Upcoming Changes for Adult Content: Answers to Questions

Duh!

I misread "Why would anyone discuss methods to work around censorship on the censor's servers?" as a query as to why we should irritating LL by using their forum to discuss the flaws in the filtering.
Hence my comment above.

With hindsight, it was a tad silly misreading

QFT.

People have been speculating as to why there hasn't been a vocal support for the Adult policy - well, maybe now you are seeing it. They get bullied and picked-upon by those that don't like it.

And you wonder why they don't post?

Then everyone needs to stop wondering why this is one big happy party of people who don't agree with it - answer: you bully anyone who doesn't agree with you.

If I owned an Adult business, was in favour of the move and saw this sort of treatment, no WAY am I going to be posting here.

Ah yes, a good old-fashioned witch-hunt. "We don't agree with the policy and will make sure that we out and name anyone who does". Oh way to go with the freedoms, there....

Which would characterise a large portion of SL and RL business owners, to be honest. Why pick on him/her? Oh right, because (s)he spoke up to disagree with you!

Well, if this page ( http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Search_keywords ) is accurate other activities which might land you in the adult continent include:

selling or consuming a British meatball in gravy (also know as faggots).
selling or promoting a slightly dated family car (Ford Escort)
selling or keeping male hens (cocks)
a fan site for an informant from the x-files (deepthroat)
selling or promoting decorating products (such as paint stripper)
fan site for birdwatchers (interest in blue tits etc.)

etc.


Matthew

I realise that you using this example to make a point about search in general, but I couldnt help felling a little bit sad that in SecondLife we managed to get ourselves into the position that a G-rated beach would ever need this kinda notice.

It was meant to be funny, or ironic ... here is the original post

Originally Posted by Storyof Oh

Blondin says trying out demo animations even sexual ones would be allowed (as they havent room for all the furniture stores) therefore every strip club etc can keep their public sex poseballs providing they set them for sale....naturally at a price no one would actually pay......so people can try the demos )

Reply by Ayla Holt

Oh So smart! We should be writing these down for people. We can create a webpage of SL work arounds

************************

Basically we are just trying to make a point that LL way of processing this is not clear and that people will find ways to work around some of the "rules". It would be nice if LL could just give us clear guildlines. But since they won't (or haven't yet) we are just having fun at their expence while we wait for answers.

Nope!
Suspend the account for having publicly-available Adult content in a non-Adult region.

After the shutters come down on the free land-swap, there will be no opportunity to become "significant", as even being "insignificant" will be against the TOS.

There will be a short-lived opportunity for everyone to convince a grudging LL that their Adult content is "significant". After that they will have to compete in the Ursula auctions or buy from the auction winners.
How are prices doing in Bay and Nautilus Cities? L$100/m? -ish?

In the brown bag meetings LL say that they will take action if they see a ghetto or other problem arising.
I'm not aware of any action taken in Bay and Nautilus cities, so that level must be fine by them.

I kinda doubt the threat of a boycott by three people, two of whom have never heard of your business is much to worry about. I think Dictatorshop will survive.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm okay with Lillani/Magus's explanation & opinion.

LL keeps telling us that this whole scheme is intended to produce a more "predictable" SL experience.

It's going to have exactly the opposite effect, and this weekend I encountered the first example.

A content provider I know has a very extensive line of kinky items. It's practically all they sell. Clearly "Adult" content. They also have a number of roleplay areas, and a "boarding house" that has a number of small apartments. This boarding house build is home to a number of people who like and enjoy this creator's products and scenarios. A lot of the content in their apartments, and the activities in the house, were definitely Adult.

It was formerly known as (slighly paraphrased here to protect the innocent) "Madame Bovary's House for Wayward Sluts".

It's been moved now, and renamed. It's now "Serenity House". But the SAME residents, the SAME Adult content, the SAME Adult activities.

I guarantee you that any stranger who happens to innocently teleport there looking for some peace and quiet will not have a "predictable" experience.

Heads up, Blondin. The unpredictability you encouraged us to build into our creations is already beginning.

Where does this leave residents who do not have a business, but have plenty of adult activity on their land? I have been trying to keep up with this thread and the other related ones but I have not yet seen any definite answer to this. I joined SL thinking it was already for adults, that is what I wanted and that is what I still want.

BT

PLease Blondie comment on this..... is it true?

Blondin's turn in the barrell has probably ended. Answers will now be given by Kafka Linden.

Yes, it is your business. Yes, you want to expand it. No issues there.

But you EXPAND a business by bringing in MORE customers while keeping your current customers. You do not expand by pissing your current customers off to the point that they quit entirely.

Second Life is a place where you can be whatever you want. If someone wants to emulate reality here, that's their choice. But if you take away that ability to be anything and do anything, then you aren't making SL more attractive to bring in more people. Quite the opposite, actually. Why would anyone want to spend an extra couple of hundred dollars a month to duplicate RL in a computer? What possible interest would that be? You can be you in RL for free.

Mark Kingdon is ruining SL with his borderline incompetence and refusal to listen to his customers. Consider the voidsim debacle. I'll bet your bottom line is still smarting from that. So why are you trusting this fool in this, a decision that is 10 times more damaging and will turn mainland into a vast sea of abandoned properties that nobody will buy again? The man drove off several Key People from LL - you would not have SL at all were it not for these folks skill and wisdom. And Mark drove them out.

