Restrictions Until Verification

To protect the safety and confidentiality of others, and to ensure no media of minors are uploaded, Midwest Nudists has an age / identity verification process. While not required, certain features are disabled for members until they verify:

• Custom avatars (uploading or using an external avatar via a URL)
• Uploading attachments (e.g. forum posts)
• Uploading any files or media (e.g. gallery entries, downloads, or the filedump)

Exception: These restrictions are not in place for Support Tickets (so you can communicate with staff effectively and provide screenshot evidence when necessary) and the catalog for uploading your verification photo.

You will also get nagged by a small reminder message on the page every time you load a page that contains one of these disabled features.

Verification Process

To get verified, click the link on the nag message telling you that you cannot upload media yet. This will take you to a "catalog" where you can upload a verification photo. The photo must include all of the following, unaltered (except to censor information on your ID card that we do not need, if you prefer), and all in the same / single photo:

• Your face, unobstructed
• A government-issued identification card (we will not accept temporary cards or papers), which must include the following in a legible and readable manner (everything else can be censored):
  • Your face / photo ID, and it must be similar to your actual IRL face
  • Your birth date, which must match the birth date you set on your profile, and must indicate you are at least 18 years old
  • The date the card was issued, and the date the card expires; the card must be valid
  • Any and all security features of the card which prove the card's authenticity, such as holograms, seals, logos, etc.
• A piece of paper, which you must hand-write the following information in a legible manner (other methods such as typing are not acceptable):
  • Your Midwest Nudists username
  • A 13-character Verification Code which is given to you on the form

Retention

Once you have satisfied the verification requirements, you will be granted the ability to upload files / multimedia. While you can now upload media, keep in mind that you are only allowed to upload media containing yourself; if other people are present, there are special rules surrounding that which may require you get written and documented consent. Please see the Terms and Conditions for more information (Section 11).

The photo you used to verify will be kept on record until your ID expires. You can request for us to delete it via a Support Ticket, but this means you will no longer be verified. It is important that when submitting your verification photo, that you change the "Visible to" option in Privacy Settings to "Myself only". Otherwise, other members will see your verification photo.

Your verification photo entry will automatically expire when your government-issued ID expires. At that point, the restrictions listed above will go into effect again until you re-verify with your updated government issued ID.

Help! I do not see the nag message!

If you do not see a message inviting you to get verified, then you are probably already verified. If you still cannot upload attachments / files / images, and you are not in probation (you will know if you received a Terms of Service violation message), then please let us know by opening a Support Ticket. It's probably a bug in that case.

Staff will get notified on a regular basis by the website software for content that needs reviewed for accuracy. This is via a feature called "Periodic Content Reviews". This feature is also available to members on some types of content if members would like to be reminded to review content for accuracy at a later or recurring date.

Spam has been a major problem on many websites, including other nudist websites. Therefore, we have a few systems in place to help significantly reduce spam:

Account Registration

New members must answer an open-ended question about their interest or involvement in nudism. These responses are manually reviewed by site staff. And new members cannot log in until they are approved.

The open-ended nature of this question means an answer cannot simply be searched online; the member must put in at least a little effort to write a passable answer. Considering this is a nudist website, we find it unlikely a legitimate spammer will be able to mimic a nudist with a good nature in their response.

Identity and Age Verification

Members by default do not have permission to upload multimedia or attachments; they must go through an age / identity verification process to get this permission. The full details are outlined in our Terms and Conditions. This safeguard ensures those who upload media, especially if anyone is nude, are at least 18 years old, and are only uploading media of themselves (unless others gave them written consent). It also deters spammers from being able to immediately spam the site with inappropriate media. 

