The "Is This Allowed On Tapas" Thread

[candiedcotton]

I'm probably gonna go first to break the ice par se, it just takes a bit of courage, lol. I'm very awkward when it comes to showing intimate scenes. I'm new to it (believe it or not, I've never even drawn anything remotely kinky before any of this) and it's been a task breaking out of that shell.

I have a scene I've been pretty uncertain with. The intention is to put a bit of a healthier spin on a common trope in a lot of adult romance, where one character will often use sex to win over the person they're interested in. I wanted to take this and do something I felt was more realistic, where both characters have natural drives, a sense of autonomy, and also self-doubt. It's a fairly short scene, but easily the most suggestive.

It's currently just inked, with the basic text and nothing fancy (I haven't even bothered with proper speech bubbles yet). I doubt this scene is acceptable by Tapas standards, so I've been pretty lost on how to portray it in a way that won't get me in trouble.

I'd be very gracious for any feedback on how I could convey these same feelings while remaining Tapas appropriate.

[joannekwan]

Hm, to me it would be fine. Underwear on, no pubic hair/happy trail, no apparent bulge (though I had to double-check that was a knee xD). I personally would put it up.
Each update gets manually reviewed by staff anyway, so if they do spot something that can get the app in trouble with apple they will contact you to amend it.

[BlairFujin]

Going by my own experience... if you mark this part as mature, the only panel that could maybe get you in trouble for the app would be the one with "slide" next to it (real issues start when characters get undressed)

[candiedcotton]

The part I was most nervous about was the bit of a show of underwear on one of the panels, funny enough. But yeah, I made sure to avoid any bulges or anything like that. I wanted it suggestive, but eh... I guess more tastefully so?

But this helps a lot to ease my mind so I seriously appreciate it.

[joannekwan]

For sure! Let us know when you do publish this page and if it goes smoothly so we can add to our knowledge base!

[candiedcotton]

Thank you, this helps. I knew having a thread like this would be nice.

I hope other people are comfortable posting stuff as well because I think this kind of thing is our best bet for getting real feedback on what we can do.

I did hear at one point that underwear showing wasn't allowed, but I don't know if it was just made up or what. There's a bit of underwear showing in one of the panels.

[candiedcotton]

Absolutely, that's a great idea. It'll be up next week so I'll post here as well to share if I've had any issues or not.

[Katzalcoatl]

It is on the borderline. It has to have NSFW tag though.
It is very sexual. The knee on the crotch makes it nsfw but the teeth on the pants is what makes me doubt if it is allowed or not since it is very sexual and explicit. The characters ended doing nothing but I guess it depends on the moderator who reads your story.

If it were me since it has no sexual activity but it is borderline sexual I would allow it only with the nsfw tag.

[BlairFujin]

Ok, I did a quick check on the app version of my comic and I do have some panels with visible underwear, the only ones with it I did censor were ones when there was also a bulge visible

[candiedcotton]

It is really borderline, yeah. I wasn't going for outright smutty, but this is also aimed for a more adult audience anyhow.

Is the knee at the crotch really a big thing? I guess I never really considered that part since it doesn't show anything, but people have pointed it out a couple of times now so I might need to think it over more. It wasn't supposed to be like the dude is rubbing his knee into the other's groin, just that he's moving closer.

[candiedcotton]

That's fair. I don't plan to draw any bulges (I mean, I'm not gonna do Ken Doll crotches, but I don't plan to outline some mega peen either), I just have heard rumor that underwear isn't allowed to be shown.

I gotta censor this thing for Webtoon as well. Might as well not even post the episode, lol.

[Katzalcoatl]

The knee and the teeth are not really that big of a deal but it is sexual nonetheless. Especially the whole scene combined. I think your fans would appreciate it. But you have to consider it mature content.

You will be fine with the M tag and I wouldn't change it unless a mod says it's not ok.

The reason the knee is considered sexual is because the rest of the scene is sexual. It is all about context.

Think about someone kicking a person in their nuts. In a fight scene it would be considered self defense.
In a scene where the one kicking shouts pervert it would make it look like the victim was being sexually harrased.
Finally in a scene where the one kicking the victim had a dominatrix outfit it would become sexual.

In all 3 situations everyone got kicked the same way but the context is completely different since the scenes are different.
My point being that something completely innocent can become sexual if the rest of the scene gives you that sense.

[LunarScyphozoa]

I feel like candiedcotton should use their own judgement on this @Katzalcoatl

[Katzalcoatl]

Whatever you decide it is your comic.

If you don't post the episode you can sell it in your ko-fi/patreon as a special episode and if you do it that way you could even uncensor it/add more details. Win-win that way. Fans win and you win being able to make a scene you like without fear of censorship. That is if you have patreon/ko-fi.

[Katzalcoatl]

Getting back on topic I have a question of my own.

I wanted to add a drawing of a female knight getting out of a bath showing her abs but being censored by hot steam.

Would that be allowed?
Or would I have to add underwear.

Basically it is a typical scene in which men show off their abs but female version.
Ofc females have to get extra censor on their chest but I was wondering if steam was enough or if I would ultimately need to add underwear.

If steam doesn't work would a towel work?

[BlairFujin]

To be honest, nowadays rules (whatever they are) seem stricter for tapas mobile app than for webtoon (or maybe people just stopped reporting me over there :P) - the bulges I had to censor for tapas? They've been up for a year on webtoon. So if you'll get a pass on the app here, then you're safe on webtoon as well.

[BlairFujin]

I think steam will be fine, if it's not semi-transparent and it covers stuff up properly (one comic I read here used steam as censorship at one point and if I remember correctly, the author had to add more of it to tapas version than one other sites)

[Katzalcoatl]

Would it be considered mature content though? 🫣

If so, which tag?
It is basically fan service so assuming I have enough steam would it need the mature tag?

And thanks for answering my question.

[candiedcotton]

How does one post for the app and website separately, out of curiosity? I've heard of people doing that, but I have no idea how and I don't remember if there was some sort of option to specify.

@Katzalcoatl I've seen a couple comics on Tapas that have used steam, as long as it's fully covering. And I remember one person saying that a moderator actually asked them to add steam to cover up their own character, and then the page was approved afterward.

[Katzalcoatl]

Is there a place I can show my image to get aproval by moderators or do I just post it? Also do moderators check episodes you left to the system to autopost in a certain date or do they check it right when it's published?