FireflyK
04-07-2007, 10:18 PM
The idea has been tossed around but nothing's ever come of it, I believe....
Why not have a R rated section to the writing forum?
I'm not suggested we have an X-rated one that looks like a page out of playboy... or something worse. But I think that mature members should be able to get into the R rated section. Gore and yes, maybe some tasteful smut type stuff... Or hints that something happened... might be something people here like to write. Hell, off URPG I write a LOT of far more mature things... Plenty of gore and I suppose some vaguely smut-like stuff, though it's not really of the traditional romancey stuff sort.
Basically, an R rated forum gives the older members of URPG a place to put stories which might not be entirely child-appropriate. I'm not suggesting we add an X-rated place, but I believe a section for R rated stories make sense.
The primary concern I heard from people about this was that it encouraged children to lie about their age to get in. Well, 3 things seem to dispute that.
1st, people already lie about their ages. This isn't exactly a new thing. It's universal. It happens a lot. Heck, yesterday the birthdays section said a certain member was turning 1 year old.
Gee, d'you think maybe people will already do this? =P
2nd.. PG13 stories- And I've seen lots of stories marked that rating lately- aren't seperated. There are lots of under-13 people here, yet we don't argue that the stories should be where they can't see them. And, case in point, I have yet to see anyone worrying about 12 year olds reading PG13 stories. So, why the worry about people sneaking into a R rated section? Sure, it's meant for 17 year olds and up... But then, PG13 stories are meant for those 13 and up!
Finally... C'mon, how many people READ the stories here, aside from graders? A small group of people have a fan following, but otherwise, I don't think people usually read the stories of others. So it would likely not be an issue. ;)
There is, of course, the matter of graders. It is true that some graders might be too young, or might not want to grade those stories. However, if enough volunteers for that could be gotten, I think it would be a good idea to implement this.
The only other concern I heard was that some people might not be tasteful in their gore/other things. This, however, could be easily solved. Just establish a standard. Say that people must be 17+ and have had 3 stories in a row approved without editing needed. Or say they must be 17+ and have a Grader's sponsorship (A grader who'll speak for them and say they're good enough to get in).
Or... Just fail 'em like any normal story until they redo it. x3
I'd be moving my Del and Elegia stories there if approved... ^^; Since I've got plans for those that can never come to fruitition otherwise, due to lots of gore in the latter and more of what you'd expect from a slave type story in the former. x_X Those two stories would be fine wihtout it... But some of my other characters are sitting in dust or being used only in RPs with a good friend of mine since they wouldn't quite be appropriate here, and can't just be censored heavily like my current stories. :\ I've done okay with working around stuff, but eh... It makes it hard to finish stories sometimes.
x3 I mean... I've had to tone Elegia's story DOWN to just capturing a dead Pokemon (Just wait till I bring her Rapidash's history, among other things... If I dare), Del's story for the Murkrow/Mareep, and several other stories.
Looking at my stories, in fact.... I've toned a LOT of them down. Most of the ones I lacked or care about the characters of had to be or will need to be edited, probably frequently. I doubt I'm alone, too!
If anyone has had this expirience as well, feel free to speak up. Here's what I can think of from the top of my head as the things I've had to censor.
Hotaru/Dabesk/Koiple/ All Caliopean characters: Not at all usable here at the moment. VERY censored forms are in some RPs... But they barely even resemble the original characters except in name and looks. :\ Though they still might need some censoring for the forum it'd be usable.
I have used a person with Koiple's name.... But definitely not his personality.
And while Jane's Bayleef bears some vague resemblance to Hotaru's Bayleef... Hotaru's Pokemon makes Jane's look like a cuddly little Hoppip. Seriously. I like the new Bayleef- she's like a whole new, and also fun to write, character- but I miss writing the more serious one, too.
Jane Series: Jane was gonna be an edited version of 'Taru... Until I realized no amount of editing could clean her story up enough for the forum. x3 She's fun to write, but again, there WAS editing involved. The very first story was highly edited- one point that stands out to me is the setting, descriptions of what was going on with the Rockets, and her slight scare after a fight with them, among several other things. I feel this is why some people, no names being named, use Rockets as sort of a joke. Because really, they can't be written as anything else here. Team Rocket are a gang. A criminal organization. They SHOULD be scary, mean, and possibly sadistic, though some might just be opportunistic.
Ditto for the story in her series with the Cyndaquil being rescued. That scene took me days to get right... Because once I took stuff out of it it was 30K shorter. And once I took out other events in the Rocket place, etc, and then stuff that made no sense with that stuff missing... It was going to be long enough for like, 3 Cyndaquil, before that. :(
Drin series: Maybe she's not a sadistic Rocket, but she's not above doing some pretty nasty things for the Team... And she has 'friends' elsewhere that I can not use here. :| Not to mention her Pokemon have way more personality and history.
