Tackling Censorship and Building a Safer Community

the methods chosen could potentially alienate their current user base unless managed with substantial care and user engagement.

1000%, and from what all of us have seen here is a lack of any significant care or consideration for the user base.

During COVID, it was normal to see 200k+ users on at peak times during the day. Now, we're seeing maybe 50k. On a good day.

IMVU is going to have to start listening to it's customers or it'll be effectively dead as a platform in a few years, at most.

Here is a statement from Tesla's Grok AI concerning all this:

• Impact on User Experience: The stringent censorship might indeed make users feel uncomfortable. This could potentially stifle free expression and alter the social dynamics that users enjoy on the platform. The fear of accidental infractions might deter users from engaging in spontaneous or creative conversations, which are central to the appeal of virtual social platforms like IMVU.
• User Retention and Growth: There's a risk that such policies could lead to user dissatisfaction or even mass exodus if users feel their freedom of expression is too constrained. Platforms like IMVU rely heavily on community engagement; if users perceive the environment as too restrictive, they might seek alternatives where they feel less monitored or censored.
• Community Feedback: According to discussions and user feedback on platforms like Reddit and IMVU's own support forums, there's already significant discontent with changes related to censorship and account management. Users have expressed frustration over sudden account deletions and the handling of VCOIN, indicating that this move might not align well with the expectations of their established user base.
• Legal and Ethical Considerations: The policy of permanently deleting accounts and stripping users of their virtual assets for too many infractions could be seen as overly punitive, especially if the censorship algorithms are not perfect or if users feel there's no fair appeal process. This might also lead to legal questions regarding the ownership and rights over digital assets purchased or earned within the platform.
• Moderation Challenges: Automated systems for chat censorship often struggle with context, leading to false positives where harmless conversations are flagged. This could further exacerbate user frustration if they are penalized for content that was not intended to violate guidelines.
• Monetization Impact: Given that VCOIN is a significant part of IMVU's economy, removing this from users could not only affect their engagement but also the platform's revenue if users lose trust in the system where they've invested financially.

From the information available on the web, it appears that IMVU might be aiming to create a safer, more family-friendly environment, possibly to attract a broader or younger demographic. However, the execution and communication of these changes seem to have been met with backlash. A more balanced approach might involve:

• Transparent Communication: Clearly explaining the reasons for changes, the specifics of what content is censored, and providing examples to avoid misunderstandings.
• Appeal Mechanisms: Offering a clear, fair process for users to appeal decisions if they believe they've been wrongly penalized.
• User Education: Educating users about the new guidelines without making the platform feel like a heavily policed space.
• Feedback Integration: Actively listening to user feedback and adjusting policies or their enforcement to balance safety with user freedom.

In summary, while the intent behind IMVU's censorship policies might be to protect users and improve the platform's environment, the methods chosen could potentially alienate their current user base unless managed with substantial care and user engagement.

While IMVU is playing experimental games and using their userbase as the guineapigs, and justifying it all for the "greater good" (for the safety of the children),...and officially rolling-out an apparently 'broken' system that is misreading people's comments, yet doing it without any notice to the userbase, oh and that's not all ....and "punishing" them by booting them off them platform, scaring the crap out of them, then suspending them for a day.  Somewhere in your minds, do you NOT see something very strange and WRONG with that??  You "could" have rolled it out by just censoring and doing the reprimands in the chat, so people would know and get acclimated to what's going on.  But no!  You care NOTHING about your userbase, which is why IMVU's made the decision to "punish" them because they didn't obey rules that you haven't even announced or yet told them.  Hell, makes a LOT of sense to me.  I'm sure that makes a lot of sense and sits well with all your customers as well.  Do you not "Get It"?  It doesn't matter whether your intentions with this chat censoring initiative were good or not, no one knows the rules (can I talk in a private room? ...can I talk in an AP room?)  You told no one nothing and immediately went into "punish" mode, thinking "Oh, that's okay...no one will take it too hard and deal with it".  Are you kidding me???  Have you lost your minds??  Companies spend "billions" in advertising to "get" customers.  Without them, traditionally, you have no revenue.  That's why most companies work hard to please their customers and make them feel good and special, ...not punish them and make them feel like criminals, offenders, and guilty like they have something "wrong".  I am 'ALL FOR' and a 'PROPONENT' for Safety and the "protection of younger teens" and the userbase as a whole, but you are doing it all in the wrong way.  At the very "least", stop "booting and suspending" people and fix and tweak your so-called "censorship" plan, get it right, and TELL everyone how it's going to work and what the rules actually are.  Meta and Microsoft can get away with these games, but "please" don't follow in their footsteps, their games might not work out so well when IMVU tries to play them.  I think it's funny.  The USA and other companies following suite, have been and are currently in the process of "removing" censorship, but IMVU is bearing down and implementing it. Stop playing these stupid Orwellian corporate games on common users.  Who in their right mind would want to come into a chat room on your platform when in the back of their minds, they are going to feel like they're constantly walking on "egg shells" all the time? No one wants to feel like that.  "Think" about it. ..so I ask again.  "How Many Times?"  How many times does a person have to be erroneously 'suspended' before they eventually get "Permanently Disabled", lose their assets & credits, and you "re-claim" their VCOIN? Twice? Three times?  Everyone reading this, think about 'that'...

