What counts as mature and how does this affect my blog
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Hi, I need a bit of help.
In brief I’m writing a series of short stories on my blog and am not sure if they would count as mature or not. As I want to be able to get the widest audience possible I don’t really want it restricted.The setting is a shanty/brothel town but there will be no specific mention of sexual acts as it’s more about the people who live there. I’m not sure if the setting alone would count as mature? Hopefully not.
Also I need help with swearing. What counts as too much. I know the F word is a big no but here in the UK “bollocks” “git” “bugger” etc. wouldn’t really be considered an issue. Where is WordPress’ cut off? (p.s. sorry if anyone doesn’t like those words but there’s really no way of writing this without citing a few for example; I am not trying to offend).
And finally what happens with blogs tagged as mature. As I understand it they won’t appear in some places (like freshly pressed) but can people outside WordPress still see them if they follow a link?
I don’t really want to narrow down my audience and I’m not aiming at mature (more like teen and up) but it’s hard without there being more specific guidelines.
If anyone can help I would really appreciate it. Thank you
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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When in doubt, I’d recommend that you mark it as “mature”. We have details on the exact effects of doing so here: https://en.support.wordpress.com/mature-content/
I want to emphasize, though, that marking your blog as mature won’t affect the ability of your readers to visit your site via a link.
You’ll still have plenty of opportunity to promote your blog, using many of the methods at: https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-more-views-and-traffic/
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@criticalkitten – I’d review carefully the contents of the Support doc on Mature content. To me it doesn’t sound like your content, which I just looked at, fits what is mentioned there:
However, there are limitations to the mature content permitted on our service. Please don’t:
- Post sexual materials that can be considered pornographic, such as images or video of explicit sexual acts or close-up images of genitalia;
- Post links or ads to adult-oriented affiliate networks, such as pornography site signups;
- Post links, text, or images promoting or advertising escort or erotic services;
- Post images of extreme violence or gore without associated context or commentary;
- Post images of child pornography;
- Post content that promotes pedophilia, such as blogs with galleries of images of children where the images, content surrounding the images, or the intent of the blog is sexually suggestive.
If the Ef word was considered mature here, quite a number of sites here would immediately need to be marked mature.
@chrisrudzki – when users post such questions in the forums, they are looking for a specific call from Staff rather than a general answer. Thanks for listening.
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My bad and my apologies. That is the content that will get your site suspended.
If you have any question whether your site content is mature or not you can mark your site mature yourself and request the Terms of Service Staff to review it or add the MODLOOK tag here for staff attention.
Suitably chasened it’s time for me to head offline.
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I just want to emphasize that marking a site as “mature” is not a punishment. You’re still free to connect with others on WordPress.com, and share your work with them. The point to marking sites as “mature” is simply to help avoid presenting offensive language or subject matter to audiences that might not expect such content.
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I’d review carefully the contents of the Support doc on Mature content. To me it doesn’t sound like your content, which I just looked at, fits what is mentioned there:
The guidelines you mentioned pertain to particularly mature, or even illegal, content that is not allowed here at all. I think we agree the content in question doesn’t reach that level at all.
These lines are particularly relevant to the question at hand:
We do permit mature content on WordPress.com, including text, images and videos that contain nudity, offensive language, and mature subject material. However, blogs that contain such content must be marked as Mature in our system.
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when users post such questions in the forums, they are looking for a specific call from Staff rather than a general answer.
I’ve recommended that the user mark it as mature. If a user is unsure whether their content is mature or not, the safe bet is to report it as mature, particularly as the user raises their concern that such language may be perceived as “offensive”.
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Thank you both for your help.
I can’t see it being mature realistically but if there was a clear cut of swear words for example I would have acted accordingly.
I think what I will do is put a note advising on readership age (probably 15) and theme; following the example of films. That way the readers can decide.
If there’s ever a problem I will edit accordingly (e.g edit expressions used) but honestly and hopefully I can’t see it being mature (as in 18 + only).
Thank you again for your help
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