Thursday, March 13, 2014

The A-to-Z Challenge Handbook of Defining Adult Content #atozchallenge #faq

Since 2013, the Blogging from A-to-Z Challenge Co-Hosts have hammered out the system of categorizing Adult Content (AC) and how we are going to consistently police it so everyone knows where they stand. Blogs that contain adult content -- including but not limited to harsh language, are REQUIRED to identify themselves as such by adding the (AC) category next to their blog name on the sign-up list. Ideally, this must be done when you first sign up for the challenge

Unlike the other categories, the (AC) label is NOT optional; if you find that you are indeed among the adult content blogs, this category must be present with your blog on the signup list.

We know that there are some A-to-Z Challenge participants who are not sure if their blog’s content falls within the (AC) territory and they may be wondering if their blog is considered as such. For those of you who are in this boat, look no further – here is an easy way to figure out the answer:

Let’s imagine for a moment that Steven Spielberg called you this morning and said he wants to make a movie based on your blog. Upon his film’s completion, what rating would this movie receive from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) – keeping in mind that the film is inspired by your blog and its content? Your answer to this question will give you a good idea of where your blog stands in terms of the Adult Content (AC) category with regards to the Blogging from A-to-Z Challenge.

Our policies and administration practices in the matter of Adult Content blogs are put in place to address concerns about there being no age limit on who can sign-up for the A-to-Z Challenge. Considering that just having a blog meets the precondition of participating in the challenge, we define “Adult Content” as material that would be unsuitable for teenagers.

Adult Content – An A-to-Z Challenge Co-Host Encyclopedia Reference
We define Adult Content as any material that may be something a teen should not be viewing. By “Adult,” this means sexual content, frequent use of harsh language, nudity, gore, and overtly violent content. By “Content,” this includes blog posts, images, graphics and any other related material on display at your blog.

Below is an ADULT CONTENT CHECKLIST for the A-to-Z Challenge. If your blog contains any of the following material, then it should be marked with the (AC) category code:
  • Nudity
  • Frequent use of harsh language
  • Gore
  • Sexually oriented language
  • Explicit Violence

Again, if your Blog contains any of material listed above in this checklist, then it should be marked as such with the (AC) category code! 

Our guidelines are reasonably simple to follow; this is not rocket science. It is easy to figure out whether or not your blog belongs in the Adult Content category. If you have any of the aforementioned material on our checklist, you MUST have your blog labeled with (AC) on the signup list. Otherwise, your blog will be flagged and removed from the A-to-Z Challenge signup list.

At this time, we don’t consider a few profane words scattered in some blog posts here and there to be listed in the (AC) category. That said, if you might be among these particular Non-AC blogs, you are not out of the woods, where the nature of the content you publish is concerned. 

Those of you who are one of the Non-AC bloggers who do happen to have some harsh language sometimes, we strongly urge you to at least put a Disclaimer or Warning Notice at the top of your posts containing questionable content. These warning notices can help protect you if a teen participant happens to come across your blog during the A-to-Z Challenge.


Now that we’ve made this clear, if you do happen to have a run-in with Steven Spielberg, get him to reach out to me at The Madlab Post so he can check out one of my screenplays, will ya?!!

24 comments:

  1. OK now you lot, as some of you know my mate the very nice Steven Spielberg has been avoiding me rather a lot ever since I suggested that it would be a good idea if he made the block buster film based on the book of the blog of myself Rob Z Tobor. My attempts to sneak into his house and his posh boat and shout surprise have not gone down well either, Nor did super glueing the manuscript to the windscreen of his car at night, I even wore gloves so I dont know how he knew it was me.

    But the point is NOW LOOK you have given every one else the same idea and I bet I get the blame, it is not a good idea folk as I have been working on him for two years and he still insists that £185.89p is more than he can afford at present.

    When you say Gore do you mean as in Al Gore so dont mention Global Warming or do you mean O MY GOD the Aardvark has eaten little Timmy and left his feet in the bath.

    And are pointy sticks included in Explicitly Violent, I only poke at a few things and they seldom get hurt. . . . . . OK they limp a bit. . . .

    But I think my blog is in general child friendly, it is just that most children may scratch their heads a lot and say WHAT? . . . . . . and rather a lot of adults.

    Rob Z Tobor

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooooo yes Mr Jones does insist in hunting for Aliens in the nude although I have no plans to add pictures of him; I do have some followers and I want to keep them.

      Delete
    2. You so totally crack me up, Rob. I've read a lot of your blogposts. You are not AC, but your aardvark example had me snorting.
      Good luck with your Steven Spielberg hunting. Maybe watch The Hunger Games for some pointers, or Catching Fire. Very good ideas ;-)
      Tina @ Life is Good
      A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014

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    3. Thank you Miss Tina . . . . . . What this also shows is how comments can work wonders and create interest making folk think . . . . . . . . . . . AAAaauuuuuggghhhHHHH the mad bloke has turned up at my blog. Why my blog there are at least 1500 others he could go and annoy. Commenting is a skill in its own right me thinks, but its a time thing we just dont have enough time, so I will say goodnight and leave you all to have fun on twitter.

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    4. Not cussing or being taking nude selfies is great and all, but I just come here to stalk Rob. It's OK though, because I have on clothes while I do it. And I hardly ever have a p*tty m%#th. And Rob stalks me back. Sometimes. When he's not looking for Spielberg.

