News RpNation Rule Clarification PSA

[The Dark Wizard]

Heh.


One of my next projects might be to make an official RP rating system that anyone can use optionally and then encourage our affiliates to use it and it will spread.

 

[Kiyoko Tomoe]

DWiz, I would soo wanna help make that rating system, though I'm not sure how much help I'd be with my best skill being BBCode, and mediocre at best there

 

[Teh Frixz]

Emphasis on optional~

 

[ehmygirl]

If you wouldn't do it in a church with a priest looking on, then chances are you shouldn't be posting it. And sometimes being vague and using generalities does a heck of a lot more for the imagination that trying to be very explicit. You can show a sex scene without actually showing a sex scene through (shock gasp) the use of language.


for instance: They sat together, whispering, talking, laughing with frequent embraces. It wasn't very long, however, before the embraces became longer and the talking stopped all together.


voila, sex scene without the smut. Thank you David Eddings.

@Captain Hesperus[/URL] of course.

[QUOTE="Teh Frixz]I'm still waiting for my back pay for being a loyal servant

If you get backpay, I wanna see the check him indoors brings home.

[QUOTE="Teh Frixz]Just trust the staff.

[/QUOTE]
Frixie... are we sure this is a good idea?

 

[Teh Frixz]

Trust most of the staff, run screaming from a former kitten with a sniper rifle.

 

[caramel]

Well, after reading all of that and navagating through random topic changes, I think I get it No gettin freaky.

 

[ehmygirl]

[QUOTE="Teh Frixz]Trust most of the staff, run screaming from a former kitten with a sniper rifle.

[/QUOTE]
I heard his wife is an interesting character. For the safety of others, she's not usually allowed to chide others. Apparently she's not very diplomatic when she gets irritated. Then people complain and he has a headache. I hear she's also reallllly sarcastic.


But then, what do you expect from a woman who married him and plans on marrying him in a more formal church wedding later? That is, if he's actually allowed in a church.

 

[AlexSilverX]

So... I just finished reading this and, since I'm not familiar with the US laws exactly, I have to ask out of curiosity;


Wouldn't it technically qualify as abiding the law if you made it a rule to put an "adult" option on threads and add to the ToS something along the lines of;


-By participating in, opening or reading a thread labeled as "adult", I acknowledge that I am over 18 (or whatever legal age is required in my country). I also acknowledge that any material that may be considered "sexual in nature" shall only be posted in these specific threads.


-As a member under the age of 18 (or whatever legal age is required in my country) I acknowledge that I should not and will not participate in, open or read a thread labeled as "adult".


?


I'm legitimately asking, I have no idea if that would be an option or not and - even if it is - if you'd be willing to instate it. (I'm just asking because it seems to render legal sites which are "sexual in nature" such as porn sites, etc.)


This is more out of curiosity than a matter of approving or disapproving of the rule.


Personally I am torn on this rule as, artistically, I hate anything that limits my creativity in any way shape or form.


However, logically, I understand and support the idea that a site's owner is completely entitled to create whatever rules they see fit and enforce them however they please.


So yeah, torn on the matter.


Boo! A limit!


But...


Hey! TDW can do whatever he wants with his own damn website (especially if it helps him avoid the law.)


OH, speaking of, I was wondering; why is it that when you type the word that starts with a C and ends like punt it ends up being replaced by "I'm uncultured"? Is that a method of avoiding sexual RPing or is that because even certain swear words are off limits for RpN and that's one of the ways you have found to enforce that?


Again... simple curiosity. (Though it was hilarious to have my enraged character tumble down a cliff and yell; "Piss! Shit! Fuck! Dammit! Hell! I'm uncultured! Christ!" before violently ramming into a tree, like he had some kind of epiphany about his potty-mouth halfway down a potentially lethal fall.)

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Racially offense words or words that target a person are censored by the system, the nasty version of punt is a derogatory word for women. Yet, I can say fuck for example since it is not inherently bad or made to degrade an entire gender or group of people.

 

[Kiyoko Tomoe]

(Though it was hilarious to have my enraged character tumble down a cliff and yell; "Piss! Shit! Fuck! Dammit! Hell! I'm uncultured! Christ!" before violently ramming into a tree, like he had some kind of epiphany about his potty-mouth halfway down a potentially lethal fall.)

