I am absolutely confused over what yardstick hosting sites are using to determine if content is determined 'pornography' or 'adult'.

Some things are really obvious, but where is the line drawn?

Do stories containing hetrosexual and homosexual sex - from very mild to rather graphic - fall under the no-porn rules most hosts seem to have? What about nude art images (I do know the difference between 'art' and 'porn')?

My content would be mainly written stories (think Harlequin romance novels) and a very few drawn images to accompany them, as well as links to sites feature nude art - drawn and photographic.

It's not like my site draws a lot of traffic. Current average on the free-host I'm using is maybe 25 visitors a day (content is very genre specific) and I'm not selling anything.

Can anyone tell me if my content would violate most 'no adult' conditions?

GG

Pornographic means "sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arrousal."

http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=pornographic

Adult means "containing or dealing in explicitly sexual material; pornographic."

http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=adult

So I suppose the difference in the two is the "primary purpose is to cause sexual arrousal" part.

As a host, I don't find anything wrong with your content, as you've described it. Then again, we allow adult content, as long as it's legal. The only line drawn is legal and illegal (and perhaps "questionable" too... there's some sick things out there that might be 'legal').

Just to be safe, I'd find a host that allows that content. If you can't find one in your budget range, contact the ones that are in your range and see what they say about your content. Find out where they draw the line.

There are some things that are obviously adult content, such as images. There is a very thin line with everything else. Art if tasteful is not generally considered adult content. However, if it is just crude, then it would fall into adult. As for stories, and content.. would you let a kid read them? Do you need a disclaimer? Chances are most hosts would consider this adult.

That being said, a lot of hosts are not really concerned with this side of it. The main reason hosts block adult content, is due to traffic. Also, there are some people who are very offended by this type of stuff. I worked for one of the biggest hosting companies in the world, and we had clients that refused to have their server even in the same rack as adult sites.

Your best bet is to ask the host that you are considering. Some wont have a problem with it, others will be very strict about it.

-Dan

Originally posted by serve-you
Your best bet is to ask the host that you are considering. Some wont have a problem with it, others will be very strict about it.
Second this, muy importante. Although there are definitions, it isn't something that can really be defined.

"sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arrousal"

Some so-called 'fine art' would be considered sexually explicit and 'pornographic' by some, others not. Writing is the same, and 'other material' leaves it pretty wide open :D I've also seen fine art whose primary purpose was to cause sexual arrousal, but wouldn't be considered 'pornographic' by most people as there was less nudity than the local street. Summing up...
Originally posted by serve-you
Your best bet is to ask the host that you are considering. Some wont have a problem with it, others will be very strict about it.

Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.


if you are sick enough pictures of chairs will get you sexualy aroused



also image wise, if you use a host that doesnt allow adult content and have fine art or any other pictures that are nude but you dont think is 'porn' i would use the mossaic(sp?) tool in photoshop to censor out the nipples and the genitals of her(if a woman) and if a man filter out the genitals... this is your best bet

Originally posted by is0lized
if you are sick enough pictures of chairs will get you sexualy aroused

http://www.furnitureporn.com/ ;)

Originally posted by is0lized
if you are sick enough pictures of chairs will get you sexualy aroused
What makes a person with a chair fetish sick? ;)

or even more disturbing...

http://www.livenudecats.com/

Greg Moore

"you must be 18 months or older to enter this site" :D

Back to what constitutes adult content, this may differ from host to host, so if in doubt I would suggest emailing any company you are looking into, and just double-checking before you sign up. :)

This is a tricky topic. Another community I regularly visit (A Graphic Artists community), there was a debate about about this same thing awhile back. "What constitutes nudity and pornograpghy." The debate got so heated the post had over 400 replies, and when the dust settled, about 10 people were banned permanently, and another 20 or so for a few days.

This is one of these things that may bother one person and not another. Stuff like this is entirely subjective. The only way this can truthfully have a set standard, or define rules, is if the heavy hand of government begins regulating the content on the Internet. Now who wants that?

The best way to do this, is do decide if your work fits this category, or even contact the host to make sure to see if *they* dont see it as pornograhy (in your case, I ee your work as literature).

You can even go another set further and rate your site with "Safesurf" or "ICRA". That way it makes your set look better on your part or even make your visitors feel better about the site. My site has been rated using the ICRA system since my site is for a mature Role Playing Game (not sexual related, but graphic) since I have some images about the game.

Just my $0.02 and I hope I made sense... I just woke up ;)

My site has some similar contents like what you has described.

To be honest, from my actual experiences (I ve hosted on 3 hosts before and currently hosting on one that I don't want to tell because I don't want them taking any actions), none of them will care your content.

As long as you consume low bandwidth, don't display very explicit photos, you are safe.

Don't choose those that claim charges for removing pornography material is ok.

OK
We have a customer with a fur fetish site.
It consists solely of photographs of full clothed women wearing fur coats.
There is absolutely nothing pornographic in it but for him and his friends it definitely causes arousal.
So................ it is definitely a grey area.
There are loads of weird things out there.

Gordon

Guys, tell me your opinion. Is this porn or are those just cartoons that you can't take serious? I really wonder. :confused:


http://www.wwww.org/Cartoon/adultc/

Society determines what constitues pornography. I don't see why it should matter as long as nobody is getting hurt, but I don't control society, nor do I make the laws.