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Appropriate Photographic Material: Every post must contain at least one picture of a baby animal (or a link thereto). Each post may also contain no more than one picture of an adult animal for comparison purposes. The animal pictured must be of the same species as the original baaaaaby animal pictured. Pictures that have both adults and baaaaabies in them are not counted as "adult" animal pictures. Because it is difficult to draw a line as to what is a baby and what is an adult, the age of sexual maturity for the species will be used as the guideline. If your cute little critter isn't a baby anymore, try one of the many other animal communities instead! They're still cute!
Some pictures will have both baaaaaaby animals and children or adult animals, etc. The key is that the baaaaaaby (non-human) animal must be a prominently featured part of the picture. If it has a baaaaaaby (non-human) animal displayed prominently, then it is a valid picture regardless of what other creatures are in the photo. It is recommended that the person who posts pictures that have both baby animals and either human children or adult animals note this in thier lj-cut text. For example, "baaaaaaby aardvarks (with a baby human)" would be a good indication for those that don't like seeing baby humans should skip this particular post. Also, you shouldn't let your children play with aardvarks, probably.
lj-cut Tags: LJ-CUTS ARE MANDATORY regardless of the size of the picture! If you are posting only a LINK to a picture, no lj-cut is necessary. All posts must also contain a description of the animal pictured (i.e. "kitten", "puppy", "aardvark", etc.) This can be done in the post subject, the post text (before the lj-cut), or in the lj-cut text itself. BAD: "Here is a picture." GOOD: "Here is a picture of a puppy". Please try to be fairly general and not rely on species or breed nicknames that may not be understood by most. For more information on the lj-cut tag, visit the LiveJournal FAQ page.
Linking to pictures and/or stories: As stated in the community philosophy, this community is intended to provide an area where members can come to feel better, whether it be to let off stress, get over grief, or dull the pains of hunger or whatever. As such, it is necessary that the community is always a happy place. Therefore, linking (or sharing) any story that is not happy is forbidden. Since the "happy level" of a story is subjective, the best thing to do is to avoid this type of linking altogether.
On debate or discussion of animal welfare issues: This is not a forum for debate of or essays on animal welfare issues. Although it's clear that all members love animals, not everyone wants to read debates or essays on such topics. Forbidden topics include, but are not limited to: the wearing of animal fur/leather, vegetarianism/veganism, hunting, breeder-bred vs. shelter/rescue pets, and other such topics. Kindly take those discussions to an appropriate community. Any such comments/posts will be deleted.
Other forbidden material:
- Only photographs (or short film clips) are allowed. No drawings, paintings, etchings, lithographs, animations, sculptures, or any other non-photographic art.
- Memes should not be posted.
- Though it seems obvious to me, all photos should be of living baaaaaby animals. There shall be no pictures of animals being abused in any way (the maintainers of the community will make a judgment call on this). Also, pictures of extinct animals are not allowed unless it's an authentic photograph (as opposed to a photograph of a sculpture or model).
- Posts advertising the sale of anything is forbidden and such posts will be deleted. Promotion of other websites or communities is strictly prohibited, unless they directly relate to baaaaaby animals and are subject to deletion.
- Posts that have nothing to do with baaaaaby animals don't belong in
baaaaabyanimals (duh) and are subject to deletion.
- Posting pictures of baaaaaby animals wearing human clothing... well that's just wrong (but not explicitly banned).
- Please make an effort keep swearing or cussing (including in userpics) to a minimum.
Being nice: If your comment isn't saying something NICE about the post, then DON'T COMMENT. It's the old "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all" rule. Snarkiness may result in suspension or revocation of posting privileges.
Userpic (a.k.a. "icon" or "avatar") usage: Members should use your own judgment and select userpics that are appropriate for the community. That said, I'm not going to make a lot of rules about what is and is not acceptable. The only limitations are: No (human) nudity or pornographic/indecent acts, no death of any variety, and no calling me names. These may be amended at anytime I see fit. If someone's user pic angers you, please ignore it and keep your comments to yourself (see the above rule titled "Being Nice"). If it becomes a problem, the solution will suck for everyone.
If someone posts using a userpic that goes against everything you stand for, please ignore it. There are people that have different opinions than you, and it's time that you realized that. Let them have their opinions, please. I'm really going to lean generally towards freedom of expression here, but again please don't be intentionally controversial.
On hot-linking to the photographs of others: If someone asks you not to link their pictures anywhere else, please honor that. If you'd like to post a link that you saw in someone's LJ (that's hosted on their personal site), then please get their permission before posting it. Bandwidth ain't cheap. Violators will be fed to baaaaaaaaby lions, which is a cute but unpleasant way to die.
Because bandwidth costs people money, the nice thing to do is to copy photographs that you want to post to this community to your own web space, and then link them from there. That way it's YOUR web space being used, and not the other unsuspecting person's costly webspace. So, please, consider this when you are posting. That was a recommendation, the following is a requirement: If someone posts a photo to this community and specifically asks the members not to link to their pictures outside of the community, then you must honor their request. Violators are subject to suspension or revocation of posting privileges.
It is also recommended that you note any copyrights and/or photographer credits when linking to a photo. You might also consider a link to the page where the picture was found so that the original image host's website can be visited and appreciated by others.
There are several FREE sites that can be recommended for storing your photographs. Picasa and Flickr are very popular choices. If you're the owner of webspace that has seen excessive traffic, please e-mail the moderator of this community (joeyhemlock@yahoo.com) and we'll delete the post. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the same address.
On the posting of pictures of baby humans, which are technically animals but which are not really the point of this community: From October 26 through November 1 (i.e. the week preceding Halloween and the day after), it is permissible to post pictures of human children provided that they are dressed to represent a legitimate member of the non-human animal kingdom. Little Stanley dressed up as a turtle this year? Appropriate. Little Sarah aasked to be an aardvark? Cool with me. Young Jeff dressed up as a princess? Post 'em somewhere else, please. It is required that you note in your [mandatory] lj-cut that the picture is of a child so that those who don't want to look at your cute little devil don't have to. Between November 2 and October 25, such posts will be deleted.