That does sound pretty funny xD

 

[ehmygirl]

By participating in, opening or reading a thread labeled as "adult", I acknowledge that I am over 18 (or whatever legal age is required in my country). I also acknowledge that any material that may be considered "sexual in nature" shall only be posted in these specific threads.
-As a member under the age of 18 (or whatever legal age is required in my country) I acknowledge that I should not and will not participate in, open or read a thread labeled as "adult".

It's not that cut and dry with the American legal system. Each state can set its own age of consent. Some states that's 16, granted 18 would cover all the basis.


However, since this site does allow children 13 of age and older then there is an understanding that these children could easily be diverted into the realm of NC 17 type of stuff, regardless of whether or not a GM for an individual rp has some sort of general warning about the xxx rated content of a particular rp. The Only way that would work is if the site were, itself only 18+ and in order to create your log in you had to give a declaration that you are of age. As you probably noticed, you had to give the site your age as proof that you're at least 13.


But, because the site cannot ensure that children under 18 will not be exposed to adult themes and content, then there must be a blanket rule that such content is not allowed anywhere on this site. Even in the PMs. It is too easy for someone to initiate adult themes and contents with an underage person on a 'personal' rp via pms.


And, to be honest, this is no way restricts creativity. There are far more ways to show, indicate, infer, and even suggest adult themes and content without actually being explicit about it.


Plus, this is America... some dumb cow sued McD's because she spilled coffee on her lap, claimed it was hot and got millions. Now we have stupid labels on our lids and cups letting people know that the contents just might be hot.

 

[AlexSilverX]

[QUOTE="The Dark Wizard]Racially offense words or words that target a person are censored by the system, the nasty version of punt is a derogatory word for women. Yet, I can say fuck for example since it is not inherently bad or made to degrade an entire gender or group of people.

[/QUOTE]
Really? Huh... I always thought it was just a vulgar slang for women's genitals. Shows what I know! I guess that does make sense though. Wouldn't want a fit to be caused because someone dropped an N-bomb in the middle of a thread. If you see in my private threads in the near future a thread full of swear words and the sentence "I'm uncultured" peppered among them, it's because my curiosity got the best of me and I felt the need to see what went through the filter and what didn't. (Hope that's fine) I won't do that in a public thread or even a PM however, god knows that could end badly.

 

[ehmygirl]

Although, to be fair, the c-punt word is one that is used in Britain to describe both men and women the same we use the word bitch.

 

[La Reyna Loca]

Thanks for letting us know guys!


I know it's not your fault it's the LAW.


Also, I'm pretty sure for all of you getting angry about just how far across the line is allowed, some common sense here, you should be speaking about limits or there should be mention of them in the beginning rules discussion in any kind of role play. Also, there is a report button on every PM if someone begins to feel uncomfortable.


Curious:


Is there any rule against sharing your email with a your fellow partner in case you just wanted to have a little chat about your pet pot bellied pig or your drunk uncle? (>u>)

 

[Riley]

Interesting note: That actually wasn't a frivolous lawsuit like a lot of people think. The coffee was in fact kept way too hot. That woman had 2nd and 3rd degree burns that ended up needing skin grafts and she only sued for enough to cover the medical bills. ^.^

 

[Alice]

What's wrong with roleplaying sexual scenes in a private message? If the two people in the PM are okay with it and of age (18+) what's wrong with getting a little sexual with in PRIVATE message.
Sex is a natural everyday thing, and it's okay if you are the right age. Sex is an easy way to express love and passion. Putting that in to text can be a different way to experience it, and maybe some people in real life are unable to experience the real thing.


I personally am not speaking for myself because I do get a bit uncomfortable when it gets too sexual and I make it fade to black, but what if the two people texting the content are okay with it? If it's in private message it should not matter, and if they get banned because of it, that means you are reading up on the PM which is not okay.


Personally, in my year and 5 months on being on this site I have noticed that you are becoming more and more strict with your rules. I'm not trying not insult anyone, but it doesn't make sense to have a private message option if it is not exactly going to be private. You run a website made for roleplay, this is just like every other site though, Instagram can't completely control its users, Facebook can't completely control its users, you can't completely control your users or you will lose those users


I am just expressing my opinion toward the PM section. Not the rest of the site, because I do get uncomfortable in group roleplays and people get sexual.

I totally agree with you.

