My Take on "Adult Content" Labeling
Dec. 2nd, 2007 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosIt's taken me a couple of days to formulate my thoughts about the adult content self-flagging, and I've appreciated reading the posts others have made on the topic.* I find it interesting that no one on any of my friends lists have had anything positive to say about it.
What I've found, after temporarily changing the settings of another LJ of mine to "Adult Content" is that it doesn't do anything to protect children. (No surprise, really.) All it does is demand that someone clicking onto that blog select one of two buttons: "I'm old enough to read this stuff", or "Get Me Out of Here."
There is nothing to prevent the precious little darlings from clicking and reading -- and I'm sure 6A is well aware of this. It's not protection for the children, it's CYA for 6A.
What bugs me the most is that there is equal "protection" for children in a situation where members of the LJ community practice simple respect and use LJ Cuts whenever they are posting text or images that could be disturbing or offensive to others -- not just underage kids. Go ahead and and post the stuff, just do it in a way that allows everyone to choose.
This isn't just about sex. Someone on another f-list recently posted an image of their own infected spider bite. I was scrolling down the page and suddenly there it was. Not "adult content" but definitely something I didn't want to see and resented having pushed into my face. I like looking at some of the adult content on LJ -- but I appreciate it when it's behind a cut, so I can choose whether or not to click if the wolfling -- or my parents! -- are nearby.
Then there's my pet peeve that "adult content" has come to mean content that's offensive to mainstream sensibilities, rather than material that's thoughtful, complex, or deep. I wish there was more of that kind of "adult content" on LJ!
*Flagging the posts of others is a separate topic, one I was immediately against.
What I've found, after temporarily changing the settings of another LJ of mine to "Adult Content" is that it doesn't do anything to protect children. (No surprise, really.) All it does is demand that someone clicking onto that blog select one of two buttons: "I'm old enough to read this stuff", or "Get Me Out of Here."
There is nothing to prevent the precious little darlings from clicking and reading -- and I'm sure 6A is well aware of this. It's not protection for the children, it's CYA for 6A.
What bugs me the most is that there is equal "protection" for children in a situation where members of the LJ community practice simple respect and use LJ Cuts whenever they are posting text or images that could be disturbing or offensive to others -- not just underage kids. Go ahead and and post the stuff, just do it in a way that allows everyone to choose.
This isn't just about sex. Someone on another f-list recently posted an image of their own infected spider bite. I was scrolling down the page and suddenly there it was. Not "adult content" but definitely something I didn't want to see and resented having pushed into my face. I like looking at some of the adult content on LJ -- but I appreciate it when it's behind a cut, so I can choose whether or not to click if the wolfling -- or my parents! -- are nearby.
Then there's my pet peeve that "adult content" has come to mean content that's offensive to mainstream sensibilities, rather than material that's thoughtful, complex, or deep. I wish there was more of that kind of "adult content" on LJ!
*Flagging the posts of others is a separate topic, one I was immediately against.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-02 07:11 pm (UTC)I support it. I think I am one of the few.
I like adult content on LJ. I do not like porn, but I do like intelligent posts and debating about sex, and sex-related subjects.
I do not write about sex very often myself, but sometimes I do, and I like to read what my friends read about sex.
I don't want children to be confronted with posts about sex.
Now what LJ offers is a way to put a label on your own posts so that yu can write about sex, without confronting underaged with it.
Of course there were other ways to do this. We could make friends-only posts (which I do by default) or you could make an LJ-cut and warn people for what is behind the LJ-cut.
I find LJ-cuts extremely usefull. For several purposes. When posting a lot of pictures, an LJ-cut protects those with slow internet connections. When posting long personal stories, or stories with controversial content, an LJ-cut protects those not interested. And it also works with posts about sex. The good thing about an LJ-cut, is that people decide for themselves what they want to read and what not.
The "adult content" flag is just a new addition to the possiblities that already existed. It is not something revoluationary new. I think it is a good idea.
I don't think I will use them myself though. As I said before, most of my posts as friends-only anyway, and all of my LJ friends are adults as far as I know. So it won't make any difference if I mark my posts as "adult only".
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-02 08:01 pm (UTC)LJ cut is the way to go. Some of us browse from the office.