FIRST OFF: Thank you to everyone who participated in the poll thread! I appreciate every one of you who voted, and all the points made in the discussion, especially by those of you who have experience in the creation and distribution of music yourselves.

TL;DR: 99% of AI generated posts will be removed, report options will be reflective of the rule change soon.

Hey all, it's been a long day of discussion and thinking about the AI rules. I personally support a full AI ban and saw a very high amount of support from you guys for it, and some very good points were brought up in the grey areas. I want to be transparent and I try my best to be fair so I'm gonna do my usual thing and type something long. Thank you to anyone who decides to read it all.

I mostly try to be kind of hands off as a moderator, I let you guys comment and use the up/down vote and report systems to put things where they belong, or let me know that something isn't where it should be. So while I'm the only mod and can do whatever I want, I believe the ruleset should reflect the wants of the members. Based on your votes in the poll thread that the AI ban will cover 90% or so of generative AI content in any capacity, and 100% of anything entirely AI generated. Here's how it breaks down:

1. Anything that appears to be 100% AI generated will be removed. This means discussion posts, music posts, memes, images, whatever. I may remove something while I investigate, but will try to make that clear in the removal message.
2. MUSIC: Anything posted where the music or vocals appear to be AI generated will be removed. Hip hip is primarily about finding your voice, and the poll thread showed an overwhelming majority on this particular point with more votes being mixed on cover art. While it's true that some things that have parts that are made using generative AI will slip through, I think this rule as written will cover our bases for low-effort work that it aims to remove.
3. COVER ART: Anything with 100% AI generated or MAJORITY AI generated cover art will be removed. This will be up to the moderator's discretion and partially based on volume of reports, but as someone who works professionally in photography and design, I deem myself competent to tell on this one especially.

LOW EFFORT posts will remain reportable using Custom Response to tell me why you think something is against the spirit of the board. While 'low effort' is a grey area in itself, I want to stress that the following things are ALWAYS WELCOME:

Freestyles, loosies, unfinished OC. (Please be civil to one another and remember we were all new at making music once, and that there are real people putting their art out into the world behind the screen.)

Beat posts as long as they are not deemed drive by or low effort by our current ruleset

Asking for criticism on your lyrics

Reaching out to connect or collaborate with UK artists

Sharing your playlists that are majority UK based hip hop/rap/grime/drill/etc.

Sharing event posts for local events

Asking questions or asking for song IDs

Showing pictures of your merch or record collection

Sharing news or magazine articles about UK artists

Grime, drill, alternative, and other subgenres of UK rap music is also always welcome so please do not report things that are not strictly boom bap.

As always--If you believe your post was removed in error you are welcome to use the modmail system to reach out and have it re-checked. I remove things in error sometimes!

An afterthought:
The main point of this board in my eyes should make my moderating priorities clear: I think this is a board to foster the local UK scene, bottom to top, and hopefully connect people who are interested in keeping that specific scene and the sounds it has birthed alive. At it's best, it's a hub for local open mics, underground talent, connection and criticism for up and coming artists of all skill sets, as well as place to showcase&discuss the well known classics and potential GOATs. There are some decent sized artists who have posted here from the very beginning of their journeys that it has been so cool to watch grow their fanbases and grow into their own sound, repping their home all along the way. They, to me, are the product of a good community and scene in addition to their own hard work and talent. Those communities and scenes are responsible for the future of the voice of UK hip hop and rap music, as stupid as that sounds. The mainstream is probably never coming back for most of it so it's up to us to keep it alive.

I know where i personally stand on AI created music and discussion topics, but I want to open the discussion to you guys since this is your board. If it were up to me, despite the extra work for myself involved, I would ban AI generated content from the board.

How do you feel about allowing AI generated content in the sub now that we are starting to see some?

Is there a line? Like as long as the music is made by a person, AI cover art is unfortunate but allowed? AI generated discussion topics? How do you guys feel about that?

As of right now I have not deleted any content that I suspect is made with AI—mentioning it in the comments usually makes the OP delete the whole thread anyway.

For now, I am going to ask you guys to weigh in on your thoughts ion allowing it, in whole or part. Please expound on your “yes/no” answer if you wouldn’t mind.

As always, you can use the “custom response” report option to report things that you are unsure whether they belong, or mod mail us with any questions or if you need clarification on anything. An “ai content/low effort” report option might end up in our settings depending on his this discussion goes.

Thanks all.

Edit: overwhelming responses in one direction already! I hope to see continued discussions and opinions. I encourage everyone to be civil and appreciate those who have done so.

Edit 2: this poll is over, the discussion has run its course, and new rules have been implemented. Thank you to everyone who voted.