Lemon Issues

[Morrighan]

You're not old, Rose!!

I think you've done an excellent job of maintaining things as they are, Rose. And I agree with Andrea, this current method works well, and it's up to the more responsible users to remind others to follow the rules. If users choose to break the rules that were already clearly stated to them, then it makes sense if there were reprecussions to their irresponsible behavior (i.e. suspension of membership). As much as we would all like it, we can't control what everyone does or says on this forum. It sucks, but that's just how things are.

Bottom line is, if someone doesn't know what he/she can handle, then they can't complain to anyone if they read something that had lemon/lime content when there was a clear rating in the title and/or a warning in the actual chapter heading area. Enough's being done already to ensure that everyone will know what they're getting into when they click on a chapter. It's their fault for not reading the heading clearly and staying clear if they're not comfortable with that sort of thing.

[Beer-monster]

*tiptoes in with head low due to guilt over last years incident*

Um Rose...oh gracious, YOUNG, beautiful warlord *grovel*. Forgive me for saying this but doesn't this come under the category of "namby pambying?"

The lemons are (for the most part) clearly marked, both in the title and usually at the start of the story itself. A person would have to be incredibly stupid to accidently read a lemon - in which case its a miravle they can actually work a computer.

So we must assume that these young ragamuffins (what a word ) know what they are reading and choose to read it. In which case its there own damed fault...you've done all you can.

If parents don't want their kids reading that sort of stuff then they should do something about it. They wouldn't be so damned surpirsed if they just checked what their kids were looking at from time to time.
I swear these days it seems like many parents have forgotten whose job it is to look after their kids and steer them right.

Heres a clue: It's not the webmistresses.

Their I've said my piece and must run before Rose flogs me again

*skedaddles*

[melrose_stormhaven]

Oh. That incident. I can't believe it's almost been a year!

Personally, I'd prefer not to password-protect the NC-17 material. I don't see how it could help. It's a hassle to the readers, and we all know there a million ways to bypass passwords. I'd probably go for a separate NC-17 'folder' in each 'forum' and make that viewable only to members (if that's possible). Thus, this allows casual readers (non-members) to read fics but not be able to read the NC-17. (hehe...you could almost saying being able to read the NC-17 fics is a priviledge only for members...XD). Or as it was suggested a long time ago, we could put a java-code thingy...(You know...the one with the CyberNanny stuff)

Can anyone really 'accidentally' read a story that has been clearly marked as a lemon?

I think we've posted or given sufficient warnings about the content of the stories here and it's my personal opinion is that if a person hasn't seen them or doesn't pay attention to them, it's their own fault and it's their own choice. Rose, you are one of the most responsible webmistress I have ever encountered, and I think you've done everything you can on this matter. For me, you have done your part, and it is now up to the others (the readers and the parents) to do theirs. As I've always said, the internet is not a babysitter, and neither is it a parent.

And I agree with Morrighan on her views about irresponsible users. For most part, most of what happened last year was because some members acted irresponsibly. It wasn't a casual reader, but a member. I think we should pay a little more attention on who signs up as a member in BI. Don't get me wrong, I love the people here, but I think we need to be more alert about our own members and their actions. I know this undertaking would be hard, but prevention is the best cure, after all.

And Rose, you're NOT old. Just wise.

[hr]

well....PeRsONallY....i just agree with the MBF person...
What is the point in going through all that trouble when the underaged may find a way to access NC-17 material anyway? Wouldn't all that work into making a separate forum just be wasted?

Also?the underaged should have enough brains to avoid such material by now. It may be tempting but this is where responsibility and the "knowing if it is good or bad for them" would come in. If they get caught reading NC-17 by their parents, it is their fault for choosing to do so, is it not?

The forum as it is now is already labeled with the proper warnings and I think that is enough for the readers to know whether the contents is appropriate for their age.

But hey! This is just what I think lol

(I am not really aware of the incident that had occurred last year so if I have offended anyone in any way or form because of my opinion, I did not intend to.)

[Melville's Best Friend]

I hate to be the one negative person here...but here's what I'm thinking: Even if you password-protected a forum, there would be minors reading the highly-rated fics. Because you would have to filter who could or couldn't have the password...and that would mean you'd have to know the age of everyone here. Which, even if they tell you, could all be a lie.

And by making it member's only, you're allowing the still under-aged people to view this R rated stuff.

For me, locking it up worked; I have a password protected R and NC-17 area on my site that I've given the password to those I know are over age. But, then again, I have, like, 10 people on my site, and you have over 2000? Yeah.

