problems considering forum content

[zebby-doitsu]

BOARD URL: emberflame55.proboards.com

PROBLEM: My problem is concerning forum content. You keep saying that anything PG13 is fine, but this confuses many people because they do not know what is considered PG13. I've looked stuff up on this, but there are still problems.

There is a ban on drug usage, though it says on many websites that when drugs are used, it is considered PG13. Excessive drug usage though may fall into another category. So it should be fine to roleplay this but not extensively.

Also, another thing concerning the PG13 rule. Rating something PG13 can be very complicated. You have to take in account the extent of the act, but also the amount of times it occurs. This is almost impossible to use on a roleplay site because if there is mild violence, but it occurs a lot, then it will automatically surpass PG13. I'm not going to argue against the sexual activity because I frankly don't care. I would not allow it on any of my forums anyway.

I just wanted to bring attention to this problem so that we can find a way to fix this. Because, I am sure, there are many plots on some websites that have been halted because of this confusion.

Thank you for your time :)

[CheatAreZee]

Hi

All forum content must be suitable for anyone aged 13 and above, and for such a reason, we give the "PG-13" guideline. If it's content you haven't seen in a PG-13 movie, then it likely isn't allowed. Also as a rule of thumb too, if it's content you have to question whether or not it's suitable for those aged 13, then it probably isn't. That's about as simply as I can put it *nod*

[( OMG!ASKARTH )]

but what about those of us that dont live in america. in the uk we dont have "PG13". i work with 13 year old kids, every child is different

the clarification is too broad, what some may consider fine for 13 year olds, you may not and could lead to people's sites being shut down. its far too open ended at the moment

[CheatAreZee]

May 18, 2010 13:06:12 GMT -8 ( OMG!ASKARTH ) said:

but what about those of us that dont live in america. in the uk we dont have "PG13". i work with 13 year old kids, every child is different

the clarification is too broad, what some may consider fine for 13 year olds, you may not and could lead to people's sites being shut down. its far too open ended at the moment

Okay, in UK terms, think 12A rating, as it's essentially the same.

[( OMG!ASKARTH )]

the 12A rating allows children under the age of 12 to see 12 rated films if a parent takes them. "robin hood" and "prince of persia" are both rated 12A, sure to contain violence, no? then at the over end of the scale, in the uk, "friends" is also rated 12 or 12A. its so broad and limits so much that admins are now going to be so scared of infringing on that rp sites will close

i'm not trying to argue or anything, i'm hoping you can see our points of view/concerns/confusion over all of this

[zebby-doitsu]

i understand what you're trying to say, but it does not solve the problem.

I think what ( OMG!ASKARTH ) was trying to say is that a lot of thirteen-year-olds have experienced a lot of the stuff past PG13 rating. Nowadays, people are exposed to sex, drugs, and violence every day. Younger children are exposed to a lot more than people think so it's hard to tell what is and what is not suitable for a site.

[Thesealion]

i don't think any violence should be bad...unless it goes WAY overboard...on a forum the fighting isn't what they are worried about

[CheatAreZee]

I think it's important to note that the new TOS hasn't changed much in regard to "adult content" on Proboards. We've always had the "PG-13" guideline for forums, so that hasn't changed at all. If your forum was fine before, chances are it's still good now. Just notice the difference between the violence in a PG-13/12A movie, like Robin Hood you named, and an R/15 rated film like 300. The violence in 300 is gore filled and very detailed, where as the violence in Robin Hood isn't as drawn out and mostly quick to the point.

[( OMG!ASKARTH )]

my sites have always been fine, my members are for the most part over the age of 16, many are older than that and have kids themselves etc. like i said, i'm not looking for fights or whatnot, i just felt it should be mentioned that there needed to be better clarification for those of us that dont live in the usa

thank you for your time ricky

[J-HAIR]

I can understand that you guys here need to crack down on certain things but would not roleplay sites like Buffy, Supernatural, True Blood,Vampire Diaries, shows that normally had to be aired after a certain time due to the extent of their violence/gore/sexual content and so on be considered a violation of the proboards TOS?

[CheatAreZee]

I'll reiterate what I said earlier: if you have to question if something is against the rules, then it probably is.

And if you see forums that are out of line, feel free to report them via our abuse page. (though keep in mind, shows like Buffy and Supernatural are given a TV13 rating, equivalent to PG-13).

[zebby-doitsu]

If our forums were fine before, then I don't understand the need to check every one as the one thread said the proboards admins were going to. Checks like these also cause admins of the forums to question everything about their site. People panic and fear that their boards will be deleted if they have drug use or violence, even if it is a small amount.

This happened on my site. We had some violence since there was a war on there. And we also had a few people addicted to drugs. We deleted almost everything on the site because we feared we might be violating the TOS. But it turns out we most likely weren't. We didn't clearly understand the extent of the rules so we panicked and got rid of everything, fearing that we might get banned.

I'm not putting the blame on any of the admins, just saying that the rules should be more clearly stated to prevent things like this from happening.

[CheatAreZee]

I can assure you, we're not going through each individual forum out of random to look for TOS violations, that would be near impossible to do with the size of our staff vs the number of forums we host. We look into forums that are reported to us.

And if you're talking about the rules for the Advertising section here on support, that's being run by Kami and Artemis, not by the ones in charge of handling terms of service reports. If Kami sees something that might violate the TOS, then she will report it through the same abuse page anyone else would see. But just because a report is made doesn't mean the forum is going to be instantly removed.

[Kami]

I also recommend you re-read that thread. =] I do specify that the report will be filed by the board staff here on this forum, not the company of ProBoards Inc [the admins here]. =]

[J E Z E B E L L Z ? !]

I read all this last night and I'm still a bit confused about it all. Maybe I'm a bit slower than most, but I hope that you can bear with me and not get too pissed at me x]

First of all, I'm from Holland, so here we have the same rating as the UK, but also a bit different I think. If it's what you say that, PG-13 is the same as the 12 rating is here, then a lot of things that I thought were no longer allowed are still allowed.

For example, here the Titanic is rated twelve, there's violence in it and also nudity and sex. But none of it is excessive, so does that mean that as long as you keep it to a minimum, as in, not all threads are mature and it's not complete porn that it is allowed?

Sex and the City, movie and show, is rated 12 here as well. We all know there's a lot of sex in it, so that should be allowed on boards then, seeing as you said that if it could be in something that's PG-13 it is allowed?

I'm just trying to figure everything out so that I can get it right and I can figure out what advice to give my members that do still want mature threads.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out if sex, drugs and violence is really ALL banned or should just be kept to a minimum. And if it should be kept to a minimum does that mean that the descriptions/writing should be less graphic, or just that not that many threads are allowed to be mature?

Thanks for your time <3