@Heckpomeh - you're clearly not listening to what we're talking about, or a very obvious shill. You should read this all again and actually pay attention.

This discussion was quite for sometime and I assume the issue is still there… even though I didn’t get censored for a while, perhaps because I cut down my going to rooms time by good 95%, but as a greeter I spent at list 30 minutes everyday in Hangouts rooms and it’s like all hell broke loose there. People cursing, insulting, bullying, from time to time I walk in on conversations that are literally can be characterized as unlawful and come with a punishment 10-15 years in prison. Absolutely nothing is censored and if I try to interrupt it… I can start writing a dictionary on millions ways how to insult a person. 

I believe, that the only reason this censorship was only implemented in private rooms, to get long-active users to provide feedback, because those 1hour old and free-to-play accounts simply don't care about all that…

And in the light of all this it’s really standing out the way old accounts are being treated. It’s exactly as mentioned below, we can spend whole day reporting bad behavior, bad rooms and products and they will remain live and untouched, but one fake complaint against you will get you banned almost instantly.

So yes. Stay safe, stay quite, don't go anywhere and enjoy this amazing direction this social platform is going to… just wish we knew what this direction is …

No one even knows what Imvu is or is trying to be anymore. An animated social media site as an extension of reality, ? A graphic 3d roleplay site with nothing to do with reality? A place to police peoples thoughts and report them to FBI? Probably safest to log off and never enter this app again. It’s not safe in 100 different ways 

I fully agree with Jesse. The environment in the chat rooms is so toxic I don’t use them anymore. Was so scared of bans I closed all my public rooms. When my account of 15 years was banned over a roleplay I stopped using the app except with free GA accounts out of fear. Imvu rewards bullies , new users who don’t buy anything, and sex addicts. They banned so many devs , and still won’t allow a verified adult male to have an erection as any person past puberty has in reality. This is all nuts  and since the app moving to smart phones it’s become a horrid place. You’re right, it’s not an escape it’s a nightmare and I’m moving my money someplace else. Never seen any company or organization so abusive to its own customers. It’s run more like prison than a corporation. Horrible. The devs made a good technology years ago but the administration has killed it. Very unfair and random . And why are there people dressed like 5 years old in prostitution rooms in Imvu with no way to flag it? I’ve flagged dozens of rooms for rape torture or black market products , all remain up and open . Imvu is lost as a company. Sad. Had a lot of potential 

I fully agree with Jesse. The environment in the chat rooms is so toxic I don’t use them anymore. Was so scared of bans I closed all my public rooms. When my account of 15 years was banned over a roleplay I stopped using the app except with free GA accounts out of fear. Imvu rewards bullies , new users who don’t buy anything, and sex addicts. They banned so many devs , and still won’t allow a verified adult male to have an erection as any person past puberty has in reality. This is all nuts  and since the app moving to smart phones it’s become a horrid place. You’re right, it’s not an escape it’s a nightmare and I’m moving my money someplace else. Never seen any company or organization so abusive to its own customers. It’s run more like prison than a corporation. Horrible. The devs made a good technology years ago but the administration has killed it. Very unfair and random . And why are there people dressed like 5 years old in prostitution rooms in Imvu with no way to flag it? I’ve flagged dozens of rooms for rape torture or black market products , all remain up and open . Imvu is lost as a company. Sad. Had a lot of potential 

