[Rule Announcement] Photos taken illegally, including flying a drone in a no-fly zone, are hereby banned from /r/EarthPorn

Hi everyone,a couple weeks ago we asked for you thoughts and feedback on creating a rule to ban illegal drone photos from /r/EarthPorn. Thank you all for the many comments on this topic, we've included them in our considerations and since then had an internal vote. We've come to the conclusion that we should ban all illegally taken photos, not only illegal drone photos:this provides a more fair playing field than just banning illegal drone photosthis gives us the backup in having a rule for something we have done in rare cases in the past alreadyBecause of this you will shortly find this new rule in the wiki (yes, we have one) and sidebar on old and new reddit:No photos taken illegally, including flying your drone in a no-fly zone.Since local laws can be hard to follow for us we greatly appreciate detailed reports of posts that break this rule so we can look into it. If the photographer can provide proof to us of obtaining a permit/waiver to fly their drone or e.g. walking into backcountry, then we of course will approve those posts and make it visible for everyone with a flair/sticky message that you need a permit for this place!Following will be explanations for this rule and the motivation behind it.By illegal we mean quite literally breaking the law, e.g. flying your drone in a no fly zone in a National Park. Before you fly your drone please always look up the local laws of your country/state, and check a site like https://ift.tt/2Qd90Eb photos taken on foot, please do not violate access restrictions and keep yourself to marked paths if signs or rangers in a park tell you to do so. Popular examples for this: climbing up arches in various desert parks that are off limits, trespassing to get closer to the hot springs in Yellowstone NP, that one (pine?) tree in a pond or hot spring in a national park that for the love of me I still cant find. If there are seasonal closures (e.g. birds/wildlife breeding in the area) then please respect those as well.What we're trying to achieve with this rule: we want to discourage breaking park rules or local laws to "get that shot". Especially access restrictions in a national park are there for a good reason, to protect potentially fragile environment like the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. We're here to enjoy the beauty of nature, so we should all do our part in trying to protect it. We obviously cant fine anyone, but we want to keep the spread of those images as low as possible to discourage copycats that see them and want to get a similar photo. Vox recently made a video on the impact of social media on areas that are not equipped (yet) to deal with huge crowds.In the case of drones it's also to discourage breaking laws. Drones are getting more and more popular and available for more people, we think drones can be an amazing tool. But law breaking drone pilots make flying drones for those who obey the law harder, since harder laws are created in an attempt to deal with the problem. We want to discourage breaking laws so that we will still be able to fly our drones in places where it's still allowed.Thanks for still reading until here, from the /r/EarthPorn mod team we wish everyone that celebrates it a happy turkey day. via /r/EarthPorn https://ift.tt/2QZQpsd