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General => Announcements and forum stuff => Forum News => Topic started by: Westfalia Chris on 17 February 2018, 07:33:31 PM

Title: An Amendment to the "Symbols Use Rule"
Post by: Westfalia Chris on 17 February 2018, 07:33:31 PM

Dear all,

Following the server move of the Lead Adventure Forum to the UK, it is no longer necessary, from a legal point of view, to rigorously enforce the "Swastika Rule" since we are no longer under immediate German jurisdiction.

For this reason, users are no longer required to edit out respective symbols prior to posting images of models or links to reference materials that contain such images.

This includes, but is not limited to, the following symbols explicitly linked to the National Socialist German State of 1933 to 1945:

• Swastikas (in any shape, including the DAK palm tree)
• SS runes on collar patches and vehicle license plates
• the various insignia of Waffen SS military units.

The following will not be an issue at all due to not being related to Nazism in context:

• Hindu and Shinto uses of the swastika, as in Samurai mons, on temples and the like for games set in Asia
• The Finnish hakaristi (based on Graf Rosen's personal coat of arms)
• The use in antiquity (Samnites/Falisci, Germanic tribe if historically accurate) and the middle ages, e.g. triskeles and the like

Still, the whole issue is obviously a very sensitive and contentious topic in various parts of the world, notably Germany, of course, as well as various central and Eastern European countries (e.g. Latvia, which outlaws both Nazi and Soviet icons).

Thus, in order to preserve the civil and amicable atmosphere, please consider seriously if a specific use is appropriate in the given context. Do you want to be associated with careless use of such imagery or being seen as a "resident Nazi"?

Most modelling and reference uses should not be a problem, but LAF reserves the right to take appropriate action if such imagery is used in any political, propagandistic or trollesque fashion plainly conceived to incite argument.

This explicitly includes, hence forbids the use of images of war criminals and propaganda posters as avatars and signature banners, and we will not tolerate any supremacist agendae.

Essentially, the issue will, in the future, be covered by the "No Politics and Current Affairs beyond the Hobby Realm" policy. We reserve the right to amend the rule in the future if necessitated by circumstances.

Finally, please note that we do not intend to enter into discussion on the issue. Hence, this topic is locked, and please do not open any discussions related to it.

Thank you very much for your attention. I shall amend the respective rules section presently.