Imgur Cracks Down On NSFW Content, Internet Responds Accordingly

It's becoming harder and harder to find a social media site that's willing to host dirty pictures these days. Facebook & Instagram have always been cockblockers, but then Twitter announced their Kristallnacht-esque purging of 10 million porn related accounts. Now imgur is following in their footsteps, threatening to ban porn links in their comments section. 

According to mic.com (link below), the internet basically just tucked its tail between its legs upon hearing this news and quietly showed itself out. I'm only kidding, they revolted the only way the internet knows how to revolt. Memes. Lots of memes. 

The front page of Imgur, which is generated by whatever is voted the highest, is suddenly bursting with images protesting the new policy of scrubbing NSFW posts from the comments — along with some of the usual earth porn, memes, cute animal GIFs and Game of Thrones references, of course.

The caption of the most-upvoted of all of these images, by a user named stealthkat14, reads in part:

Imgur is making a statement by censoring everything: they believe their site caters primarily to individuals of a younger age — say 10-15ish. I believe this site to have a plethora of consenting adults on it. That being said, while NSFW content is not primarily what we want, and should always be clearly labeled, it is occasionally related to a post and amusing. I believe Imgur to be making a mistake. I implore you to show Imgur that they should choose their target population to be adults.

The post is addressed to @sarah, or Sarah Schaaf, founder, CEO Alan Schaaf's sister and the director of Imgur's community. Sarah jumped on Imgur Tuesday morning to address the backlash.

"I feel pretty sick about it, and it's never my intention or Imgur's intention to upset this community or hide anything from you," she wrote. "I'm hoping to clear some things up if you'll hear me out."

I'm sure the internet was willing to hear her out. I mean, after all, if the internet isn't a place to engage in rational and intelligent debate, than what is?

Sarah Schaaf explained that the removal of NSFW comments will be entirely done by flagging and referrals, not by moderators digging around looking for porn. She also said that the team will provide transparent reasons for content removal, and warnings before any bans occur:

This is not meant to turn Imgur into a G-rated shell of itself, nor is it meant to bring down a ban hammer on our most active users. We value free speech and self-expression incredibly highly, and the sometimes crass humor, ridiculous puns and don't-take-ourselves-too-seriously attitudes make Imgur what it is, and we love this community. There is a place for dickbutt and fine art and weird GIFs and information here — nothing will change about that.

So there you have it. Discourse and dick pics can once more reside side by side. Or something, I'm not really sure, that statement reads like a sorry not sorry meme in the making. 

Via mic.com