so as to appear to be performing a sex act on him were both deleted at some point. Neither pic had actual nudity.

I didn't see the photos you are talking about, so I have no idea whether there was any age-based reason for deletion, but if a gallery pic looks like an underaged come-hither pic, it's going to go.

The MPAA assigns movie ratings. Cosplay.com moderators have to use our judgment to rate the gallery pictures. (In either case, you may not always agree, sorry.) We don't always catch everything on the first pass, but we certainly try. And members are free to report photos they may feel don't meet the "PG-13 or less" restriction (in either sex OR violence.)

[ZiggyB]

First of all, you asked about the rules for the members galleries. They are posted here:

http://www.cosplay.com/rules.php

Scroll down to the correct section.

Most of the time the photos that are deleted violate the "no artwork" rule or the "no posting pictures you don't own rule." This includes posting screen captures or "reference" pictures with your photo.

Recently we've been deleting pictures of people who upload a ton of "candid" photos from their web cam, party, whatever. That is still listed in the rules section that it should be a very small percentage of the photos you upload. Again, this is a cosplay site, and the photos you upload should be mostly cosplay related.

Now, to address your specific complaints. The cleavage pictures. We normally do not delete pictures that show a lot of skin as long as it is not "obscene" or showing anything inappropriate. Of course "obscene" is very subjective, but we tend to lean on the liberal side.

Basically as long as everything "vital" is covered or not showing through the costume and there's not the appearance of someone having or performing a sexual act, it's fine. Of course there are exceptions.

Actually I have a few friends that have very skimpy costumes and have them posted on cosplay.com. I know of a Gambler Paine and Rikku who have their pictures in the members gallery. There's no reason to delete them, they are cosplay related and in good taste.

As I was not the one who deleted those pictures, I don't know the exact reason why they were deleted. If you want to Private Message the image in question to me, we can give you a specific reason why the picture was deleted.

As for ElmStDreamers pictures. The reason they were deleted was because they were not in good taste and too realistic. She can take that as a compliment of sorts, but because the pictures basically looked like it was a girl who had committed suicide, the pictures were deleted.

Now, blood and gore is normally fine as part of a costume, just check out all the Battle Royale pictures where people add blood.

However, in this case it was a judgement call that those pictures were deleted.

Also to my knowledge, Jesus cosplay pictures haven't been deleted from this site, unless they violated any of the rules I mentioned above. The same with Kyo, DOAX, FFX-2, etc.

I think I addressed most of your questions. I did read over your post several times to make sure I got everything, if there's still clarification that you need or if you want a second opinion from another moderator, please say so.

[Limeyaku]

ah. tht clears up a lot. muchos thanks to you guys.

i find it funny that one of the complaints under ESDs pictures was that it looked too fake/the blood was too bright though. xD ah the irony...

[lainey]

go lime :D
i was wondering the same thing about why her pics were deleted when you've got DOA girls in bikinis.

[Admin]

As for the bikinis, I for one am one of those strange Americans who considers sexuality to be much less shocking than violence, but regardless . . . .

We have a policy of the photos being PG-13 or less. Anything that realistically depicts a violent act is deleted from the galleries. In this case we had a simulated crime scene complete with plenty of blood, and this goes over the limit. We have to set SOME limits, and we've deleted photos like these in the past.

This is not to take any credit away from the artistic value of the photos themselves, which I personally don't mind, but rather our need to make sure parents aren't coming across the site to check on what their 14-year-old child is doing as a hobby and seeing a realistic portrayal of a murder. I get enough emails from parents already, as if I'm some sort of Cosplay King who has the ability to create cosplay regulations or something. I'd like to get LESS of these, not more.

And a girl posing in a bikini does not cross the PG-13 boundary, except maybe in parts of Alabama at least 50 miles away from the nearest 4-lane highway.