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Possibly Related and Mature blogs

  1. mark
    Staff

    If Mature blogs appear in your 'Possibly related' posts, this is not our fault.

    Mature blogs are excluded from those results. Every day I have people ask for their blog to be made mature. They are responsible people who care as much for what they want to do as people who may read their blog.
    And every day blogs are reported that are Mature but have chosen not to self-report. they are doing this for the traffic from the tags pages and they don't care about what anyone sees.
    There have been bloggers who have been made Mature and come to the forum annoyed and saying that we are censors, it is their right to be in tags and that I'm some sort of prude. Do you want your blog linked to one with an 'anal sex' category? It's surprising how many people will say the blogger is right.
    The person to blame here is the blogger who chooses not to self-report. (Enough people find it so it's not exactly hidden).

    If you see one, use the Report as Mature in the right side of your admin bar. Your report will be seen, the blog will be checked and if it is appropriate it will be marked Mature. Those reports are checked several times a day every day of the week. And if anyone doubts this - just ask here. There are plenty of people who will support this.

  2. dissfunktional
    Member

    I'm going to go look for sex.
    I'll let wordpress know when I find it.
    Talk to you soon Mark, I expect a snarky email this time. ;)

  3. raincoaster
    Member

    Pal, if you're looking for sex online you've got a LOT of company.

  4. dissfunktional
    Member

    come aboard. i'm finding a lot of junk to get off
    (off of wordpress)

  5. raincoaster
    Member

    I'm thinking that since the upgrade, probably the incidences of unreported Mature and Spam blogs have increased, because Latest Posts is now waaaaay at the bottom of the Dashboard page. I mean, it always was, but now all the useful stuff is above it and I never seem to scroll down that far. I did used to click to Dashboard after posting and check Latest Posts to see if my post would show up or there was a problem, but now it takes far too long to hit Publish and then get to the Dashboard, so I never bother.

    I can't be the only one not encountering Latest Posts as often. It was really useful, because very often the title was a total giveaway about what to expect.

    It might be an idea to make an intro to Mature status part of the beginners resources at WP.com. I constantly encounter people who are floored by it; this kind of division doesn't exist at many other platforms, and it's not something they expect.

  6. raincoaster
    Member

    Anyway, the point of the above is that this underreporting led to a proliferation of unreported Mature blogs, and this Related Post issue has just exposed it, that's all.

  7. raincoaster
    Member

    Since Matt closed the other thread, there's nowhere else to report this:

    One post on my blog has five links. I have no issue with that, but two of them are to the same article, on the NYT. That's annoying. The links themselves are different, but the article is the same one.
    http://raincoaster.com/2007/09/20/nekkid-bear-in-a-hammock/

  8. mark
    Staff

    If you send those into Support we'll check them out and use what we find to improve the feature.

  9. scopettg
    Member

    Hi all!

    Actually, this is a rather subjective matter. For adults talking about Obamama's sexual preference, or Clinton's mistress gossips, or genders' issues, or even Spears' underwear exposed, this are probably 'mature' to children, but normal for even teens. So we have an issue here with what is 'mature'. To China readers, there is a HUGE gap among them on what is mature. And to most mature adults, porns are mature, describe the intercourse is mature, but to some mums, even Prince Charming kissing Cinderella in bed is mature.

    If we go by system check, I have mentioned I think in Raincoaster's blog, I'm going to wreck the cussing-o-meter by flooding 'fuck' in my blog, which are actually harmless and mean harmless generally.

    My concern is pretty simple, how is it to be fair to rate what is mature in blogging because blogging itself can be just some sort of 'trying out new expressions' and such. And we cannot presumeably make everyone happy of what all of us shall find acceptable or not to others.

    Allow me to suggest that we place blogs which are really hardcore for the purpose of being hardcore as mature, lest the immature reports everything higher than the heel of Snow White to be mature.

    I suppose it is the rights of those readers to read and exit as the rights of the bloggers to just blog. Since mature or not is very subjective, unless it is real hardcore with penis and intercourse shown or described in action, for eg, we should let the bloggers handle the publicity.

    Eva Mendes is known to be walking naked at home and even in her gardens, so I heard. To me, that's ok a sight. I'd think that's beautiful a sight. To most, that's maybe mature or too gross. But I doubt people should call the police to address her lifestyle. We even have statues of kids peeing in public...

    It's just concludes on really how do we handle stigma which is not really necessary in the first place. Isn't it?

  10. ellaella
    Member

    Interesting points and of course it's subjective. In the Landmark US Supreme Court decision on pornography (Jacobellis v. Ohio 1964), Justice Potter Stewart said, quite famously, I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

  11. pornstarbabylon
    Member

    Would a feature like this be in the future for related posts within our own blogs? That would be a cool feature.

  12. mark
    Staff

    @scopettg - I have asked here before for someone to write a definitive guide to what we should follow. To date none have been submitted because it's just about impossible.

  13. scopettg
    Member

    Hi all!

