A lounge area with fewer rules.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

Hi, all

 

I've been kicking around an idea about making a separate area on the site for more mature community members to "let their hair down," so to speak, without feeling like the site rules are restricting them. Such an area would be subject to far fewer rules than the rest of the site, and allow for much more open interaction with other members of this great community. It's a place to kick back, make tasteless jokes, crack open a metaphorical six-pack, and maybe get into the odd bar fight.

 

I am proposing this because many adult bronies came to this site out of common interest and developed a community. We love this community, but some would like the option to interact in an area where we don't have to worry about "keeping it PG-13." To that end, Skype groups and other off-site resources are messy to organize, and tend to be invite only. It's difficult to just jump into mature conversation without organizing it in advance.

 

I am not sure exactly which rules would or would not apply in such an area, but for example, profanity rules would be one of the first I'd suggest exempting. NSFW rules could also be slightly scaled back (allowing for posting of more mature art, but not flat-out porn, for example). All of this would, of course, come with a warning and possibly age gate, so that members understand that the area's "wild west" attitude does not apply anywhere else in the site.

 

For an example of what "scaling back NSFW" would entail, and why it could be beneficial: Fallout Equestria fanart and roleplay is very popular on the site as it stands, however, the fic itself unquestionably breaks MLPF's content rules. Technically, it is breaking the rules to link to the fic in any capacity. An R-rated site area would remove this barrier for community members who have more mature tastes, but still wish to interact with the same group of people they usually do.

 

Lemme know what you all think. Peace.

[Frith is Magick 1,469]

We already have sub-forums restricted based on post count, so one restricted by age seems straightforward. I like the idea however there would need to be a way to prevent people from changing their birthday to access it, as well as specialized moderation to decide where lines may be crossed and how far.

 

Any major overhaul provides serious challenges, but if we were to make entering a birthday mandatory and permanent upon registration and add a feature to make it private, that would prevent birthday changeing. I support this idea and encourage others who agree to be vocal so that this may recieve proper consideration.

[Jokuc 8,172]

I would enjoy such a section and there has been discussion about it before. I think it'd be great if we, instead of just locking it for everyone under 18, hid it for those people so we wouldn't have new members coming here, seeing that there are age restricted areas and therefore making their age 9001 years. We'd also have to make it impossible to change the age OR make a system that only counts the first set age no matter what the user changes it to.

 

Hidden sections should be a possibility since we already have Starswirl's Memorial Tower which is hidden to regular members. Although that just works with member groups if I'm not mistaken.. And member group changes messes up things cause IPB sux. One possibility could be that you'd have to request access to the area.

 

Anyway,

From reading previous discussions about this I'm quite sure that it's not going to happen.

[King 5,625]

As it currently stands there are no plans on breaking the 'PG-13 rating' , so to speak. Whilst its easy to understand why some older members would like an area of the forum that has fewer restrictions, we can't effectively implement such a section without breaking the original and current vision for this site. On top of that, it would be difficult to ensure that only adults can access the section without any of its content spilling over to the wider group of members. There are plenty of other sites directed at an adult only audience and such content is better left to them rather than trying to implement it into a member base that has such a wide age range like ours.

[Jeric 46,834]

This idea would literally violate the TOS of Google AdSense which is the primary revenue stream for MLPF and Poniverse. We loose AdSense, the lights go out here. As much as it would appeal to some to have a more mature section here, the answer is that such a section would be unfeasible.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

This idea would literally violate the TOS of Google AdSense which is the primary revenue stream for MLPF and Poniverse. We loose AdSense, the lights go out here. As much as it would appeal to some to have a more mature section here, the answer is that such a section would be unfeasible.

 

What rule would this be? I am unfamiliar with the AdSense TOS.

[Jeric 46,834]

And in the spirit of full disclosure, this is far from a hypothetical situation. We have received a strike from Google over a member here posting something that internally would not violate our rules, but does violate theirs.

Informative. 

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

And in the spirit of full disclosure, this is far from a hypothetical situation. We have received a strike from Google over a member here posting something that internally would not violate our rules, but does violate theirs.

Informative. 

 

Perhaps this is a technicality, but the page states that:

 

 

 

Publishers are not permitted to place Google ads or AdSense for search (AFS) search boxes on pages with adult or mature content.

 

To me, this says that it would only be breaking the rules if there were Google ads within the restricted section. In theory, this may be avoided by placing alternative ads in said section and google ads elsewhere.

 

Either way: Thank you for a clear answer, Jeric.