 

[TheJipan]

[QUOTE="The Staff]once the scene moves to anything dealing with genitalia or sexual encounters, we ask you fade to black

[/QUOTE]
What do you mean by 'Fade to Black'?

 

[Captain Hesperus]

What's wrong with roleplaying sexual scenes in a private message? If the two people in the PM are okay with it and of age (18+) what's wrong with getting a little sexual with in PRIVATE message.
Sex is a natural everyday thing, and it's okay if you are the right age. Sex is an easy way to express love and passion. Putting that in to text can be a different way to experience it, and maybe some people in real life are unable to experience the real thing.


I personally am not speaking for myself because I do get a bit uncomfortable when it gets too sexual and I make it fade to black, but what if the two people texting the content are okay with it? If it's in private message it should not matter, and if they get banned because of it, that means you are reading up on the PM which is not okay.


Personally, in my year and 5 months on being on this site I have noticed that you are becoming more and more strict with your rules. I'm not trying not insult anyone, but it doesn't make sense to have a private message option if it is not exactly going to be private. You run a website made for roleplay, this is just like every other site though, Instagram can't completely control its users, Facebook can't completely control its users, you can't completely control your users or you will lose those users


I am just expressing my opinion toward the PM section. Not the rest of the site, because I do get uncomfortable in group roleplays and people get sexual.

Can you be sure your RP partner is 18+? Can you? Just because they type a year into that box when they register with the site, does not make them 18+. Even if they appear mature enough, they can still be a minor who is more precocious than others and, in our modern society where minors have more and more access to adult material, this is increasingly the case. So what's the issue? If a 12 year old registers with the site and enters a RP where they begin to become involved with erotic roleplay, it's not like anyone's harmed, right?


Wrong. Dead wrong.


Under U.S. Federal Law (the COPPA legislation) if a minor is exposed to, and has the potential to be harmed by, sexual content, the site owner is liable for CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. That would mean that The Dark Wizard would be arrested, the site would be taken down and the entire content of the site reviewed by law enforcement officers. Any content that was deemed to be sexual and potentially harmful to a minor would be used in a Federal lawsuit against The Dark Wizard and he would face a hefty fine and possibly jail time. And RpNation would cease to exist. So no harm to you, other than losing your RPs and having to find somewhere else to play. However someone else (The Dark Wizard) would be losing out, both financially and potentially by losing his liberty and clean criminal record. As an aside, The Dark Wizard might also be forced to register as a child sex offender if actual harm to a minor was proven, meaning his personal life after any jail term was ended would be very difficult.


So, to be compliant with the requirements of COPPA which requires that websites take every reasonable step to be compliant, we place a hard ban on erotic content. And before anyone argues that this is an unlikely event, I would like to inform you that I have personally dealt with a concerned father who found out that his 12-year old daughter had registered with the site and was engaged in a sexual roleplay via PM with another user who knew she was a minor. The result of this after I investigated was to give a LIFETIME BAN to both the users and to forward the other (the male) user's details to the FBI. This is what compliance with the law means.


Captain Hesperus

 

[Captain Hesperus]

What do you mean by 'Fade to Black'?

'Fade to Black' is a term from the theatre used to close a scene. Usually it is applied when an act that is not necessary for the audience to view us about to take place, in the case we are discussing, this means a sexual act. It is a term used by many RP sites to describe sexual activity and usually happens before anything graphically sexual occurs. Suggestive content prior to the fade might occur, such as two characters a kissing and starting to undress, but there is no further description of the act.


Captain Hesperus

 

[DreamingofRoses]

The lady you called a 'dumb cow' spilled McDonalds coffee in her lap and got third degree burns on her thighs and genitalia and basically sued McDonald's to cover her medical costs.[/URL]


Also: ITT are a lot of people complaining about why they can't smut it up on the website. You might want to think about what else you got going on in your life if you're worried about that.

 

[Aldur]

ITT are a lot of people complaining about why they can't smut it up on the website. You might want to think about what else you got going on in your life if you're worried about that.

Well, that's a little mean too if I do say so myself. I, for one, have never written smut and don't plan on doing, but I know people who do and they're decent folk. Even nicer than a lot of other people I've met online, not necessarily from this site but from other communities deemed friendly and whatnot. They just have this weird quirk about themselves.


