I posted a bit ago on a different account, and yeah here we are. I actually set it up!
Federation Policy
There are some instances that have been initially defederated from, most of which are just are either toxic or host illegal content across the fediverse. Defederation will only be reserved for spaces that present consistent moderation problems, host illegal content, or are hate filled. Whenever a defederation is considered a post will be made to discuss and gather community input.
Instance Management
So, same deal as over on literature.cafe. If this instance ever needs to go down, I will give at least a 30 day warning prior and make a good faith attempt to keep the instance online as well as be transparent as to why a shutdown is being considered. A financial statement will be posted monthly. This instance will likely cost more than literature.cafe long term, so if you are planning on joining and are able to donate it is greatly appreciated. I also take daily secure backups.
I am attempting to find at least one extra admin for the instance as well, but I at least plan on having a backup "break the glass" admin account like I do have on literature.cafe
Community Creation
Community creation is currently disabled and is only for admins. This may be reconsidered in the future, but if you want a new community to be made please go to [email protected] and request there. For those on other instances who want to view a current list of communities go to [email protected]
Right now due email functionality on the instance is busted due to the host blocking the ports temporarily until the first invoice is generated for the instance. So, remember your password if you sign up for the time being or just ask to have your password reset if you forget it.
What @[email protected] said. I use the seirdy fediblock fedinuke list which is basically a consolidated list of the worst of the absolute worst instances that exist across the fediverse, hence why there are so many on there that are on completely different platforms. Lemmy's cross interactions with other activitypub software is finicky at best, but as a gay jewish dude it makes me more comfortable hosting and engaging in such a space when those places are blocked out of an abundance of caution. Basically all of them are either extremist instances or known to host illegal content. I didn't defederate from as much instances as my book/writing focused instance, the NSFW subs are federated (and I will federate with those again in time on literature.cafe, they just clog the living hell out of c/all) still there at least as I hope instance based blocking and more granular federation options are coming soon.
I looked at mastodon.art's policys and content guidelines a bit and utilized it as inspiration as well as consolidating those rules so they fit neater on the sidebar and also reflected lemmy a bit better.
Basically, all art that is posted on the instance that is original content is solely owned by the poster alone. I claim no usage rights or ownership of anything that is posted there except for my own art that is explicitly tagged as such and promise to never use the artwork that is posted there that I do not personally own for any reason whatsoever beyond cases of headers and icons, and those instances will only be done when users explicitly consent for that purpose or set it themselves. The site icon and header right now are placeholders using creative commons images, but in the future if someone decides to create one and they grant permission to use, or someone makes an icon and or header for communities and offers to set it for the communities there it will be done when permission is given by its creator. This instance will never be monetized, and will rely solely on donations and volunteers. I love art of all kinds and want to give it a space on lemmy.
Any content that is posted that isn't original content must be directly credited at the very least with preferably fair use critique/discussion and clearly stated as not OC. So long as it's something like, "oh hey this is pretty!" is preferred and serves to contribute to something new beyond just reposting the content. Linking to artwork of artists works must be done so in a way the centers that artist, and if they do not want their content shared that must be respected. Alongside that, content that is paywalled must not be reposted regardless. If someone posts something on say, Instagram for example, it's preferable to link to their post and or content in a prominent way at the very least.
Artists who are taking commissions or offering to sell their work are encouraged to post so prominently in the post body or directly link to their store in their profile, or both. Focusing creators is deeply important to me personally.
I am figuring how to best add to to the sites robots.txt to filter out AI scraping on both this instance and the book/writing focused one as well. (@[email protected] if you have tips on how to best do that I'd appreciate it)
This is a much longer response than I was expecting! This all sounds good to me. I’m glad to know you’ve already been thinking through all of this. One of my larger worries is seeing communities filled with bots posting ai art and taking over.
(Not that you’ll necessarily have an answer for this one, but a thought that popped up from your list) Speaking of nsfw, I’m curious how nsfw art content will end up on Lemmy. I remember there was eventually a lot of backlash on /r/art since the art ended up becoming mostly painted nude women, though I feel like Lemmy has less need to care about that kind of stuff since they are not worried about sponsors seeing nudity.