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    5. I know your game Me Flip or should I say MR S Spielberg. Just because I hid in your shower the other day and leapt out while you had that large inflatable alien in the bath with you, which for some reason you called Doris?

      Delete
  2. Nice job, Nicole, as always. Clearly defined. The movie rating analogy is such a good one! But not surprising coming from a film maker ;-) Good luck with getting Spielberg's attention ;-)
    Tina @ Life is Good
    A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014

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  3. Last year I was Arlee's Ambassador as I am again this year, I found many last year with contained AC WITHOUT it being having AC along side their blog on signing, This year have seen a vast improvement.
    Yvonne.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Where do we sing up for the A1 To Z blog for April! I want to be on the list thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Check the tab at the left top of the page.

      Delete
  5. I might need to put in the "Parental Advisory" a couple of places.

    BTW, when they started to put these "Parental Advisory" labels on music CDs, it served mostly as a message to the kids: Look, here's something interesting >:)

    Anyway, I'll obey the rules (normally I don't, which is sometimes a problem for my poor boss at work, hehe)

    Cold As Heaven

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another comprehensive post. Great job, Nicole!

    Lee
    A Faraway View
    An A to Z Co-host blog

    ReplyDelete
  7. I remember an issue with an A-Z blogger last year who got her nose out of joint because she didn't have the AC marker yet her blog was quite ribald. I hope that doesn't happen again this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correction: she didn't get her nose out of joint because she didn't have the AC marker while having a quite ribald blog. She got her nose out of joint because (1) The rules were not made until AFTER the event had already begun, and did not exist at the time she began the challenge; (2) Other bloggers {such as myself} wrote much more "ribald" material than she yet were not singled out in the same manner; and (3) After adhering to the administrator's request to place a warning in her heading, she was still harassed for writing "ribald" material -- which still never even touched the level of "ribald" offered up in my blog. If by ribald you mean F-bombs and the like. The whole thing was ridiculous and the blogger in question should NOT be discussed as someone who broke rules or went nuts. She had fair complaints which were not addressed fairly. She also happens to be a highly intellectual individual with a great sense of humor -- both of which seem to be lacking in those who would take offense to her blog. While I do not plan to label my blog with the AC marker, I will give fair warning as to the number of F-bombs dropped per post. I would guess, based on your comment here, that you might wanna just skip on over mine, because ribald is kind of my middle name. Andi-Ribald-Roo

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  8. Glad you made your reasons clear on this.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This makes me wonder if I need to have some kind of disclaimer on my posts. While I don't use very many curse words, my topic can be bit controversial to some people. I am talking about sex addiction for my Challenge. Any thoughts?

    Elsie
    AJ's wHooligan in the A-Z Challenge

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elsie, let me get back to you on this.

      Delete
  10. Here's a question for you: While my main blog is not AC, for the challenge I have added a couple of links to my adult blog (I have 3 semi-dormant blogs) for companion posts that were specifically created for the challenge (in other words, two letters "F" and "X" have companion posts on my adult blog to give people examples for those letters). I do have the obligatory warning for people should they want to click on the link. Do I need to add anything else?

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  11. G.B. Miller, the blog that you have signed up for the challenge is the blog that will be monitored. Based on your question, I'm not sure if I completely understand what you're asking but am assuming you are referring to hyperlinks. Did you sign your adult blog signed up for the challenge -or- did you sign your main blog up for the challenge and plan on adding links in your A-to-Z Challenge posts, that lead to adult content on your other blogs? If the former applies, then your blog needs to have the (AC) category in the signup list. If the latter applies, I would recommend adding a disclaimer on those posts where you will be adding links.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did not sign up my adult blog for the challenge, as I consider my adult blog to be nothing more than a dumping ground for some of my more provocative posts over the years (specifically designed it that way). I do have hyperlinks from my main blog (which I did sign up for the challenge) to my adult blog for two of my posts. I will double check to make sure that disclaimers were added to the links in question. Many thanks for answering my question.

      Delete
  12. The fact this post even has to be written makes me want to heave a great sigh at the number of namby-pantses offended by F-bombs. Good grief, you guys. Seriously???

    ReplyDelete
  13. How do we go about changing it if we have suddenly realized that the content we will be sharing may actually be AC?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am also very confused by what this means. I have one part in one poem that would at worst be like that scene in The Avengers they had to tone down a little to dodge the R rating (and because I'm squeamish I usually look at away at this part.) It depends how you read it. Also the guidelines seem unclear: do we need AC on the main challenge site? (I already submitted my blog without it.) Or are warnings on individual posts sufficient? Regardless, even on that one post I feel like my at worst PG post doesn't need a disclaimer. Maybe it does. What would Shirley Jackson's The Lottery be rated in this scenario - and, should we discourage kids from reading stories like that? Ignoring bad things doesn't make them go away. o/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When we instituted this "rule" it was due to blog posts with graphic pornographic photos that might offend others, superfluous use of profanities, or written content of an extreme adult content such as explicit sex or violence. I think most of us understand what this means. In way would The Lottery or anything like that be considered.

      We have generally let bloggers decide how they think their blog should be labeled and if there has been no content warning and we at A to Z start getting a bunch of angry complaints then we will label the link as containing adult material.

      WE understand there is a wide range of views regarding the AC issue. The issue had been debated often for a couple of years and then kind of disappeared from the conversation. You are commenting on a post from 2014.

      Arlee

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