Basically, it comes down to the fact that people are reading what they want and parents will take it however they will take it. I think a lot of people here are thinking that this one incident that happened makes all parents stupid idiot jerks who should keep there kids off what they don't want their kids on. These are the same people who are under age and shouldn't be reading half the things they're reading.

People will do what they want to do, and that's it; that's all. Trying to contain it might prove impossible and stressful and you've got other things to worry about besides this. I can't tell you what choice to make because all of them have major drawbacks...but if whatever should happen again, you, from what I have seen, have taken this the right direction, and having the members aware of your rules should be enough to hold up in any arguement.

Good luck, God bless,

MBF

[Leia Avenrose]

Hrm.

Why not put a warning up before they enter the forums? I mean, in a big way... it's not YOUR responsibility to make these forums a children's safe playground, it's the responsibility of the parents to know what their children are doing on the internet and what they're looking at.

It's THEIR job, and if they find their underage children reading stories that are rated for people over the ages of 17-18, then they should just look at themselves before placing the blame completely on your shoulders.

If only their parents knew what their youngin's were doing on the oh-so deceitful internet...

Besides... the internet is full of far worse things then just a bunch of "naughty" stories, seriously.

Nevertheless... authors, including myself, are already marking their titles with the ratings. That should be a big enough clue to the underaged that if they don't meet the required age, then they shouldn't click the link. :p

(rambling at 4am is bad, mmkay?)

[Dark Deity]

Personally I agree with wicked.

It's a parents job to keep track of what their kids are doing,not yours. I don't see it as you'r responsibility as a web master to keep track and take care of other poeple's kids, not to mention adding another forum make smore work for you and is unfair to the rest of us who read anime specific fanfics, and don't want to dig for the anime we like in that NC-17 forum. And if you make an NC-17 forums for all your current forums.. man that's alot of work, and in the end i still think it's just not worth it, not because of a few screwy parents that don't know how to use parental controls, or are too picky about what their kid reads... bah!

alrighty.. well i am off to search ^_^!

[matisleonhart]

My view on it is not to password protect. As I put at the begaining of my fics, we the writer are not responsible for underage reader who know they should't be reading what there reading. plain and simple parents need to parent.

[GM1]

I've read all the comments so far... and I agree with most of them. However, I don't think you're going to accomplish much with a BBS. Ok, your time is limited and this is what you've got, but seriously, you might want to consider a MySQL backend with at least a php front end. That way you'll have much more flexibility with how you handle this issue.

I am not a fan of tastless lemons. And I come across them more frequently than I'd like. There is a difference between a story that contains a lemon and a story about a lemon. Now, I have the option to not read anything labled NC-17 as does everyone else when confronted with a posting that is properly labeled. It is personal resonsibility as to what you read and what you don't.

However, I wouldn't mind one extra click to get to a lemon verses a regular. In my opinion, strictly lemons ought to be placed in that category, but also searchable and categorized by Anime and Couple. You aren't going to get that with a BBS.

If I were at work, I would say that this is a prime example of bending an app to serve needs that were never meant to be met at design time. In my opinion, you either stick with what you've got or swtich platforms.

It's not going to protect curious eyes and you don't have that responsibility as others have said. You need to evaluate what your goals are in hosting this site and specifically what you want the users to be able to do.

[foole01]

I agree that those that want to read NC-17 will. I agree that parents should watch what their children read and view more closely.

I have nothing especially profound to say but, well....

I've been reading Gundam fanfiction since it first became popular (as most of you) several years ago. I started out at fanfiction.net and read just about everything. As you know, the site became more and more yaoi/yuri dominated (as well as the amount of young, very much "developing authors"). I stopped reading the main sight and sticked to browsing author favorite lists for decent stories.

I switched over to reading from strictly hetero sites like aishiteru (sp?) and blissfulignorance.

Again, gradually lemon-content increased in the reading pool. Even some of my favorite authors started to add it to their stories. I'm not sure why, I know that most of the readers are teenagers and are still in the bear-stage of our navajo life cycle (AKA horny and want to die) but that sort of content doesn't enhance the story. How many classics that you know of have a gratutious sex scene in them?

Yes it is my choice to read it or not, but be honest, the new stories with the best plot by the best authors usually have at least one lemon scene. It's like a cockroach in a burrito and it has made me loose my apetite.

I got tired of skimming chapters for quotation marks to let me know when the plot starts again. I stopped reading altogether several months ago. I come back every couple of months looking for something that might be good.

Okay, I know that I sound like a prude. I'm old. But sleeping around outside of marriage screws your life over and would rather not read about it.

If I'm not the only reader you've lost because of this. Please clean up your stories. Many of you are FABULOUS writers, but its not worth it.