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12

Mature Blogs

  1. luvandjoy
    Member

    Being put on the "mature" blog list seems to have several effects on a blog. Not only are you no longer a featured blog/post (I thought that was all that happened), readers can't find you through tags, and they can't find you through search engines either. That's brutal. Basicly no new readership for the average Joe.

    To make WordPress a more fair and friendly place for mature blogs I suggest the following:

    Make it like over at YouTube where they have a page pop up warning of “mature” content, and if you’re still interested, they sign up and say “let me in” and boom, you’re in there.

    make it a toggle switch in the dashboard, kind of like what Google has. If you don’t want your results to be filtered, you turn the filter off. It’s as easy as that.

    Thank you for your time, and I hope your cooperation.

  2. raincoaster
    Member

    What you say about Featured Blogs/Posts is correct, as is what you say about tag/category searches. When you say, however, that you are no longer visible to search engines you are incorrect. You do lose googlejuice because you're not on the tag pages anymore, but there is no interference with search engines as far as I know.

    Basically, getting your blog rated Mature means you're on a par with the visibility of a Blogger blog, and better than a Tumblr blog.

  3. raincoaster
    Member

    Also: In future, please refrain from spamming blogs with the contents of your posts in the forum.

  4. rcwats
    Member

    I can't find any of my newer posts via search engine @ http://hateandanger.wordpress.com but I can find older posts. Just saying it like I see it happening. Looking for a good fix for everyone, bloggers and readers. And putting out a real message, with real meaning isn't SPAM.

  5. dcairns
    Member

    I agree with rcwats: since "adult" content can mean a lot of things besides pornography, I wouldn't want to see serious blogs with stuff to say censored in any way. I would like to be able to warn people that there may be content not intended for children, without limiting the ability of genuinely interested adult readers to find or access the blog.
    So far as I know nothing offensive or disreputable has appeared on my blog, but somebody might randomly disagree and then I'd be losing readers...

  6. rcwats
    Member

    Exactly. :)

  7. dutchkids
    Member

    Having read rcwats blog, there is nothing I find on his Hate and Anger site that I consider too mature for my 12 and 11 yr old to read... that is my opinion, and I realize there are some who would disagree. It is not right that someone who labels themself as the "moral police" are making that decision for me.

    I agree, with you rcwats, and I hope WordPress can find a fix for this as well.

  8. rcwats
    Member

    Mature or not isn't the issue, it's equal access to all blogs on WordPress, but thank you for your support dutchkids. ;)

  9. mark
    Support

    http://hateandanger.wordpress.com/

    At the top of the left sidebar it says
    This blog is rated NC-17
    XXX
    *ADULTS ONLY*

    Now given the blogger has written that, and that those words effectively mean 'Mature' how am I supposed to act? Do I disagree?

    And I'm not the moral police - I'm the person that receives all the complaints and from those makes a decision. It's not like I go hunting for them.

    If you can write a definition of Mature that is perfectly usable, we'll use it. But seeing as I haven't found anything on any site that does not have a subjective element then we are stuck with what we have.

  10. rcwats
    Member

    And, raincoaster, forgive me if I didn't get all of the facts 100% correct. I'm sure you still wouldn't want to get wacked with the "mature" label. Who want's depleated googlejuice anyway. :P

  11. mark
    Support

    A Mature blog is NOT blocked from search engines.
    It's only effect is to remove links to it from the tags system.

  12. rcwats
    Member

    mark, you can't judge a book by it's cover, even if the cover says XXX, but in my case you probably can, but still, there's got to be a better way. Some good suggestions were made above. Let's see if we can't do something about it that everyone (or most) can agree on.

  13. rcwats
    Member

    it still makes it harder to find the posts with the search engines, REALLY HARD!!! But I did check (cause I gotta know for myself) and you're absolutely right.

  14. rcwats
    Member

    I would gladly put the "mature" label on myself if I knew readers who wanted to could still find me.

  15. rcwats
    Member

    I'm sure other's would as well.

  16. mark
    Support

    If you want to discuss matters on your blog and do so in what some would call a 'robust manner' then fine, and your content really is not that bad, that's okay - get rid of that logo :)

  17. rcwats
    Member

    It's there for CYA purposes. I wouldn't want kids reading some of it, even if it only gets PG-13. I'd rather keep the "mature" label, and my sweet logo ;) Can't WordPress come up with some kind of adult/mature filter? That would make the world a better place for bloggers and readers alike.

  18. rcwats
    Member

    Mark, please get the above suggestions to the right person.

  19. manchesterorthodontics
    Member

    Hello,
    I am Dr. Ovais Malik - and I am a forum spammer.

    [Minor edits - Mark]

  20. rcwats
    Member

    Hey raincoaster, that's spam! ^^^

  21. luvandjoy
    Member

    Good looking out, Mark. LOL

  22. romi41
    Member

    I hope something will be done; my primary way of finding blogs is via tags, and I wouldn't want to not find one because it is "mature", since I can certainly decide for myself if I want to read it.

    PS: how do you know if your blog has been labeled mature? I

  23. mark
    Support

    "how do you know if your blog has been labeled mature? "

    Send in a support and we will say.

