Thanks for all those who commented, your feedback has been very valuable.

Alright, time for some decisions.

I guess after all 130+ comments, it’s agreed that the new system should be implemented. It will take a little while to do, but it will get done.

Some changes will be required, like the clear definition of what is filtered out and what’s not. What will fall under this filter is any story containing any of the codes ‘pedo’, ‘lolita’, ‘boy’, ‘gi’.

The definitions of those codes will be amended to make them crystal clear.

boy, gi will be persons under the age of consent.

pedo will be person over the age of consent initiating sexual contact with a person under the age of consent.

lolita will a person under the age of consent initiating sexual contact with a person over the age of consent.

Since this is part legal issue, we’ll define the age of consent at 14 years since this is the lowest legal age of consent anywhere. That’s how it was in canada and still is in some states and other places in the world. So ‘boy’ is any male 13 years of age or younger. ‘gi’ is any female 13 years of age or younger.

Since this system will rely on correct coding, I will add a link at the end of each story for readers to report missing codes. We’ll do our best to enforce proper coding for those four codes. I’ll also change the submission wizard to ask the question whether the story contains sexual contact between a person over the age of consent and another under the age of consent.

Since filtering out database results by codes is computing intensive, I won’t be opening the current category exclusion preferences system for free accounts. Each story will be flagged filtered or not according those codes when posted or when the codes change. So this filter will apply strictly to those 4 codes.

For those concerned about ‘censorship’, this isn’t censorship. This is choice. Censorship would be if somebody else gets to decide whether you would be allowed to read something or not. Choice is when you get to choose.

Update 2010-05-07: Due to feedback and reading various references, I reverted the definitions to 12 and under instead of 13 and under and rephrased the pedo and lolita definitions to be in harmony with the most popular definitions I found.

Pedo: An adult initiating sexual contact with a pre-pubescent child (boy or girl, 12 or under)
Lolita: A pre-pubescent child (boy or girl, 12 or younger) initiates sexual contact with an adult (I know lolita doesn’t work properly for boys, but what else can we use? Lolito?)

I added the ’12 or under’ bit to the pre-pubescent part to remove ambiguity. I don’t want to hear the line, ‘but my character got her period at 10′.