Addressing our development stalls, policy updates & the future of WarpLight
Hi there!
It’s been awhile since our last communication in December, and we’re already three months into 2023. Quite a few things have changed over the past few weeks, but at the same, a few things have remained relatively stagnant. Let’s first address our development progress, followed by our recent policy updates, and close it out with an open letter regarding our future development and other plans.
Development progress
Project Atmos originally launched on June 21st in 2019, introducing an all-new platform to everyone, everywhere. In August of 2021, we completely redesigned the Atmos platform from the pixel up by introducing our Horizon design language, and in August of 2022, we further expanded our second-generation design language to introduce mobile-optimized layouts as well as several new features to further improve the quality of life on the Atmos platform.
After our August quality update, we made several commitments that we expected to have out by the end of the 2022, including sensitive content support (NSFW). Additionally, we also mentioned that our 16 MP and 10 MB per-image size limits would be increasing to 20 MP and 20 MB by the end of March 2023, bringing a 25% and 100% capacity increase, respectively.
Due to limited developer overhead, as we’re only a small team of four, quite a few things just can’t be done in a reasonable amount of time. We’re all volunteers, so other life activities, such as work and school, often take priority. Due to these restrictions in time, we announced that we would continue to prohibit sensitive content in the meantime, until we can fully complete our internal systems to help moderate it, in addition to the necessary changes required on the Atmos platform to enable safe, secure distribution between users.
However, we have not announced any delays regarding our media capacity upgrades, but as we are now halfway through the month of March at the time of writing, we would like to extend our release window to grant us more time to introduce these capacity changes, in addition to other potential updates. We now expect to introduce the capacity upgrade sometime between April and September of 2023.
We also have over 200+ bugs, changes, and requests logged internally that we’ve yet to complete, so we do have quite a bit of work on our plate that may cause us to fall behind, but rest assured, we’ll always let you know when we have new things to share.
Policy updates
Earlier, we mentioned how we’re continuing to prohibit sensitive content on the Atmos platform, however, we have been continuing to work and refine our Atmos Sensitive Content Policy, so that way it will be ready to go once we allow support for sensitive content. It is publicly available so we can allow the community to get familiar with the policy & terms, allowed & prohibited domains, as well as to provide feedback to us so we can continue to improve the document.
Recently, we’ve updated the Atmos Sensitive Content Policy to version 7, reflecting recent events in specific communities. We’ve clarified our allowed domains and prohibited domains even further, specifically on the topic of age. For artistic content in the allowed domain, we’ve now made it a requirement for all fictional characters involved to be over the age of majority. Additionally, if a fictional character is not over the age of majority at the time of content creation, appropriate age progression techniques must be used by the artist in order for the content to remain under the allowed domain. We also made it clear that in very specific and rare circumstances after careful review, we reserve the right to take action against sensitive content that is not in good morality for all domains, and that we may review the sensitive content in order to verify that no underage characters are present.
We also refined our prohibited domains, and have now put a stronger focus on the prohibition of artistic and content sourced from the real world which contains underage characters (including both fictional and non-fictional characters), persons, or other entities). This is often referred to as “CP”, or “child porn”, and is strongly prohibited on all WarpLight platforms and services. Users who attempt to distribute this type of sensitive content will receive three WarpLight Account violations, which will result in the associated WarpLight Accounts being deactivated for 14 days, followed by permanent deletion, as per the WarpLight Terms of Service. Depending on what is reported, we may escalate reports to official levels if we determine it is necessary in order to protect our users, our infrastructure, and others.
We will not tolerate illegal activity on our platforms, and we will do what is ethically correct in order to provide a safe, inclusive, and protected platform for everyone, everywhere.
What’s next
Ever since I came up with the name for WarpLight, I always wondered what it could turn into, what it could create, and what it could change for so many people around the world. I still remember the moment when I was granted ownership of the Atmos platform at the time, and my visions for where it was heading were bright, vivid, and promising, and to to this day, even with the slowed development and engagement around the platform, those hopes and dreams still remain strong.
We often call ourselves the ‘next-gen social platform for everyone, everywhere’, and I still feel that this is true. I want to shape Atmos into the world’s best social platform that puts it’s users first, and while any social platform can say that, it almost always never pans out. At the time of writing, Twitter has had so many changes in the span of a few weeks due to the recent takeover by Elon Musk, and even Discord, praised by many, is starting to incorporate AI technologies and other policy updates that many feel are doing them wrong. And not only that, but I’ve been seeing many people becoming riled up by holes in some policies that allows certain creators to busy themselves with ethically incorrect material.
To be successful in industries such as these, you have to give the users what they want, and that’s what I wish to do with Atmos and WarpLight. You can’t just stop there either, you also have to maintain it, listen to the feedback and put it to work, and seek to improve each and every day. And while we may have our mishaps time to time, it’s important that we work to correct them if they do happen, rather than fight the tide which could more than easily pull us under.
Going forward, we may not have as many updates or promotional posts going forward, but just know that something new is always around the corner. From the design finalization of Horizon Max for desktop and Horizon Mobile, to the installation of all-new & completely redesigned system emails & platform entry experiences, we know it’ll take our platforms to new heights & beyond. Plus, we’re not stopping with Atmos, but we’re also looking to expand the WarpLight ecosystem with Rapid, our future messaging service which is currently still in the planning phase. Powered by the WarpLight Account system and accessed via WarpLight Quantum, we want to deliver a seamless, connected experience for our users, but we’ll need some time to make it happen.
For now, we’ll continue listening to feedback regarding the Atmos platform and the Atmos Sensitive Content Policy, and we’ll continue to make time wherever possible so we can begin building & delivering more platform updates.
We’ll see you again in the future!