  24. mbray07
    Member

    This is one reason HIV/AIDS is an epidemic within the minority communities: lack of knowledge. As a sex educator, teens state, to me, they're more likely to seek sexual health info from the internet than parents, relative, library, etc.. WordPress, you are guilty of stifling critical thinking amongst youth. Try teaching a freshman college class and experience the non-existence of critical thinking ability amongst our future leaders. It's SCARY! Therefore, release the "mature" hold and allow education and critical thinking to take place. This is why our American ed. system is laughable when compared to most countries. Wake up WordPress!

    I strongly concur, "...make it like over at YouTube where they have a page pop up warning of “mature” content, and if you’re still interested, they sign up and say “let me in” and boom, you’re in there.
    The other idea is to make it a toggle switch in the dashboard, kind of like what Google has. If you don’t want your results to be filtered, you turn the filter off. It’s as easy as that."

    I'm appalled. Yes, lets do our duty to pass this info along.

  25. oakies
    Member

    I agree with WordPress' decision. "Mature" content available freely on the internet promotes addictive and abusive behaviors regarding pornography and sex -- especially violence against women and children. I believe readers interested in finding "mature" material should seek it out, if they want it, and I applaud WordPress for helping to make mature content less immediately accessible to everyone -- children, adolescents, and adults. For a full and fairly well balanced overview of the internet porn phenomenon, please see the excellent documentary Traffic Control. http://www.trafficcontrolthemovie.com/

  26. mark
    Support

    @mbray07:
    "As a sex educator, teens state, to me, they're more likely to seek sexual health info from the internet than parents, relative, library, etc.. WordPress, you are guilty of stifling critical thinking amongst youth."
    Internet, yes. Porn blogs, no.
    Knowledge is good but I am not going to start vetting blogs against what is or is not judged to be correct by certain organisations. What you seem to want is degrees of 'mature' and that is just impossible - at what point does education turn to porn? at what point does enjoyment turn to fetish? Should 'safe words' be discussed in the detailed context of their sexual use? Which pictures educate, which titillate and which disgust? And WordPress is international - it really can't be drawn into any comparison with any education system.
    There are blogs on here that advocate every possible sexual behaviour and I am not about to say "You are right" and "You are wrong".

    @Oakies:
    "I believe readers interested in finding "mature" material should seek it out, if they want it"
    Exactly.

    If someone wants "mature" material the rest of the internet is not exactly short of it.

  27. dutchkids
    Member

    "@Oakies:
    "I believe readers interested in finding "mature" material should seek it out, if they want it"
    Exactly.

    If someone wants "mature" material the rest of the internet is not exactly short of it. "

    Then allow people to find mature sites by allowing easier ability to search for such material using your tags, and then give a page to pop up that asks if they still want to continue on.

    This will help in the opposite spectrum as well... How many times have I been at work, looking through blogs, and stumble upon a mature site with pictures and profane words that I should never have pulled up. By marking the material as "mature" before I go into the site, it warns me that this may not be something I want to access at work.

  28. nobeluddy
    Member

    I am not sure if my blog Deviant Poetry is "mature" or not (despite the title.) I Never really thought about it. It contains poetry that is erotic in nature, but done (I think?) in a tasteful way. For the most part I do not use language common to your average porn site, or pictures. It does not take a rocket scientist, however, to figure out what I am talking about, and the themes are definitely adult. I started my site (this past week) as a personal yawn into the chasm of the internet. I am not promoting it as I figure that sooner or later the web bots and spiders will find it and the point will be moot. However, all of that being said, I do like the tag, category system that WP has set up. I like it so much that instead of hosting it myself as I have with other WP blogs I have created (WordPress.org), I would use a WordPress.com site to take advantage of the passive wordpress tag system.

    I realize that a filter system, or self regulated toggle, dances around the base issue of determining what is mature and what is not mature and who makes that determination. But since a "mature" label now effectively eliminates the tag system, and is outside the creator's control to dispute it or change it. I think that a dashboard pop-up or toggle filter would be a good middle ground for addressing both parties concerns; those wanting to see "mature" content (whatever that means) and those who do not.

    crawling back under my rock now...

  29. woowooteacup
    Member

    Quite the dilemma you've got on your hands, WordPress. However, we as blog writers have a dilemma, too. If I merely tag a blog post with the word "sex," does that automatically mean I have a mature blog? I have tagged a few posts in the past several days with that word, even thought not a single one of those post would be considered racy or pornographic. One deals with abstinence-only education, which my thirteen-year-old son is experiencing right now in school. Another deals with linking to an article about body image in girls. Another discusses how many hits my posts tagged with "sex" have been getting.

    My teenage daughter reads my blog and I'm not about to post something that is inappropriate. Of course, you've got to define "inappropriate." In our moralistic society, practically anything sex-related is inappropriate.

    In the end, we are at your mercy. Some sort of system like luvandjoy is suggesting would be helpful.

  30. raincoaster
    Member

    Look, rcwats, answering a post in the technical help forum is NOT a request for you to post exactly the same thing in my blog: have you posted it in Mark's? I think not. You took something you'd posted in your blog already, posted it here, then triplicated it in the comments on MY blog. That's spam.

    And if you're too dumb to find your own blog using Google, it's not my problem. Why are you searching for a self-described NC-17 blog with the Safe Search on anyway?

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