I know the issue of image approvals / rejections sometimes causes confusion, this post attempts to explain the how and why of the system, from the point of view of a site admin who is one of the team operating the approvals.

First off, why do we have to have this system at all? We would all prefer not to have any of these controls, however they have been imposed on us by the Credit Card Associations as part of the conditions which have to be met to permit payments to be taken on adult content websites. Without the commercial side of things there would be no UMD, so opting out isn't an option. The reason the Card Associations imposed these rules was to put an end to the flagrant abuses that certain large adult Tube sites were previously allowing to take place where anonymous users were able to upload, and endlessly re-upload, completely illegal content - including at their most extreme, rape videos of children. This site has always banned such content but once the Card Associations acted, the rules they then came up with apply to all sites, globally.

Ok, what are the rules? Only verified users with proven ID are permitted to upload explicit adult content, whether pictures or videos. Unverified users can browse, make purchases, and take part in the forums, but all images uploaded by unverified users will be held in a verification queue, which all the site admins have access to, for approval or rejection. Non-explicit content will be allowed through after inspection, but anything which would be counted as explicit will be rejected.

What counts as explicit adult content? Any image showing full nudity, female toplessness, sex acts, suggestive touching, or erect penises. This also applies where female nipples, or erect penises, are visible under clothing, or where sex acts or suggestive touching are being performed through clothing. Also, any image where it's apparent that the model(s) were naked at the time the image was made, even if full nudity isn't visible in the image. Note this means that covering the genitals or breasts of a nude image with a sticker or emoji does not enable it to pass the apporovals process, because the model was still naked when it was made. Exceptions: Cartoon drawings including nudity and sex acts are allowed, as no real person is portrayed.

How long does the image approval process take? There's no set timescale, the site has a team of moderators based in different countries around the world and all moderators have access to the image approval queue, so usually waiting images will be processed fairly soon after upload, but it does all depend on how soon one of the mods gets to it. Expect anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours. Until the images have been approved, they'll display as a clock icon.

How does a user become verified? By uploading a scan or photo of their government-issued ID, such as a passport or driving license, via the User Verification section of their Edit Profile page. The site owner downloads these details, checks them, and stores them securely, encrypted, and off-line, and no copy is retained in the UMD database back-end.

When did these rules come in? During 2021. They don't apply to content posted before then, so previously uploaded stuff by unverified users can remain, even if it is explicit.

What do the icons for images awaiting approval look like? Attached are an example of a single image and a block of them, as seen on a forum post which has been made but not had its images accepted yet.

#faq

Thanks for all this detail, DungeonMaster!

Will we be notified if an image is rejected? And if it is rejected, will we be able to appeal the rejection?

I uploaded a few images awhile back but they were never posted, not even a clock image. The attempted posting was, in part, an attempt to say thank-you to a fellow UMD-er. And I never heard anything. Does that mean that there was a glitch and I should try to post them again? Or...?

No problem! Just trying to make things clearer for people, as I know MM has had to answer a few queries on this, thought a forum post that can be linked to would be useful.

Notifications: I believe so but as a verified user (has been complusory for store owners for a few years now) I've never actually seen the process from an unverified user's POV.

Regarding your images, what were they of? Any visible nipples / genitals / sexy touching / nude, and they'd get rejected, but anything else should be fine. If it is a forum post, or an upload to an album, what should show is a dark clock icon until the image is checked by admin - if it's approved, the actual image will then appear, if it's rejected it'll disappear entirely, and if it's a forum post "X images removed after admin review" will eventually appear at the bottom.

Where does "Compliance Record Keeper" fit into this? I can see the logic for store owners. However, suppose that I become a verified user, then I want to post a naked picture of someone else (e.g. a "tribute to model X" thread). Am I taking responsibility for that person being over 18? Or will the image be rejected because I can't prove that?

(I'm not personally planning to do this, just hoping to clarify the FAQ for general use.)

Thank you for making this. Also thank you for clarifying the grandfather clause.

MM will be able to confirm, but my understanding is that requirement is only for content for sale - so store owners. For tribute threads where people re-post favourite promo pics originally posted by a store or model, and for amateur content produced just for fun and not for sale, as far as I know all that is required is that the user is verified - basically so the source of the upload can be identified by the site owner. This has the beneficial efffect of discoraging unauthorised uploads, revenge porn, and piracy.

And yes, I know, no system is perfect, the semantics of this will doubtless be argued for years, but these are the rules that apply at the moment, by which all legitimate sites need to abide.

Somwething I've realised in over 20 years on this site, MM is the absolute opposite of a "rules lawyer", he believes very much in self-management and resolving things by conciliatory methods and agreed consensus, but obviously while still complying with the laws and regulations that govern this industry. That's one of the reasons UMD is still here. So none of this has been imposed for the sake of having rules or to boss people about, but because the site has to comply with the financial rules. If the big Tube sites had made proper efforts to prevent abuse, none of this would have been necessary, but they didn't, and so here we are. All we can do now is make the most of it. At least when we upload ID here we know it's going to one person who can be trusted, and not a faceless corporation which may or may not store it securely.

Thanks for the clarifications. I'll have to distill some extra info into our FAQ that's linked from the green checkmarks https://umd.net/about_us#photoapproval

Everybody have a fun weekend

Well that was vey much helpful

There are a lot of posts that are meaningless without the attached pictures.
It would be nice if posts like that could be held back until the pictures are approved.

I'd love that too. But it will take a huge effort to program it that way and I don't quite have the time right now. Even though the pics are temporarily held back, the posts are still created in realtime. The user notifications are immediately sent, emails to followers are delivered, the Wall is updated, forum count numbers updated, caches erased, etc etc etc etc. All those realtime actions will have to be stored somewhere and triggered only after the associated images are approved. If the images are rejected, then...[undefined what happens then lol] What we have now is pretty simplistic as I had to throw it together basically in a pinch. I hope to refine it later so it's less annoying for everybody.

I'll code it:

If: picture
Then: hold upload till verified

Bam! Done. No chance it is actually more complex than that.

Damn, I should have thought of that! I shall have this done within a few minutes....

Thanks for this really clear and full explanation. The wonderful thing about clothed wetlook/ messy is that a lot of images would "pass" this test easily, and yet those are the images which are often the most "sexy!"

Wonderful.

Hmm... you think we could squeeze in some blockchain and machine learning?

How about we feed all the unverified images into a neural network and have it generate response images to each one, which we then sell NFTs of?

Have the rules on male topless pics changed now? I've previously had pics deleted because they had male nipples on display, which is somehow deemed as explicit

Yes. Admittedly we're sexist now and will allow topless males without account verification, but not topless females. At first I tried to be consistent and not allow any toplessness regardless of sex. But it's obvious that topless males were never a concern of the CC companies, so why reject perfectly good content. It's sexist for sure, but this is a situation where trying to be morally consistent with someone else's rules ends up doing more harm than good.

It's a bit of a meme/trend for trans women to post images of their chests to the likes of Instagram and see how long it takes before they get flagged for nudity and to use that as a milestone for their development on oestrogen .

Can this thread get like a sticky pin or a link to from the rules that are shown when you click on add picture?

Its the only place on the forums that actually states where the line of explicit is, and its just taken me a while to find it.

I would like to still upload pics but my passport ran out over 15 years ago lol so i have to try and determine if i fit within the explicit parameters. Being a male in female clothing, this is not easy.
Im guessing that my nipples would be fine as i am not female, my penis, if kept well tucked and covered by knickers that never come off would also be fine?

I dont usually give any thought to labels and boxes so any help with this would be appreciated