Hello fellow Dreamers,

This article aims to dispel some misunderstandings and myths surrounding our gallery feature and our guidelines for posting images and media on our site. In this comprehensive yet concise piece, we will address three common misconceptions that we have come across: the acceptability of Safe for Work Images of Drawn or Rendered Minors (Lolicon/Shotacon), the assumption that any images complying with our Terms of Service can be posted, and the permissibility of AI-generated porn as it involves non-real people.

Our goal in publishing this article is to promote transparency and clarity among our community members. We want to explain the reasoning behind our policies and give insight into the thought processes that our staff members employ when moderating content.

To this end, we are presenting a new and updated version of the flowchart that we use. This modified flowchart includes a few clarifications and changes to the tags we use to identify questionable content, as some sites use different references. We hope that this updated chart will help users to avoid posting problematic content, and stay within our guidelines. The new flowchart will be effective starting today.

In addition to the aforementioned policies, we also reserve the right to delete albums and images under certain circumstances, typically at set periods of time. Specifically, we will delete content in the following scenarios:

• If you are banned during our check
• If you are deactivated during our check
• If you have been inactive for more than six months during our check
• If your album is set to "Hidden" (i.e., soft deleted) during our check

Our checks occur approximately every six months and are performed manually. The purpose of these checks is to free up space for active users on EcchiDreams. It is important to note that EcchiDreams is not an image hosting website, hence why we have this policy in place.

MYTH: Safe for Work Images of Drawn or Rendered Minors (Lolicon/Shotacon) are not allowed.

FALSE

Contrary to popular belief, Safe for Work Images of drawn or rendered minors (commonly referred to as Lolicon/Shotacon) are not prohibited on this site. As long as the images do not depict actual minors or AI-generated minors that are indistinguishable from real children, we allow such content because it contains no nudity or sexual situations.

When we receive reports of potentially problematic content in our gallery, we follow the flowchart outlined above, treating the content as if we were the ones posting it. If the flowchart leads us to the conclusion that the content can be posted, we consider it non-violating and close the report. Conversely, if the flowchart leads us to the conclusion that the content cannot be posted, we treat it as a violating piece of content and take appropriate action. This is a necessary measure, as NSFW images in this category may be considered child pornography in many jurisdictions.

However, Safe for Work images of minors pass the first challenge of the flowchart, meaning that they are allowed to be processed. This means that if you have an image that depicts a minor, but is Safe for Work, it is allowed on our site.

An example of a Safe for Work image that appears to depict a minor:

There's nothing sexual here. It's just a cute Neko, who likes headpats and cookies.

MYTH: I can upload any images to the gallery so long as it adheres to the Terms of Service.

FALSE

While you can post images on EcchiDreams, it must adhere to the specific gallery-related rules outlined in Section 18 of the Terms of Service. The gallery is intended for character reference pictures or roleplay-related media only, and does not allow image dumps or animated GIFs. Violating these rules will result in the content being deleted without notice.

Currently, the only category available in the gallery is "Private Roleplaying Characters"; which means that only roleplay character images can be uploaded. It's important to note that uploading numerous images of the same character is not acceptable; we recommend no more than ten images, and at most twenty images per character. Albums that have an extreme amount of images in them are often checked by staff for compliance, and if it starts to look like an image dump, it will be removed.

We determine whether images in an album are characters or not based on various factors, including whether it's clear that the album is for characters or if it appears to be an image dump. While we are not required to provide notice, we typically send alerts informing you of any deleted content and why it was removed.

We recommend considering other options for hosting, such as setting up a Discord channel or using an external image host that allows for NSFW images and hotlinking to other places. I understand that with the recent policy changes at Imgur, we've seen an increase in image dumps being posted here. Which is strange, because we're not an image hosting platform, have never claimed to be one, nor are we likely to start in the future.

If you happen to be a Dreamer who has had your album deleted for this reason; I understand your frustration, I respect and admire your passion, but the rules are the rules. We ask and expect that you respect them.

MYTH: AI-Generated Porn is allowed because it's not real people

FALSE

Let me be unequivocally clear: the idea that AI-generated pornography (that appears to depict real people) is permitted on this site is absolutely, one hundred percent, categorically untrue. 

Our administration remains completely impartial on the subject of AI-generated art and is not aligned with any particular position. Our administration remains neutral on AI-generated art, but our Terms of Service has never allowed for it since May 22, 2018, even before the proliferation of AI art. 

Under Section 18 of our Terms of Service: any image that depicts (or appears to depict, in the case of AI-generated art) real people, either nude or in a sexual situation, is prohibited.

It's important to note that AI art is typically trained on actual images, meaning it uses bits and pieces of human-created content to generate the final image.

So with this in mind it stands to reason: if we come across any AI-generated images that appear to depict actual children in nude or sexual situations, we will treat it as such under Section 8, Sub-Section 2 of our Terms of Service, which covers "content that actually contains (or appears to contain) child pornography". We have a zero-tolerance policy for this offence, and any accounts found posting such images will be banned without warning. Even if the AI wasn’t trained on this data, it is still not allowed on EcchiDreams, under any circumstances. We are never going to allow it. We will always enthusiastically assist law enforcement in these cases as well, as we have done in the past.

We may provide further clarification in our Terms of Service's definition section in the near future, but all images, including AI-generated art, are bound by our existing rules; no changes to them are necessary.

I trust that the information provided has given you a better understanding of our policies. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below and we will do our best to address them. Thank you for taking the time to read and familiarise yourself with our guidelines.

In summary, we have clarified that posting images in our gallery is subject to certain rules and restrictions, and AI-generated porn (appearing to depict real people) is not allowed on our platform. We take these policies seriously, and enforce them to ensure the safety and well-being of our community. If you have any general questions about our policies or rules, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. Thank you for your understanding.

Image Source: Vanasonic (AI-Generated Image, Stable Diffusion)

I wanted a nice landscape, and as someone who likes mountains to some degree, I felt this image was appropriate. It's an interesting, almost over worldly image that makes excellent use of vibrant orange colours for the grass. Anyway there isn't much else to say, I think this image is capable of speaking for itself. What messages it brings? Well that's in the AI eye of the beholder, isn't it?

Edited:

• This article was edited on the 24th February 2024 thanks to feedback received that the images were broken due to Discord's new policies on their CDN (Content Delivery Network) which was used to host the images.
• This article was edited on the 3rd October 2024 because once again the images were broken.