Content Submissions

We have some automatic safeguards in place to help us reduce the amount of spam on Midwest Nudists:

• On every submission of a form, we run a check of the member's IP address with the Stop Forum Spam and Project Honey Pot IP blacklists. If the IP is listed, then either their submissions will require approval, they won't be able to submit anything, or they will be IP-banned entirely, depending on the threat level.
• On every page, we have hidden scripts from Project Honey Pot that humans cannot see and would never normally follow. If it is followed, the visitor is almost certainly a spam bot and will get listed on Project Honey Pot's blacklist.
• On every form, we have hidden fields that humans don't see and would not fill out. If any of these fields are filled out (usually by a bot), then the submission is flagged as spam and action is taken.
• On every submission of a form, antispam heuristics are run on the submission to determine the likelihood the submitted content is spam. If the confidence level meets certain thresholds, action will be taken.

When the website software determines someone to potentially be a spammer, one of three actions will be taken automatically:

• The content will be hidden and flagged for moderator approval, if the antispam system thinks the submission might be spam but is not confident.
• The attempt to submit content will be outright blocked if the antispam system is confident that it is spam.
• The attempt will be blocked and the IP address will be banned automatically if the antispam system is so confident that it was a spam submission that no reasonable person would ever submit something like that.

Report System

And of course, we have the report system as a last resort; no antispam system is perfect. Everywhere are report links and buttons which allow you to submit violating content to the staff for review. Please help us keep Midwest Nudists spam-free, and you will be rewarded!

You can change which site theme you want to use on your user profile:

1. Go to your profile at https://midwestnudists.org/site/pg/members/view
2. Click the Edit tab at the top
3. In the Settings sub-tab (left on desktop, under the main tabs on mobile), scroll down to Theme.
4. Change the theme to whichever one you wish to use and then click Save at the bottom.

Note: The theme you choose is only in effect when you are logged in. When not logged in, the site uses the "Sunset" theme.

Members can communicate with staff via Help > Contact Us, or by emailing [email protected]

Patrick Schmalstig (one of the founders) is a lead developer and can fix bugs promptly when reported.

Staff are verbose about their expectations and decisions

Staff actively engage in the community

Anything can be reported to staff (via report links) if it violates the rules

We have several disciplinary tools at our disposal to handle troublemakers; this allows us to be flexible and not have to ban someone for minor violations

New members require staff approval before they can first log in

The software uses many anti-spam heuristics to keep spammers out; members can report anyone who gets through

We have a verification process to upload any media to help prevent unsolicited media of others getting uploaded

We do not distribute or sell data without prior written consent of our members

Members have control over their data and can download or purge it from their profile

We run free and open source software so we aren't under the governance of another company and their data-collecting habits

The full source code of the software / website is publicly viewable (see description for a link)

Member content cannot be seen without logging in, and members can further control visibility

We have hotlinking protection on our images and media

We do our best not to rely on third party companies where possible to minimize data collection and having to follow restrictions we cannot control

New members are screened so we can keep most of the spammers out

The site has many anti-spam heuristics to further prevent spam on the site

Any spam that makes it past the heuristics can be reported by members

We are open and transparent about the site operations via news posts and newsletters

Members have decision making power

We publicly post quarterly reports of where any form of financial income / donations is spent

We are verbose about our community expectations and are proactive on violations

We publicly make the source code of the website available on GitLab (see description for a link)

All core website features are available for free to every member

Some features may be restricted, but it's based on activity (ranks); the more content you contribute, the more you unlock.

A few non-essential services, mostly targeted for clubs / venues, are available for a fee to help fund the site expenses.

Anything that can be purchased with money can also be purchased with points from your site contributions.*

We're free of the atmosphere of dating and sex

We don't use premium accounts or dating-like profile fields / features

We are not affiliated with any adult websites or groups

We require age and identity verification to upload media

Discuss a wide range of nudist topics, share experiences, ask questions, plan events, and more.

Communicate privately with other users via Private Topics

Conduct polls

Vote on or discuss proposed decisions for the website

Learn many different topics of nudism from beginners to long-time nudists

Contribute your own material to the Wiki

Discuss the topics in the Wiki in dedicated forums

Test your knowledge through optional quizzes for rewards