The proof is in the pudding, Phillip. And Mark's pudding stinks. Fire him now and put the Mainland Cleanup on hold until a better way - like creating the G-rated entrance-to-SL continent - can be implemented. But until Mark is gone and the backwards-thinking about making the current mainland safe for kids is canceled, I will not buy in mainland, I will not restart my premium, and my oldest daughter will not be allowed to join SL. You won't see any more of my money until you've abandoned this effort to Kids-safe an Adult grid. And you won't see my Kids inworld either, since this assinine effort won't make it as safe as the seperate Teen Grid is today.

At least those Christain Sims who have a "ban on pre marital sex" in the title will have to move off the island. It's about time someone cracked down on those types. Make them take that type of talk to an adult area.

This is a well known problem with search filters based on word matches - words often have more than one meaning.

As far as other languages, I tried "prostitute" in most major european languages, and it's only filtered if its spelled exactly like in english.

To the people who asked "why would someone try to get around the filter?", the answer is if you sell penii (plural of penis), much of your target market is newbies who mostly will not be verified. The rest of us already have one if we wanted it. The more general answer is "for commercial advantage". If your competitors are not getting around the filter, and you do, you will be the *only* one attracting customers from that group.

This is also a well known problem in game theory. The rewards of cheating are larger if only a few people cheat. If there is sufficient advantage to cheating, some people will do it. Witness the enormous number of spam emails with creative spelling to get around spam filters.

Makes sense to me

I got the impression they will notify them that they're in violation of the new "Adult Content" rules, and take action if they don't take action. Blondin has asked people to change search terms in previous exchanges.

I think this is the shonkiest part of the whole thing. Someone can get a clean bill of health from Some Linden then get asked to move (at ruinous cost) after the deadline has passed by Another Linden.

Sounds Mature to me.

Because its fun, and probes linden motives.

After getting told by Blondin that they would *not* tell us the filter list, I took great pleasure in posting the filter list on their own Wiki page in the guise of "documenting a new feature in version 1.23".

One of two things will happen:

(1) the list will be removed in a fruitless attempt to hide the information, or

(2) it will be allowed to remain, so that mature locations can safely write their search entries.

Which one they choose to do tells us something about how they will treat their customers in the future....mushrooms (feed them s**t and keep them in the dark) or people they want to keep as customers.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! It was beautiful here on the east coast and today is shaping up to be really nice as well. The wknd has put me about 70 pages behind so it's going to take some time to catch up.

Does it "make sense to you", or is it "how GTeam will enforce an AR"?
There is a *huge* difference between those two, and you *need* to address that.

-Also, you mentioned earlier that the PG rules are too broadly worded and will be revised. Is that to imply that the Adult rules are *not*, and will stay as-is? (Irrespective of any interpretation and/or clarification you give here).

Not really, but if someone files an AR or brings it to our attention, then we'll investigate.

Thank you, so this clarifies that simply having a parcel listed in search and having a business on the parcel does not mean that everything on the parcel is considered "hosted", "advertised", or "public". So the next question is... will this be clarified in KB 6010?

That's the problem, Blondin.

One can "sounds mature" to you and other Lindens, and "sound adult" to other Lindens.

If my swap is denied, because my land "sounds mature" to the Linden in charge, will I be protected from AR's and possible suspensions, because the Linden that will investigate an AR seems that it "sounds adult" for him?

As a practical matter, when the official 1.23 viewer hits the download page, it will be a simple matter for anyone to run the terms in their ad through the search to figure out what's going to get filtered. The secret list is never going to be a very well kept secret.

By then, of course, the policy will be a done deal, and some residents may be surprised to discover the Adult Content filter is set at a "G" level.

The list is as much of a heads up as anything.

This is wrong on so many levels.

Think it will help Second Life?? No it will drive people away.

What is it really about? It is about letting the kids into Second Life.

Do we want a bunch of teens running about the place? No

Will I allow my kids on SecondLife? No, no way no how.

Do I think what LindenLab is doing will protect kids? No

CreditCards can not be used for age verification. The Credit Card companies will have serious issues with this. It is almost a form of embezzlement. You must spend money to be verified.

Does it protect kids and the adults from kids? Not a chance.

We had two kids who were 11 ish both with accounts with payment info on file but 2 weeks ago. I reported them, banned them but their accounts are still online.

With kids on Second Life main grid it is going to be less of an adult place and I will be less interested in being here as I have to be more aware of who people are on my sims. I think this will be the same for quite a few others and the long term result will be less people like I willing to spend the large sums of money to be here.

LindenLab is asking for too much for too little and it will cause more trouble than people want to be bothered with.

Sad part is I don't care any more. I have had enough of LindenLab lies. The one thing they will not dare to say is....... they will be opening SecondLife main grid to kids. They are claiming that this is all to protect adults from adult material. When asked about letting kids in they deny it. Yet the Chairman of the Board let the cat out of the bag.

Can't have it both ways.

So expect some very interesting cases in the courts with all this. Expect that the credit card companies have issues. Expect kids running about the place with "Verified" in their accounts when all know they are not. But lindens will do nothing.

This is all a SHAM. One that will cost lindens and us.

See the list of filtered words for example.....All sex related but where are weapons, guns, drugs and other "Adult" issues. Role Play. Killing and the like. Nooooo What about furry? Gor is banned but furry is not. PonyGirls are banned but not ponyboys.

So so sad it is beyond a joke.