Hey folks;

this is a formal forum post from me, Varka (the new owner of e621), informing everyone of the details of the changeover, new site policy, and next steps for the future - as well as giving you all opportunity to ask any questions you may have. I may not be able to answer all of your questions, but I'll do my best.

First of all - the changeover. e621 was passed onto me by Arcturus (the previous owner of e621), because he no longer wished to be the target of harassment (and 'far worse', as he mentioned in his parting statements) - and was given to me because he trusted me to do carry e621 into the future.

The site landed in my lap literally 4 hours before I left for Germany to the awesome Eurofurence - and (as several people at the convention can attest), I spent most of my free time when I wasn't having the time of my life working on getting the site up and running - which I probably shouldn't have done... But anyway, the site is now back up and working well (aside from a few broken resized images).

Secondly - the new policy. e621, in my opinion, suffered considerably due to its less-than-amicable attitude towards artists requesting their work to be taken down from the site - and because of a general lack of respect to artists and their wishes (who, realistically, are the foundation of the furry art community).

as a result, I'm implementing a newer, more artist-friendly takedown policy which will hopefully provide less of a barrier for artists who wish to have their artwork taken down (as DMCA notifications are a pain in the ass to write - as well as respond to, because they're so often incorrectly used).

In addition, I'm making a big effort to increase the accountability and documentation surrounding significant moderator and admin activity, to ensure that any takedowns, bans, right revocations and so on are handled professionally and respectfully - as well as allowing us to look back over this information later in case of appeals and so on.

Thirdly - next steps. The biggest thing I wish to improve with e621 is artist involvement; there are many things which can be done which will turn a previously negative outlook ('Who uploaded my art to e621? I want it removed') into a positive one - where artists are correctly attributed for their work, retain control over their work on the site.

I'd also like to ensure they are even given the tools they need to continue being artists - such as 'order print' links to Inkbunny for example, or 'Commission Information for this artist' links that point to an address of the artist's choice.

While small, I feel these changes can have a massive positive effect on the entire community without significantly impacting it for those browsing and viewing art, and by allowing artists to voluntarily post their own work and have suitable controls over them, could draw even more content to the site.

As anybody who already knows me will attest to, I tend to be pretty neutral and considerate in how I handle issues; running Bad Dragon has taught me a lot about the importance and value of policies and procedure when it comes to managing complicated and/or professional things, and I'm trying to apply some of the best bits of what I learned to e621.

So, please don't be alarmed when things seem a bit more 'formal' in terms of how things are done. It's for the best :p

Anyway; that's about it - no further significant changes are anticipated (aside from bug fixes, and later on maybe a few of the 'next steps' mentioned), and I welcome any and all feedback regarding these, both via email ([email protected] - preferred if you wish to keep things private), or via comment below.

tl:dr; - it's all mine, bitches