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Aidee · 12-07-2007, 08:11 AM

I'm also not under 19, but when I joined RYL I was, so I'm going to give my opinion anyway.

I think that overall, RYL is much "cleaner" then other forums where the average age is teenagers. I've never really been on any other SI forum, but I've been on some creative writing forums, which one would think should be pretty clean, but I was down right embarrassed by some of the things that were said there. Not in stories either, but in the general chat type area.

I think the mature content on RYL falls into 3 categories, inappropriate, borderline, and RYL Related.

I think that generally anything that is obviously inappropriate, such as something like "How do I give my boyfriend a blow job" is censored by the mods pretty quickly.

RYL related content, such as sexual health questions in First Aid, or sexual abuse posts in A&B are mature content, but it's related to RYL and what RYL is all about. While it might alarm a parent/teacher/counselor who sees it, I think any of those people will understand that it is there for a good reason.

The borderline stuff is where I start to have a problem, and I agree with Blithe Bones that some of it could be modded better. Now, I know how busy the mods are, and that often times there are more serious problems to deal with. However, things like the Naturists Room and the example thread that Blithe Bones linked I feel need to be dealt with, and not a part of RYL. While some sexual jokes and comments can be funny at times, the constant discussion of how much different members want each other in threads that have nothing to do with that topic annoy me.

When the joke starts spreading and taking over mutiple threads I think it is unnecessary and really distractions from the point of RYL. Its issues like that which make me think, "Wow these people are sex obsessed"

There are also a good number of people on RYL who have suffered from sexual abuse or sexual trauma and I can't imagine that they appreciate it when they click on a perfectly safe thread, just to find that 1/2 way down the thread has been hijacked by several people talking about how sexy they all are or whatever.

I guess my biggest issue with the borderline content is that there seems to be very little escape from it. Innuendo, jokes and highjacking seem to happen constantly.

I know Vets had a serious problem with this for a while because some of the members there use sexual jokes and innuendo as an escape mechanism and distraction. I myself have participated in some of those threads, but I feel that the Vets situation is somewhat different then the situation in General Chat. For one, Vets has generally had a higher average age of poster then General, and secondly, very few threads were highjacked with the innuendo, instead there were several threads that had been borderline from the beginning.

I think that people need to think about what they are posting when they tack on innuendo and inside joke comments on the ends of other posts, and think seriously about weather they are really necessary or not. I also think that the mods need to jump on highjacked threads quicker and either issue a warning or remove the unnecessary posts.

If I was a parent, I know that almost nothing would turn me off of RYL faster then looking at it, and seeing on the surface that it everything seems appropriate, and then running into all of this borderline sexual content in the middle of thread after thread after thread.

AD

12-07-2007, 08:11 AM	#8
Aidee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: USA I am currently:	I'm also not under 19, but when I joined RYL I was, so I'm going to give my opinion anyway. I think that overall, RYL is much "cleaner" then other forums where the average age is teenagers. I've never really been on any other SI forum, but I've been on some creative writing forums, which one would think should be pretty clean, but I was down right embarrassed by some of the things that were said there. Not in stories either, but in the general chat type area. I think the mature content on RYL falls into 3 categories, inappropriate, borderline, and RYL Related. I think that generally anything that is obviously inappropriate, such as something like "How do I give my boyfriend a blow job" is censored by the mods pretty quickly. RYL related content, such as sexual health questions in First Aid, or sexual abuse posts in A&B are mature content, but it's related to RYL and what RYL is all about. While it might alarm a parent/teacher/counselor who sees it, I think any of those people will understand that it is there for a good reason. The borderline stuff is where I start to have a problem, and I agree with Blithe Bones that some of it could be modded better. Now, I know how busy the mods are, and that often times there are more serious problems to deal with. However, things like the Naturists Room and the example thread that Blithe Bones linked I feel need to be dealt with, and not a part of RYL. While some sexual jokes and comments can be funny at times, the constant discussion of how much different members want each other in threads that have nothing to do with that topic annoy me. When the joke starts spreading and taking over mutiple threads I think it is unnecessary and really distractions from the point of RYL. Its issues like that which make me think, "Wow these people are sex obsessed" There are also a good number of people on RYL who have suffered from sexual abuse or sexual trauma and I can't imagine that they appreciate it when they click on a perfectly safe thread, just to find that 1/2 way down the thread has been hijacked by several people talking about how sexy they all are or whatever. I guess my biggest issue with the borderline content is that there seems to be very little escape from it. Innuendo, jokes and highjacking seem to happen constantly. I know Vets had a serious problem with this for a while because some of the members there use sexual jokes and innuendo as an escape mechanism and distraction. I myself have participated in some of those threads, but I feel that the Vets situation is somewhat different then the situation in General Chat. For one, Vets has generally had a higher average age of poster then General, and secondly, very few threads were highjacked with the innuendo, instead there were several threads that had been borderline from the beginning. I think that people need to think about what they are posting when they tack on innuendo and inside joke comments on the ends of other posts, and think seriously about weather they are really necessary or not. I also think that the mods need to jump on highjacked threads quicker and either issue a warning or remove the unnecessary posts. If I was a parent, I know that almost nothing would turn me off of RYL faster then looking at it, and seeing on the surface that it everything seems appropriate, and then running into all of this borderline sexual content in the middle of thread after thread after thread. AD
Aidee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: USA I am currently:	Well it breaks my heart to see you this way, The beauty in life, where's it gone? And somebody told me you were doing okay, Somehow I guess they were wrong.