    In short, I suppose what we do have is a crisis of 'immature', not about mature.

    In a way, if we need to entertain to the minimum expected variance on this 'mature' issue, most of the innocent blogs will be shot down as mature.

    In China, a star wearing swimsuits without Britney style of visibility can be described as 'overexposed' or 'erotic'?! But of cos, in the same China, many find that normal.

    Now Singapore may be a cosmopolitan, but you'd find hilariously that many can't understand what is 滥交 (having sex with many partners like having games... check your dictionary please.). And the newspaper explanation by the counsellors was shocking (very poor understanding)!

    Yeah, Ellaella said it there... I know it when I see it... So what does one know for what he or she sees?

    If I move to become neighbor of Eva Mendes and she was sitting on her balcony with only her panties, to me that's not hardcore. If she whistles at me, should I see that as 'mature'? LOL*.

    It's really how you see it. Or in chinese's saying, it's how dirty you are in real. If you are dirty minded, those statues laying around France with penis hanging and virgins with breasts full and naked will be making France and many parts of the world with such display porno cities.

    I think there is a need to distinguish what is real hardcore, and what is just plain expression or art, hence to really be fair on what should be rated as mature. I have ever seen woman naked in art shows, but I don't think that 'excited' me the wrong way because I see that as a beautiful sight. If we rate harmless sites as mature, what about real hardcores?

    Just my personal view on this.

    Scope.

  14. scopettg
    Member

    Hi Mark!

    Which is why you hold a respectable job, and I salute you. Actually, I am not bootlicking you, I have found you most reliable since I started with wordpress.

    I suggest that since people's perception may be different, for those bloggers you might not have trusted or get to understand and you took action to rate them, at least allow them to 'protest' and explain themselves.

    If they can provide a minimum reasonable 'defence', then just 'release' them within your authority.

    Of cos, the problem is... this could be alot of additional job for a team.

    I am just sharing my experience online. Yes. This issue is really very... subjective. And people can get very agitated. I know. But Mark, that's the beauty of blogging. People are different, and blogs become colorful. I suppose the best line is this:
    Those who mark others' blog as mature can choose to reject acessing those blogs; but those bloggers who have being hence rated by you will be mad.

    So the best, in my opinion, is to exercise the minimum of censorship. Because most of those who dislike will just argue with those bloggers, why should WordPress be involved? They may be arguing because of other hidden agenda and not really because they find the blog offensive. WordPress shouldn't be the tool or victim by enraging users.

    Let them handle their own publicity. Besides, if it is real hardcore, I am sure the team will know.

    Scope.

  15. marcys
    Member

    I'm in a bind. I occasionally post erotic stories that are by any standard mature, but since my entire blog isn't--I write about baseball, motherhood, politics, disability, etc.--I don't want it classified mature. (And I don't want a separate blog, because, frankly, I do benefit from visitors to the erotica who read other posts.)

    In the old design, I used to put the erotica on an untitled page so it did not show up under Posts OR Pages; then I'd make a post with the Erotica title, with a warning to under age people, and a click-thru to the story (I know; kids can click thru, but this may discourage them.) Since the redesign, I have been unable to do it this way, I don't know why; but the Page just would. not. post. I had to put it onto a post, so it now shows up everywhere. Of course, I categorized and tagged it Adult, Sex, X-Rated, etc.

    Also, for the first time since I'm using WP--almost two years--"Related Posts" showed up at the bottom of this post! Why? I don't want these at all!

    I'm having so many problems with the new design!!

  16. scopettg
    Member

    Hi Marcys!

    That's why we have such a discussion here, because certain people can be very agitated like those islamic PAS in Malaysia where I heard you can't even have girls q-ing up with guys in supermarket...?! And you can imagine how your blog will be seen to those PAS controlled state/s.

    And if the entire party supporters surf from Malaysiakini (another wordpress site) and flag you, you die.

    Basically speaking, on stories which are erotical... we have many dvds on sales or movies in cinemas which could be way more erotica. Imagine your story to real boobs and underwear and kissing in the cheerleader movies (can't recall the titles) <u>meant for teens</u>! Even Princess Diaries series have 'erotic' parts, with Hathaway almost naked or you know... in some scenes. And for children, they go to watch X-men, they have all the gores going on, with blood and such. That includes the infamous and education 'Brave hearts'. I am sure kids will be brought to cinemas or be watching DVDs as Orlando Blooms touched the princess in erotic moments in the Trojan movie, and 300 is obviously with gore and erotic.

    The game Fallout 2, especially, and now having a WordPress Fallout blog is full of sexually mature materials. Do we banish Fallout blog for such association that could promote Fallout series, esp 2. All the game series have gores~!

    We should let Mark and his team decide on this because, after all, our blogging is personal while the current exposure to other media is public. It is somehow an issue we have to decide on whether those public media where such erotics and gores are acceptable and actually exposed to even teens, but blogs' contents which are actually personal are unacceptable.

