Adult changes -- why really?

I am posting here to ask for some help in understanding and analysing the reasons for the adult content changes.

Please could you help me find all statements by the Lindens about why this is happening.

Please don't just contribute personal opinions and rumours. That will just bury this thread and make it not useful. I am just looking for actual quotes from Lindens with links if possible. I need attributable statements. Let's make a reliable list. Statements from non-Lindens who seem to have inside information would also be useful!

Also, I want statements about "why" not about "what" or "how". I don't think we are getting to the real reasons and I think we need to! I am very interested in statements about possible new residents (SL growth) or outside pressures on Linden Labs from governments or authorities or corporations.

Thank you!

The only statement I can really find it the one from the SL blog announcement at https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/blog/2009/03/12/upcoming-changes-for-adult-content:

So here they are claiming it is about what "some" residents would "rather not" encounter.

I'm currently analysing the "Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Motivations and Goals" thread /352/b6/311514/1.html and links from there.

Adult-oriented content controls FAQ https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=6032 says:

Some anlaysis. So here it is about "suitable", "enjoyable", and "predictable".

"Suitable" is a very vague word and entirely subjective and culturally relative. I'm not sure it is useful to think about.

"Enjoyable" would mean that LL thinks that "adult content" makes SL not enjoyable for some people.

"Predictable" is interesting. But I am guessing it is about residents not accidentally seeing things that would make LL less "enjoyable".

In this post /352/b6/311514/3.html#post2351458 Blondin Linden repeats "predictability" as the goal.

You need to search the forums and read the Stickies on the Adult Content changes and discussions.

You are starting from the beginning and have a lot of catching up.

Meta Linden's comment on the XStreet forums is revealing:


Source:

I came across this video yesterday, in which some business people bemoan the lack of "predictability" in SL (see especially Dusan Writer's comments half-way through and the presenter's closing comments).

http://slcn.tv/metanomics-unpredictable-spaces

The show is from early November, 2008, right in the middle of the OpenSpace fiasco. Interestingly, what these people wanted in the way of predictability was that LL wouldn't keep changing policy on a whim.

The questions below were from the Landowner Brownbag meeting and answered by Marty one of the LL legal team. However I would suggest listening to the audio as the transcripts seem to be missing bits etc.

Mimica, here's the list that Blondin provided before closing the Upcoming Changes thread. His responses to many questions are buried in the various forum threads, and I only wish I'd cut and pasted each of them at the time

@Briana Dawson: I think you miss my point a little. Of course I have searched and I have read a lot, but I am seeking to concentrate information about something very specific and there is a lot of other discussion about "how" and "who" and "what" and not much trying to find the real causes. I am digging and making my digging public so we can dig together.

@Argent, spinster, Lord: That is very relevant and revealing! This is just the stuff! Thank you.

@Waterstar: Exactly my point! I am searching for all Linden postings in the threads that are exactly revealing about motivations of Linden Labs, and will try to concentrate them here, but it would be very helpful if you could follow those links in your list and look for motivations. Most of those links are about details of implementation, and not what I am looking for.

It's due to people listing adult content in PG search. Search is the driving force behind this policy.

"Mo' Money! Mo' Money! Mo' Money!"

Another source of Linden quotes on this subject is the 28 April Educators' Roundtable--which is apparently a weekly event distinct from some Linden adult content brownbag(s) held with Educators. A roundtable transcript is at http://homepage.mac.com/jessid/slroundtable/090428.html . (Unfortunately, most of these quotes are "hearsay": resident-relayed voice chat. )







On the surface, that's all consistent with the purported objective of enhanced "predictability" for folks like educators, administrators, and students. (Pathfinder's quoted claim that "a classroom is a private space" is a bit astonishing, if it really means what it seems to say.)

It's interesting that they go to some pains to clarify that it wasn't driven solely by educators, and (as usual) emphasize that some adult content providers asked for something that LL has chosen to interpret as support for this initiative. To wit:

One bit of "spin analysis": In most quotes, LL has been claiming that the policy is in response to requests from Residents, but as mentioned in another thread* such requests are really supposed to be prioritized according to jira input, and there's a paucity of even marginally relevant jiras, with underwhelming votes. So that makes the _potential_ resident (as in Meta's XstreetSL post, cited above by Argent) a much preferable source of purported requests.

The latter claim has the advantage of being undisprovable by any facts knowable outside Linden Lab.

________
*See, e.g., .

While I tend to actually believe LL when they say it's not the driving force, there is of course several interviews where M and (in particular) Philip talk about merging teen and main grid.