Elegia Series: A lot of gore was taken out. A LOT of gore. There's also the matter of exlcuded personal injuries (The tight leather/stiff fabric outfits 'for safety' being due to not-totally-healed skin grafts to her torso, where the skin was burned away... And thus if she isn't careful and tears those by refusing to rest that would not be good. x_X).... Some of the sorts of jobs she might have taken as a bounty hunter... And, of course, her Rapidash's history, and carnivourus-ness. Yes, I know that isn't a word.
Del Series: Anyone who can't see how heavily edited this is.... Well. x3 Although a certain grader who looked it over for me before grading did say it was already intense.
Terren's story: On hold indefinitely 'cause there's no way I'll be able to write it now. He's supposed to become an Aqua... But lots of unpleasant things hang around gangs and they would be no exception. For example, people who threaten the leader being dealt with, various enemies or politicians who backed out of supporting Aqua once Aqua got a reputation for not being scientific/environmentalists but crazy criminals (It's set near when Aqua just started) and of course, the sneaky sorts of things people do for hierarchy when an organization is starting. Not to mention blackmail, murder, and other generally gory or not kid friendly things. I like exploring this sort of thing, and working on improving the sort of writing that makes people shudder while still being fascinated... But again, not a good idea to do here unless I wanna risk a ban.
Under the Stars: Unfinished as censoring stole the life of the story. There's no smut or anything involved here, but I'm pretty sure that an alcoholic, abusive parent- The reason one character is venturing into the dangerous city alone at night, desperate to get her friend a pokemon of his own- would be off limits if I actually wrote it at all beliavably. So this story's gonna have to be deleted/killed unless there's an R rated forum.
A second chance: Not exactly R rated, but I'd feel more comfortable moving it away from kids, and then redoing it with less attempts to edit it. They made it awkward. Then again, a pretty graphic story about a bulimic isn't exactly little kid fairy tale type stuff even if it is not R rated. :X Having done gymnastics with people like this before I'm gonna say that it could get pretty grim... And yeah. Right now the attempts to censor myself have made it basically lousy and pointless.
Anyway... As evidenced here, a LOT of my stuff is edited. ;_; My less mature stories are okay, but I like to write a mix. And some characters- I'd estimate about 10, and they're 'well thought out' ones, not ones I just use for convenience like Kirliana and a few others- can't be used here at all right now. I can't imagine I'm the ONLY URPGer who likes to write things that aren't entirely kid friendly, so I think an R Rated forum would really be a good idea.
Besides. Making the forum accessible only to 17 and older users is as easy as making one accessible to mods only... Right? So why not? ^^
Why not have a R rated section to the writing forum?
I'm not suggested we have an X-rated one that looks like a page out of playboy... or something worse. But I think that mature members should be able to get into the R rated section. Gore and yes, maybe some tasteful smut type stuff... Or hints that something happened... might be something people here like to write. Hell, off URPG I write a LOT of far more mature things... Plenty of gore and I suppose some vaguely smut-like stuff, though it's not really of the traditional romancey stuff sort.
Basically, an R rated forum gives the older members of URPG a place to put stories which might not be entirely child-appropriate. I'm not suggesting we add an X-rated place, but I believe a section for R rated stories make sense.
The primary concern I heard from people about this was that it encouraged children to lie about their age to get in. Well, 3 things seem to dispute that.
1st, people already lie about their ages. This isn't exactly a new thing. It's universal. It happens a lot. Heck, yesterday the birthdays section said a certain member was turning 1 year old.
Gee, d'you think maybe people will already do this? =P
2nd.. PG13 stories- And I've seen lots of stories marked that rating lately- aren't seperated. There are lots of under-13 people here, yet we don't argue that the stories should be where they can't see them. And, case in point, I have yet to see anyone worrying about 12 year olds reading PG13 stories. So, why the worry about people sneaking into a R rated section? Sure, it's meant for 17 year olds and up... But then, PG13 stories are meant for those 13 and up!
Finally... C'mon, how many people READ the stories here, aside from graders? A small group of people have a fan following, but otherwise, I don't think people usually read the stories of others. So it would likely not be an issue. ;)
There is, of course, the matter of graders. It is true that some graders might be too young, or might not want to grade those stories. However, if enough volunteers for that could be gotten, I think it would be a good idea to implement this.
The only other concern I heard was that some people might not be tasteful in their gore/other things. This, however, could be easily solved. Just establish a standard. Say that people must be 17+ and have had 3 stories in a row approved without editing needed. Or say they must be 17+ and have a Grader's sponsorship (A grader who'll speak for them and say they're good enough to get in).
Or... Just fail 'em like any normal story until they redo it. x3
I'd be moving my Del and Elegia stories there if approved... ^^; Since I've got plans for those that can never come to fruitition otherwise, due to lots of gore in the latter and more of what you'd expect from a slave type story in the former. x_X Those two stories would be fine wihtout it... But some of my other characters are sitting in dust or being used only in RPs with a good friend of mine since they wouldn't quite be appropriate here, and can't just be censored heavily like my current stories. :\ I've done okay with working around stuff, but eh... It makes it hard to finish stories sometimes.
x3 I mean... I've had to tone Elegia's story DOWN to just capturing a dead Pokemon (Just wait till I bring her Rapidash's history, among other things... If I dare), Del's story for the Murkrow/Mareep, and several other stories.