I've already read a lot of complaints about this.  My own actual experience with it is ....is that it is happening to me in chat in PRIVATE (non-public) rooms. ????  You HAVE to fix this before you roll it out!  I definitely understand your reasons for implementing it in PUBLIC GA rooms, ...I get that.  But I'm hoping this is not going to extend into people's private rooms and AP rooms, either intentionally or "accidentally".  IMVU, I'm begging you ...DON'T SHOOT YOURSELF IN YOUR OWN FOOT AGAIN.  Safety has to be implemented in the proper way.  You have a lot of legacy users who love the platform.  Your "so-called" automated script/bot in 2021 for weeding-out people who were supposedly using an "Unauthorized Client" FAILED MISERABLY, permanently disabling a lot of people (including myself), some who you have lost, some of them good legacy users who had been with you for 14 years.  That in-and-of itself proves that you really don't care "nothing" about your customers.  Please at least let us know what in the world is going on, and GIVE YOUR USERBASE "NOTIFICATION" on what you're doing, and what the rules will be for this, ...."if" ....and definitely "before" you implement it.  Because if it "FAILS", and you go resorting to automatically suspending/disabling people from another defective script/bot, I think that will be the final straw-in-the-camels-back that will cause you to lose your userbase, your online numbers, and finally bring an end to IMVU.

The fact I can call someone a "cum guzzling faggot for your Daddy" in a public space, yet can't in a private window is baffling.

AlphaJVicious: fucker

Admin  whispers: Your message was not delivered due to a possible Community Guidelines violation. 

AlphaJVicious: slut

AlphaJVicious: cum

Admin  whispers: Your message was not delivered due to a possible Community Guidelines violation. 

AlphaJVicious: whore

This is my room in  PC , when going in shared room generating the same words  it pops up even used in a sentence playing around .  If I go into my public room none of these words are flagged.

The Imvu administration always cares about each user and reacts immediately. IMVU is never blocked for no reason.

My hubs and I have messed around with different wording in our pc/married room as well as public ap and public ga rooms, the amount you get away with in some is ridiculous and backwards. We can go be the kinkiest of kinky talk in a public room but every other word is flagged in a private pc married room. We both provided all the information needed to prove without a doubt that we are both adults a very long time ago. I'm wondering how IMVU would feel if all of their customers asked lawyers if we had means for some type of lawsuit, idk if there is one, but I have a feeling there just might be....either way, yall are treating us like children when we are proven adults and pump enough money into this place to give yall a paycheck. Without us there is no IMVU, there is no job for yall to work at. The users are not being heard or listened to. 

As far as AP+ goes, the things I've heard- it's monthly sub, poses are 5k-30k and one person said it would cost them 200 dollars to make one room, you have to have it public, you have to have 3 people in it to use it, shareds cant be AP+, only select people are testing AP+ at the moment and they had to pay a fee to be able to do it as well as buy their things, they are wanting to get it so ga cant see ap and ap/ga cant see ap+. This is just info I've seen over the dozens of AP+ convos taking place on here in the forums, if all of this is true then what the heck is this mess IMVU? That would be why they are taking things from our inventories and not returning funds, changing things, censoring people, etc etc etc, the list goes on and on, no wonder so many people are jumping ship and going elsewhere. 

Apparently my user name is against community guidelines.  I have had multiple friends report getting the whispered admonishment.  This happened before, almos ta month ago, and has started up again.  I've also been hearing anecdotal stories about other users receiving 1 day suspensions for using language against community guidelines - they say that all they said was another user's name.  I trust them, but I don't have any proof of their stories.

I consider my own personal username, which is my IMVU brand, becoming against community guidelines to be probable retaliatory behavior against me for mentioning that I was considering making a complaint to the Better Business Bureau over this Orwellian (bleep).  Over the years I have earned for IMVU way more money than I have earned myself.  I have also contributed to this company through helpful suggestions that were implemented, such as:

-Display Only mode in the catalog.  That was my idea.

-Developer Tokens for developers doing PR rather than worthless predits.  Also my suggestio

-Various feedback given over the years for programs that have since vanished, such as the once profitable promo bundle program.

Back in the old days I had over 30 promo bundles run.  It wouldn't shock me to find out that my efforts have earned this company over a million or so dollars through those contributions, as well as tuteling up and coming new developers and in general aiding the creator community.  

For the last several years I have witnessed IMVU slowly but surely shove the old cadre out through policy changes.  I have resolutely kept my catalog open throughout this, even as my profits have dwindled due to their policy choices.  They have an almost 70 million product catalog now - I know that they no longer need the old developers.  But I don't see the need to cut off the income stream just because the company does upsetting things.  I last in spite of that.  But this ... this is too far.  

funny how i was told the censorship thing had nothing to do with ap+ yet, the ap+ users are not censored at all. i was told that it has nothing to do with that at all but seems i was lied too again by imvu. and they only invite so many people to test... probably people who dont post on forums so you all dont learn the truth! censorship from an american company is illegal unless its in a workplace. we dont work here!