Removing underage stories

[nova]

The "Abductor" site recently embarked on a housecleaning of sorts and announced that:

Certain terms and or stories will not be tolerated: ******,
********, ****, ******, kindigarden, mommy & daddy.

I posted a message pointing out the absurdity of this statement, and my
message was deleted. Then I sent in an e-mail that was ignored. I can
only conclude that that site is being run, not by the merely careless, but
by the truly stupid. (BTW, apparently **** stands for "teen," because
there was a complaint later of having to read through "ump****" stories
to separate the allowable from the intolerable. I imagine that, in future,
"18" will be okay, but "eighteen" will be posted as "eigh****.")

Agree with Jinn or not, at least he's not a boob.

As you know, I already gave you my thoughts on this post by email, however in the interests of a balanced discussion, it seems fair that I present them in public too. As I've said I think your comments are unfair...particularly the more "personal" remarks

The owners of the site in question are neither stupid nor careless (or boobs). Yes, the filter they applied to undesirable terms was put in place before the post was made, and obviously had the effect of hiding the words they were supposed to be warning posters not to use. It was a mistake, but those happen. Given that the site owners run a number of BDSM/fetish pay sites which have all been burdened with the new regulations on record-keeping, and they are snowed under with making their business compliant, I think that the odd mistake is forgiveable.

Now add the latest threat to free speech, which has necessitated the removal of all the stories from the site until they can be verified not to contain such subjects as underage, snuff and bestiality and the possibility of legal proceedings if they aren't careful, and I would hope that most of their actions are seen to be understandable. (I can't comment on the deletion of your post, however, but as I told you in the email, I have never known it happen before.)

The story site in question is free, as is this one. It's a service provided to those who wish to read and write erotic fiction and it's paid for by the business from the other sites that they are struggling to keep open in the face of the latest crackdowns. Their easiest course of action would actually be to shut the story site down altogether, but they care enough about the stories and those who contribute to keep going. I think that should be applauded. The same applies to this site. In fact, at a time like this, maybe those of us who participate in these, or any other forums, should be pulling together, rather than criticising.

Finally, no I'm not wholly objective - I've known the owners (at least in an online capacity) for a while and I'm one of the moderators there. That aside, I have tried to keep this post as objective as possible.