June 25, 2009 by Ciaran Laval
Posted in
The community standards have altered, adult sims are finally recognised and we have, well yet again a case of Linden Lab doublespeak.
This gem appears:
"Adult Regions, Groups, and Listings
Second Life is an adult community, but 'Adult' content, activity and communication are not permitted on the Second Life 'mainland.' Such material is permitted on private regions, or on the Adult Continent, Zindra. In either case, any Adult content, activity, or communication, that falls under our Adult Maturity Definition must be on regions designated as 'Adult,' and will be filtered from non-verified accounts. Other regions may be designated as either 'Mature' or 'PG.' For more information on how to designate land, events, groups, and classified listings, please carefully read the 'Maturity Definitions.' "
Now to me, that reads as if all adult activity is banned from mainland, the whole kit and caboodle, that's your private residential pixel bumping banned. Linden Lab have said this isn't the case previously, but if I were a new user that is most certainly how I'd read that.
However I'm not a new user and have some faith that Linden Lab will actually be true to their word on adult activity in so called private spaces but, and it's rather a big but, were I new I'd also find it far from predictable to discover that adult activity is allowed.
So what's going on here? From the start of this mess Linden Lab have tried to introduce strict guidelines and they've been shouted down. They've made a concession here, a correction there and then tried to reintroduce almost identical strict guidelines. In out, in out, shake it all about.
We're back to that position again, that community standard is extremely strict and now people have to ask all over again "What about in a house that isn't advertised" yadda yadda yadda.
What on earth are they playing at? Why are they so hellbent on introducing these strict guidelines?
As an aside what on earth is the point of the mature/PG split? There's really so little point to it now, even without this change in the community standards. So you can have a nudist beach or a topless dance club on mature, allegedly, although again, a new user wouldn't expect that from reading the new community standards. The point of the PG/Mature divide is?
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Re: Will the real adult content policy please stand up
Note that if you want to find out what "Adult" actually means, you're sent to the Maturity Ratings FAQ, which *defines* "Adult" in terms of being advertised or in public or etc.
Re: Will the real adult content policy please stand up
Honestly, I thought they had already scotched the whole "private places" thing and that public or private no longer mattered.
Re: Will the real adult content policy please stand up
Nope, everytime I've been to Blondin's office hour he's said that in private is still ok. One of the knowledgebase articles does mention public advertising as part of the adult content definition but it doesn't mention private being ok and they are going to great lengths to avoid documenting that in an official place.
Someone said recently (and it might have been you) that only official documents count and that anything said at an office hour is not to be considered in itself official policy.
Re: Will the real adult content policy please stand up
Indeedy. That is what the Lab told me. Office hours is just talk. The proof of the pudding is in the publications.