It's weird that they allow depictions of violence and in some cases extreme violence in most media, but as soon as there's questionably any sexual content, everyone loses it. This is in no way shape or form me trying to blame The Administration. I think that for how long the site existed they've done an amazing job running it and I personally don't have anything against the restriction of erotic content.

 

[Sunbather]

[QUOTE="Captain Hesperus]Can you be sure your RP partner is 18+? Can you? Just because they type a year into that box when they register with the site, does not make them 18+. Even if they appear mature enough, they can still be a minor who is more precocious than others and, in our modern society where minors have more and more access to adult material, this is increasingly the case. So what's the issue? If a 12 year old registers with the site and enters a RP where they begin to become involved with erotic roleplay, it's not like anyone's harmed, right?
Wrong. Dead wrong.


Under U.S. Federal Law (the COPPA legislation) if a minor is exposed to, and has the potential to be harmed by, sexual content, the site owner is liable for CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. That would mean that The Dark Wizard would be arrested, the site would be taken down and the entire content of the site reviewed by law enforcement officers. Any content that was deemed to be sexual and potentially harmful to a minor would be used in a Federal lawsuit against The Dark Wizard and he would face a hefty fine and possibly jail time. And RpNation would cease to exist. So no harm to you, other than losing your RPs and having to find somewhere else to play. However someone else (The Dark Wizard) would be losing out, both financially and potentially by losing his liberty and clean criminal record. As an aside, The Dark Wizard might also be forced to register as a child sex offender if actual harm to a minor was proven, meaning his personal life after any jail term was ended would be very difficult.


So, to be compliant with the requirements of COPPA which requires that websites take every reasonable step to be compliant, we place a hard ban on erotic content. And before anyone argues that this is an unlikely event, I would like to inform you that I have personally dealt with a concerned father who found out that his 12-year old daughter had registered with the site and was engaged in a sexual roleplay via PM with another user who knew she was a minor. The result of this after I investigated was to give a LIFETIME BAN to both the users and to forward the other (the male) user's details to the FBI. This is what compliance with the law means.


Captain Hesperus

[/QUOTE]
Holy crap, I've never seen it like that. Personally, I'm not interested in smut at all. I've never done it (aside from one time, where a friend of mine really wanted to give it a try and she kept asking me, so I complied.) and I don't intent on doing it, as it makes me feel rather uncomfortable, but I do have a pretty liberal stance on sexual content, and feel like if two mature - whether legally, mentally, biologically or a combination of the three - want to engage in that, I feel like they should be allowed to. But this is a point I've never even considered. I often forget that a.) American laws are drastically different in some regards and b.) that the site owner may suffer through a proxy process.


And Jesus, that last story... That really makes me uncomfortable. Someone who's, if I got that right, an adult, doing these kind of RPs with a 12 year... Actually just physically cringed. Yeah, honestly, I'd rather people just fade to black and look for specifcially adult-themed forums if they really, really want that kind of stuff, instead of risking some of the younger users on here.

 

[Yuel]

Moral of the thread: if you want smut, go to other sites. There's plenty of them around there.

 

[Pine]

Thanks for letting us know guys!Curious:
Is there any rule against sharing your email with a your fellow partner in case you just wanted to have a little chat about your pet pot bellied pig or your drunk uncle? (>u>)

You could accomplish all of that in a PM (if I'm understanding you correctly here), but you're welcome to share your e-mail with friends, just as long as you aren't doing that exclusively to get around the site rules we have in place here.

 

[PicaPirate]

I won't challenge the sites decision for 18+ or not, as that's always a big topic. However the laws cited are wrong. While there may be Florida laws I'm unaware of, constitual laws to protect erotic content from minors got denied and COPPA doesn't cover it at all.


"


13. Will the COPPA Rule keep my child from accessing pornography?


No. COPPA is meant to give parents control over the online collection, use, or disclosure of personal information from children, and was not designed to protect children from viewing particular types of content wherever they might go online. If you are concerned about your children accessing online pornography or other inappropriate materials, you may want to consider a filtering program or an Internet Service Provider that offers tools to help screen out or restrict access to such material. Information about such tools is available at organizations such aswww.getnetwise.org(link is external) and www.staysafeonline.org(link is external), and from manufacturers of several operating systems."


Complying with COPPA: Frequently Asked Questions | Federal Trade Commission