But related, at the March 19th office hour, Blondin pretty much explicitly stated that (part of) the reason was to avoid that the teens who've sneaked unto main grid see anything:

[15:34] Blondin Linden: we've gotten a lot of concerned comments about unexpectedly encountering adult content [from] a lot of residents - both professional and daily users. Its an issue that started out relatively small but as SL grows and the technology advances, we're better able to adress this concern that has also grown
[15:36] Tali Rosca: It seems a very brute-force way to do this two-way split, rather than work on some of the Jira suggestions for actually "letting residents control their experience". Why *this* version of a solution?
[15:37] Blondin Linden: the idea behind a continent comes from the question of how do we keep unverified users away with the abilities of cam controls
[15:37] Blondin Linden: any answer would have to take this into account
[15:37] Tapple Gao: is teeen second life not enough of a solution?
[15:38] Blondin Linden: no because there are many teens already in SL
[15:38] Blondin Linden: on the maingrid


Weirdly, at the same office hour, Blondin also answered:
[15:41] Blondin Linden: [15:39] Talarus Luan: IE, are people complaining about griefers, or are they going where they more or less shouldn't be, according to their own "broadly offensive" settings? Griefing has a lot to do with it

and gave the follow-up non-answer:
[15:46] Blondin Linden: [15:42] Talarus Luan: If griefing has a lot to do with it, you're not attacking the problem. ANSWER - we deal with griefers the best we can.

And a further comment on the previous topic of camming:
[15:50] Blondin Linden: 15:47] Tali Rosca: Blondin, you mentioned that *unverified* accounts camming around was a particular problem. It sounds like there is a hidden concern there about minors on the grid here? If so, why has this angle not been mentioned *at all* in any announcements or posts? ANSWER - I don't know But the ability to cam around and see things from far away is an issue we have to concern ourselves with
([15:51] Tali Rosca: No it isn't. If people go snooping, it's their own damn fault!)

Which makes the whole "Adult content is okay in private homes...", rather senseless since they are not removing the ability to cam through walls or over great distances and are not separating PG and Mature. (atleast they better not be removing the camming option lol)

I guess if SL really is to become the 3D internet of the future the main ares must not look like Porntopia and must be family friendly for corporations to be interested.
Most of the main continents looks PG anyway, just shops, roads & houses...........
Or I suppose they could try making a new continent and force all the non-adult landowners / builds to it and make the curent mainland adult verified only instead.

I'd completely missed this. It is indeed weird, and seems to suggest that LL thinks this policy somehow will help with the griefing problems. Could they possibly imagine that obscenity griefers will be drawn to the Adult regions so as to "fit in"--as opposed to targeting the now squeaky-clean Mainland where their work will really stand out?

There is an assumption that Blondin knew what he was talking about in the first response... which is not a given if he is on a limited time budget. His second response sounds like he was backtracking on the first. 'We will deal with griefers as best we can' sounds like the current policy, not the new one.

I think this is driven by two main forces.

1) AR's within SL. LL may feel that these changes will reduce the number of AR's by reducing the situations generating some of the AR's. Note that griefing will not likely be reduced by this, but it is not a given that there are not a significant number of ARs regarding adult content that do not involve griefing.

2) Pressure from outside. Pending or threatened legislation is likely seen as a significant risk, and the lobbies pushing for such legislation can be very strong. Many websites providing adult content already use some form of age verification beyond merely 'Do not press ok unless you are 18 and permitted legally to view this content', so they would hardly be the first to bow to such pressures.

If anything this will increase the number of adult ARs. Look for roving mobs of the puritans searching out adult poseballs.

Or alternately that Blondin actually spoke straight from the horse's mouth about what LL was talking about internally and believing, before spin control kicked in. Though it does seem fairly naive to think this will help against griefing.
But in any case, it's one of the "official", attributable quotes about the project which Mimika asked for. Sense and consistency is obviously fairly optional in this project.

But we're drifting somewhat, sliding into interpretations and opinions. Let us keep this thread focused on the attributable quotes and sources.

What are LL to do with those who sell adult things from their profile ie : RL pics? I would guess saying Real Life Pics for sale 1000L for 5 is not classed as adult after all they could be of some mountain range. These ppl could move about all sims making money and not paying any fees

No level of screening will be perfect. That does not invalidate screening.

But how will they be used? In what context will they be taken? What is the point of this thread if interpretations are considered irrelevant?

That's already against the ToS. Everything in your profile is supposed to be PG.

To have a repository of actual Linden statements about the project, to help people form their opinion and to pull supportive evidence for whatever point they are making in the discussion threads, without having to browse through some 20-30,000 posts and blog entries.
It's not like we lack threads with discussion and interpretation. Starting one more here would just dilute things.