Important Info for all NSFW Pony Blogs

Ok, first, anyone that knows me would know that I like pony. And further more, I like pony porn. I don’t care what anyone thinks, I likes what I like and you can kiss my rosy red ass if you don’t like it.

Secondly, and most importantly, I feel like I need to make sure people know this. If you spend any time looking through the NSFW pony blogs, you’d know that for the past several months, a lot of them have suddenly been taken down by Tumblr for TOS violations. Well, I’m sorry to say this, but it’s bullshit.

That’s right, they were bullshit claims. Not a single one was taken down for legitimate TOS violations. What is going on is that we have a troll on our hands (or hooves).

So those of you who run blogs, running around frantically trying to remove any picture of Apple Bloom, or any image that may have a human with a pony in it, I’m sorry to say that you’re wasting your time. Don’t bother.

If Tumblr themselves were going around, looking for content like that on blogs before deleting them, then I know there are a LOT of hentai blogs which would have been taken down LONG before any pony blog was even considered.

What is happening is that someone (or a small group of someones) are taking advantage of the fact that Tumblr’s report system is largely automated. That’s right, no actual person went to verify the reports filed against these blogs to make sure they were legitimate.

The way this works is simple. Firstly, Tumblr allows someone to report a blog for a TOS violation anonymously, just how someone can send a question to a blog anonymously. Secondly, Tumblr normally checks the IP of the person sending the report, however it’s very simple to use a program to change your IP. Depending on the type of internet connection and their set up, it may be as simple as them resetting their modem or router in order to get a different IP. Thirdly, if a blog is reported enough times (for example, 100 times. I don’t know the actual number), for the same type of violation, Tumblr will automatically delete the blog without waiting for anyone to approve the action, or investigate the claim. This also sends the ‘your blog was removed’ email to the person who owns the blog, as that’s part of the automated system. So getting an email telling you why your blog was removed is not proof that it was a legitimate violation. Lastly, 'underaged porn’ is one of the violations that gets handled by the automated system. This is why so many blogs were removed allegedly because of NSFW foal art, many of which had no foal art at all. It’s also likely that the people doing this decided to report for that violation because it’s considered the 'worst of the worst’. Basically trying to make bronies out to be pedophiles in some way.

Removing any foal art will not prevent your blog from being targeted by these trolls. Removing any of your art will not stop be from being deleted by the automated system. This is a built-in flaw of Tumblr that is being exploited, and the Tumblr staff are not likely to admit that it is a flaw which needs to be fixed. Not unless it’s made public and they are demanded by their users to fix it.

Simply removing the ability to report a violation anonymously would be a big step towards preventing this sort of exploit. It would be even better if they actually investigated such claims before letting an automated system take action.

If your blog is suddenly deleted, and you get an email telling you it was removed for TOS violations, especially if it was for 'underaged porn’, you need to get in contact with Tumblr staff. Pressure them, pester them. Do everything you are able to get them to look into it. Tell them to check for time stamps on the reports that got your blog removed. Make sure that other people know what is going on, and that this is a huge flaw in Tumblr that needs to be fixed and fixed soon.

Or, you know, you can let the trolls win this one.

P.S.

Something I should have included in this rant, but I posted it here. http://beardrage.tumblr.com/post/35626628418/one-more-thing-to-add