Looking at my stories, in fact.... I've toned a LOT of them down. Most of the ones I lacked or care about the characters of had to be or will need to be edited, probably frequently. I doubt I'm alone, too!
If anyone has had this expirience as well, feel free to speak up. Here's what I can think of from the top of my head as the things I've had to censor.
Hotaru/Dabesk/Koiple/ All Caliopean characters: Not at all usable here at the moment. VERY censored forms are in some RPs... But they barely even resemble the original characters except in name and looks. :\ Though they still might need some censoring for the forum it'd be usable.
I have used a person with Koiple's name.... But definitely not his personality.
And while Jane's Bayleef bears some vague resemblance to Hotaru's Bayleef... Hotaru's Pokemon makes Jane's look like a cuddly little Hoppip. Seriously. I like the new Bayleef- she's like a whole new, and also fun to write, character- but I miss writing the more serious one, too.
Jane Series: Jane was gonna be an edited version of 'Taru... Until I realized no amount of editing could clean her story up enough for the forum. x3 She's fun to write, but again, there WAS editing involved. The very first story was highly edited- one point that stands out to me is the setting, descriptions of what was going on with the Rockets, and her slight scare after a fight with them, among several other things. I feel this is why some people, no names being named, use Rockets as sort of a joke. Because really, they can't be written as anything else here. Team Rocket are a gang. A criminal organization. They SHOULD be scary, mean, and possibly sadistic, though some might just be opportunistic.
Ditto for the story in her series with the Cyndaquil being rescued. That scene took me days to get right... Because once I took stuff out of it it was 30K shorter. And once I took out other events in the Rocket place, etc, and then stuff that made no sense with that stuff missing... It was going to be long enough for like, 3 Cyndaquil, before that. :(
Drin series: Maybe she's not a sadistic Rocket, but she's not above doing some pretty nasty things for the Team... And she has 'friends' elsewhere that I can not use here. :| Not to mention her Pokemon have way more personality and history.
Elegia Series: A lot of gore was taken out. A LOT of gore. There's also the matter of exlcuded personal injuries (The tight leather/stiff fabric outfits 'for safety' being due to not-totally-healed skin grafts to her torso, where the skin was burned away... And thus if she isn't careful and tears those by refusing to rest that would not be good. x_X).... Some of the sorts of jobs she might have taken as a bounty hunter... And, of course, her Rapidash's history, and carnivourus-ness. Yes, I know that isn't a word.
Del Series: Anyone who can't see how heavily edited this is.... Well. x3 Although a certain grader who looked it over for me before grading did say it was already intense.
Terren's story: On hold indefinitely 'cause there's no way I'll be able to write it now. He's supposed to become an Aqua... But lots of unpleasant things hang around gangs and they would be no exception. For example, people who threaten the leader being dealt with, various enemies or politicians who backed out of supporting Aqua once Aqua got a reputation for not being scientific/environmentalists but crazy criminals (It's set near when Aqua just started) and of course, the sneaky sorts of things people do for hierarchy when an organization is starting. Not to mention blackmail, murder, and other generally gory or not kid friendly things. I like exploring this sort of thing, and working on improving the sort of writing that makes people shudder while still being fascinated... But again, not a good idea to do here unless I wanna risk a ban.
Under the Stars: Unfinished as censoring stole the life of the story. There's no smut or anything involved here, but I'm pretty sure that an alcoholic, abusive parent- The reason one character is venturing into the dangerous city alone at night, desperate to get her friend a pokemon of his own- would be off limits if I actually wrote it at all beliavably. So this story's gonna have to be deleted/killed unless there's an R rated forum.
A second chance: Not exactly R rated, but I'd feel more comfortable moving it away from kids, and then redoing it with less attempts to edit it. They made it awkward. Then again, a pretty graphic story about a bulimic isn't exactly little kid fairy tale type stuff even if it is not R rated. :X Having done gymnastics with people like this before I'm gonna say that it could get pretty grim... And yeah. Right now the attempts to censor myself have made it basically lousy and pointless.
Anyway... As evidenced here, a LOT of my stuff is edited. ;_; My less mature stories are okay, but I like to write a mix. And some characters- I'd estimate about 10, and they're 'well thought out' ones, not ones I just use for convenience like Kirliana and a few others- can't be used here at all right now. I can't imagine I'm the ONLY URPGer who likes to write things that aren't entirely kid friendly, so I think an R Rated forum would really be a good idea.
Besides. Making the forum accessible only to 17 and older users is as easy as making one accessible to mods only... Right? So why not? ^^