7 replies to this topic

[Fragile]

I haven't recently read Batoto's legal terms regarding sexually explicit content, but as all things with Anime + Internet, there's a lot of gray zones and sneaky squeakers trying to get away with sharing something they like that just happens to cross the line.

 

My scenario: Like so many other R18 manga with sexually explicit content that violates certain boundaries, a manga I happened to read a long, long time ago was locked for review. I wouldn't even have known, nor cared, if it hadn't showed up in my follows feed. Frankly I can agree with the decision, because there were vague, but uncensored depictions of genitalia. In its defense, it was not pornographic in nature, but the fact that it lasted until this week makes me question just how efficient mature-content policies are.

 

I know it's really hard to make black-and-white rules about this, but I'm afraid of manga which may suddenly include a one-time, well thought out, and justifiably relevant inclusion of a sexually suggestive scene. What would happen to that?

 

Reasonably? That particular chapter would probably be censored, if anyone minded at all. It might just not be listed, since we always have the option to go to the scanlator's site, which would be our decision and would not involve Batoto.

 

The amount of content this site provides is only going to grow. I don't think it's fair to hide sexually explicit manga which otherwise survived. I know we don't want to allow minors access to gratuitously pornographic content, but as a devoted reader who started out reading Love Hina in middle school, I have a peeve about manga being misjudged by its cover.

 

What I'd like to see is something like an age verification process. It's the dumbest preventative measure ever, but it's not something we have. As far as I know, I can just open the page for an R18 manga without logging in. Manga tagged as "smut" or "sex" should have an extra door to pass through.

 

I know this a trivial issue, but I'm bored, and thinking, and it's something I wanted to talk about.

[2hot4you]

The reason smut/ecchi manga gets blocked or removed is because the ad companies dont want to be associated with it. Thus grumpy has no choice but to remove em, or no longer get money.

And i think kids these days are smart enough that if they see ecchi or smut tag, they know what to expect.

[svines85]

Well, when you say "R18", especially given the context of discussing an aggregate manga reader site, I think you're talking about the "official" R18 classification of manga and doujinshi. Well, I honestly don't think there actually is, or is supposed to be, any of that stuff here at all.

 

So, what, you're advocating an age-checking system for anything marked as "mature" as the system is now?

 

Seriously, I don't think any of the (mainstream) manga reader sites have that.......it's just not necessary unless there's actual, honest to goodness, age-controlled content present, and that's not the case here. I'd venture a guess that everything.......everything.......available here, was, in its original form, purchasable with no age check. 

 

So yeah, it just doesn't seem reasonable, and, I kinda doubt it's feasible either. 

Edited by svines85, 05 June 2015 - 06:56 PM.

[2hot4you]

tbh every 14 year old kid would just say they're 18 to see dem titties

[Nepenthe]

I believe Onemanga had something like this, back in the day? I know for sure there was age-verification on 1000manga, which is where they were starting to put all the more mature/sexy manga. (I may have gotten the name of this second site wrong...?)

[Yan Q]

Maybe what they mean is to have guidelines on what should and what shouldn't be reported. Because the ones doing the reporting are mainly viewers, and not the ad companies themselves.

Spoiler

Rather than one or two from a particular genre reported simply because it's more popular/reaches more eyes, the ban should be fair on others from that same genre.

For example, in the case of Hentai/Ecchi, what is considered appropriate? Panty shots? Suggestive sexual scenes? Breasts are okay, but no vaginas?
Or in the case of Psychological/Mature, what is considered appropriate? Murder that is suggested, not shown? Triggering scenes such as suicide or bloody car accidents? Bullying?

No excessive blood? No gore. No excessive violence? No shounen. No excessive sexual references? No hentai.

If instead the black and white is simply "No Genitalia". What if it's censored? What if it's done tastefully?
A manga that talks about transgenderism shouldn't be grouped in the same category as smut.

Unfortunately, the age verification isn't going to be worth the effort. Facebook and YouTube both have age verification, but its obvious they don't work as well as they should. And as long as the content is on Batoto, extra door or not, the advertisers won't be happy.

Rather than the age verification, in my opinion the extra step should be during the contributor process.
Any chapter upload that isn't by a contributor is checked anyway, and you can do away with R18 chapters there.
But if a user has the contributor status, their chapters aren't checked anymore. So maybe they can add a note if they're unsure about it being R18 and that particular chapter only can be passed on to an admin.

It's all a very grey area...

Edited by Yan Q, 05 June 2015 - 09:49 AM.

[powha]

We dont host any R18 manga. Also, you can read the General Hosting Rules and Guidelines here.

 

Frankly I can agree with the decision, because there were vague, but uncensored depictions of genitalia. In its defense, it was not pornographic in nature, but the fact that it lasted until this week makes me question just how efficient mature-content policies are.

You said it yourself, it was vague. Its not like we have 100 people checking every page of every comic uploaded for explicit/unallowed content. Some things slip through and it has nothing to do with efficiency of the mature-content policies. Its just that enforcing the policies is very hard in some cases.

 

I think Grumpy had an idea long about implementing age rating for comics, but gave up because it would turn into a mess and bring more trouble than its worth.

 

Anyway, i think that age verification would do absolutely nothing. We do not host any R18 comics for which it would make sense to have such step before viewing it.

Edited by powha, 05 June 2015 - 01:00 PM.

[Yaomo]

the one exception to this rule is yaoi, as long as it's not 100% pwp.

that might be because most mods don't even want to look through those mangas to see if they're suitable or not.

reporting it doesn't help at all, i've tried:

"this is against the rules" *links manga page with explicit content*

"what the hell are you making me watch?!" *refuses to look closely enough to consider whether it's appropriate*

(not too direct quotes. if only i'd remembered to log that conversation...)