I was uploading images to imgur to clear space off my phone yesterday and got an automated message that “content” in one of my albums broke community guidelines and therefore the album was deleted.
What picture exactly broke the guidelines? I have no clue. I wasn’t posting anything I’d consider borderline.
How did this unknown picture break the rules? I don’t know, because imgur won’t tell me.
Can I appeal it? I don’t see any way, which sucks since it is almost certainly an automated filter and those are known to make mistakes.
This is a problem on a lot of sites, both with and without automated content moderation. I’ve seen people defend sites having unknown rules as a way to keep uploaders from gaming the system, but frankly to me that’s just stupid. People with enough time to figure out the workarounds will always game the system, while more normal casual uploaders are stuck essentially rolling dice.
Ever tried to apply for a visa waiver for the UK (ETA Electronic Travel Authorization)? They have the most fucked up app for that. You have to take a selfie, and it tells you “No, bad, try again”. And then you have to click through several pages of what to do and not to do again (all had been painfully followed in every attempt).
And why any of the dozen+ pictures was bad was the apps well kept secret. Finally, one had been accepted, without any discernible difference to the previous attempts.