    I am sure many have gone to the beaches or even to Spain, or swimming pools. There is this picture (CGP) of mine blog with a Crystal Liu in sexy dressing. Do you think that is 'mature'? Now compare to you bringing your kids to see aunties walking about in G-strings, or tanning at beaches.

    For me, stars with sexy or naked display online or offline is normal sight. That's pretty 'normal' in the industry, to be honest. But to many, that's 'mature'. But I am sure many kids watched resident evil before... When Alice first recovered from her drug, she was naked, and you can see her breasts. Actually you can see her naked in almost every Resident evil series. And that is what kids are watching. That's 'not' hardcore.

    Given as such... I am really wondering how fair it is to rate blogs which are not really hardcore, but maybe creatively writing erotic stories or, you know, using 'fuck' and such in harmless manner to be rated mature. WordPress is not a children's site nor a nursery site. So while we are being fair to the underage, we are perhaps penalising the adults for their maturity... and we may be even promoting immaturity as a result.

    But adults should be mature. That's just nature.

    So what do you guys and gals think?

    Scope.

  17. scopettg
    Member

    Hi!

    Pardon me for the typo for I have to go quickly.
    And I do intent to offend anyone here, but to just present my point of views. :)

    If anyone is offended, please understand that it is not intentional. Thank you, and best of regards!

    Scope.

  18. feartheseeds
    Member

    Sorry if this has already been suggested, but could someone (WordPress) not just put a disclaimer on the "Possibly related posts" feature, just to let people know we bloggers are not not a) responsible for what people will find on the other end of the link and b) that we had nothing to do with choosing the links?

    The way it stands now it looks like we're (I am) recommending these "related posts"... mature or not, I don't want to write something about recovering from manic depression only to have an anti-psychiatry/medication link at the bottom of my post.

  19. bagelofeverything
    Member

    The ability to categorize our own blogs may help. My blog is chock full o' mature & crass humor. I'm the first to admit that links to my site do not belong on family blogs. I'd be glad to categorize it as 'mature', if I had the option to do so.

    Self-policing has been "part of the solution" for many industries.

  20. mark
    Staff

    @marcys - send in a Support, we'll help.

    @bagelofeverything - those that would be responsible will look for how we do it now and report their blog. Those that are not interested will not look and probably not mark their blog anyway. I do see what you are getting at but I think that alone it is as flawed as what we have now.

    @anyone - use the Report as Mature for your own blog if you have any questions about your own blog. Just reporting has no effect. The report is read, the blog checked and then action - if needed - is taken. And advice will be given if requested.

  21. bagelofeverything
    Member

    Perhaps if there was an incentive to mark one's blog as adult, people would be more apt to do so. 'NSFW' is a tag we often use to warn people about our content, but it seems to be a big referrer as well. Many adults seek out adult-oriented material. A special page for adult material could help promote it, as well as keep it out of the mainstream. Perhaps wp could do it by reserving a category.

    I'd very much like the new feature to include a warning that the links go to other blogs. We end many of our posts with "Related posts:". The similar wording is confusing to my readers. Calling it "Possibly related posts from other blogs" would solve my only problem with the feature, and be a step toward solving the issue of 'R' content on 'PG' sites.

  22. bagelofeverything
    Member

    Wait...I've just read the opening of this thread. Am I mistaken, or has it changed? I could have sworn this was a user created thread.

  23. raincoaster
    Member

    marcys, if you use the Porn or Sex tag, Mark has said you'll be excluded from global tag pages for THAT POST alone. Maybe it will work with Related Posts? Worth a try.

    I'm kind of in the opposite situation. I posted "Wet, Nude, Potty-Mouthed Beaver" yesterday. And it's from ICanHasCheezburger. My titles alone might freak people out.

    Bagel, there have to be three bakers' dozens of threads about this by now. A sticky would save everyone time.

  24. raincoaster
    Member

    Mark: I'd be happy to write up a handbook/guide; it's what I've done for a living for the last decade. But I do it for a LIVING. It's a bigger undertaking than can be managed on a thread, no matter how large.

    Of course, on a wiki...you could open-source it...

  25. dissfunktional
    Member

    a post link for some band called "wet wet wet" came up with that beaver post rain :)

  26. raincoaster
    Member

    Ha! Well then this thing is working pretty DAM well!

  27. bagelofeverything
    Member

    True dat, raincoaster. However, the change makes my first comment look like I ride the short bus.

  28. membracid
    Member

    Wait--
    "marcys, if you use the Porn or Sex tag, Mark has said you'll be excluded from global tag pages for THAT POST alone. Maybe it will work with Related Posts? Worth a try."

    As someone that works with mating disruption and ecology, that means several of my posts about insects are out of the system.
    I guess I won't use that tag anymore.

  29. raincoaster
    Member

    on the other hand, the Sex tag is great for hits....so it's up to you. They may not exactly be your target market, though.

  30. raincoaster
    Member

    Subtle. Nobody will notice that, good work.

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