Character age concerns

[Mark]

I was wondering about the character age rules, and just wanted to have it clarified for the new site (since I'm aware of the rules on the previous boards, but I don't know how much of it was Mpreg Central's and how much of it was from the company hosting the boards and is now no longer applicable to Mpreg Central).

I know that the "Rules & Guidelines" says that stories/artwork about pregnant teenagers (17 or under) is allowed, but is there a minimum age for that? (I ask because on the old boards some spots said only that 17 and under was allowed, but other spots got more specific, limiting it to 16 and 17 year olds.)

Would I be correct in assuming that when it says that such stories (involving characters under the age of 18) can't be "sexualized" that we just can't describe any sex involved in any detail, or does it mean that any under-18 character has to get pregnant by some other means (meaning no sex period, not even if the act itself fades to black before any specific details are given)? Also, would it still apply if we were to create a senerate species that had different cultural and legal standards of what constituted adulthood (say, if I were to create a furry species where members of that species were, socially and legally within their culture, considered adults at age 12 in Earth years)?

[LuvTheBump]

"I know that the "Rules & Guidelines" says that stories/artwork about pregnant teenagers (17 or under) is allowed..."

Please read more closely. "- Minors (17 or under) should not be featured in sexual situations in any story or art."

The rules for character age, whether it be story, art or roleplay, if engaged in sexual activities or impregnated, must be 18 years or older. You cannot skirt around this rule with "fade to black" details. Also, the age rule is applicable to all types. We can't start bending the rules for fictional species because it would not be fair to our writers and artists who work in humans.

[Mark]

"I know that the "Rules & Guidelines" says that stories/artwork about pregnant teenagers (17 or under) is allowed..."

Please read more closely. "- Minors (17 or under) should not be featured in sexual situations in any story or art."

The rules for character age, whether it be story, art or roleplay, if engaged in sexual activities or impregnated, must be 18 years or older. You cannot skirt around this rule with "fade to black" details. Also, the age rule is applicable to all types. We can't start bending the rules for fictional species because it would not be fair to our writers and artists who work in humans.

I don't wish to make it seem like I'm being arguementative or anything (I just want to make sure that I understand everything here first, honest! ) but part of the question was spurned by the sentence "However, stories/artwork about pregnant teenagers (17 or under) are ALLOWED as long as it's not SEXUALIZED" (a direct cut and paste of the second sentence of the second rule in the "Rules & Guidelines," as Lyric posted them) - I'm looking to understand better what's meant by that, before any problems occur (if it was always intended for only the 18 and above crowd to be getting pregnant in any stories/artwork on this board, I understand, but if so, that above-quoted sentence probably ought to be dropped, since I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd read it as giving permission to have an under-18 pregnant character).

[TheKicking]

Clarification: You may feature underage characters as pregnant as long as they are not sexualized, meaning they do not engage in sexual activity or are put in sexual situations.

If the character in question gets pregnant through sexual means, it cannot be during the storyline or depicted in the storyline. This means that it can be a past event that is mentioned, but not described, and there cannot be any further sexual activity as long as the character is underage.

We would prefer that underage characters be no less than 16 years of age, but you can ask one of the mods preview your story or RP for approval.

As for artwork, minors are allowed to be depicted as long as they are fully clothed and not in sexual positions or situations.

In the case of morphing, WE ARE NOT ALLOWING PICTURES OF MINORS TO BE MORPHED! This includes males and females, celebrities and people you personally know. ALL MORPHED SUBJECTS MUST BE 18 YEARS OR OLDER!

If you have any doubts, as I said before, you may contact one of us for prior approval. But if you still are unsure, then err on the side of caution and do not use any minors in your work at all.

[Mark]

All right. Thank you for the clarification. :D

[Kesian]

I'm personally glad this rule has gotten more restrictive. Thank you. But that being said, is it plausible to add some sort of indicator when a story features characters 17 and under? I would really prefer to stay away from teenager content entirely.

[LuvTheBump]

I'm personally glad this rule has gotten more restrictive. Thank you. But that being said, is it plausible to add some sort of indicator when a story features characters 17 and under? I would really prefer to stay away from teenager content entirely.

It would have to be up to the discretion of the writer to put that sort of warning on a story. The story section is more TheKicking's domain, so she might have other ideas. That is the best answer I can offer at the moment.

[TheKicking]

I'm personally glad this rule has gotten more restrictive. Thank you. But that being said, is it plausible to add some sort of indicator when a story features characters 17 and under? I would really prefer to stay away from teenager content entirely.

Currently, we aren't requiring that an indicator be put up but most authors generally state the age range of their main characters within the first few paragraphs.

I'm sorry, but that's how it is for right now.

[Mark]

But that being said, is it plausible to add some sort of indicator when a story features characters 17 and under?

Well, I remember on the old site when we were asked to indicate the age after the title in the original subject when there was an under-18 year old pregnant person (i.e. putting "16+" after the story title if it was about a 16 year old pregnant guy). Can't we just do it like that here, much like we have the request for certain stories be labled "NSFW" (for "Not Safe For Work") now?

[Lyric]

I'm hesitant to add yet another mandatory label requirement that authors must follow. We don't want to make things too complicated here so we'll leave it as it is for now.

[ElviraTepes]

There's gonna be another rule?

[TheKicking]

There's gonna be another rule?

No, Elvira. We are not going to ask authors to label their work unless it is NSFW.

You may if you like, but that is up to the discretion of the author.

[ElviraTepes]

There's gonna be another rule?

No, Elvira. We are not going to ask authors to label their work unless it is NSFW.

You may if you like, but that is up to the discretion of the author.

Oh ok. I read lyrics past post wrong i guess. :)

[TheKicking]

There's gonna be another rule?

No, Elvira. We are not going to ask authors to label their work unless it is NSFW.

You may if you like, but that is up to the discretion of the author.

Oh ok. I read lyrics past post wrong i guess. :)

I do that all the time :)

[Mark]

Just as a bit of a note, I do understand not wanting to have things bogged down in rules. At the same time, it seems like at times there are rules that can be...redundant, at least to me (this entire site could and should be considered a "potential NSFW," since there's always the possibity that some HR people out there might not distinguish between specific pages visited vs. specific pages not visited on a website, so labeling individual stories, artwork, or links to outside material is hardly necessary).

Either way, I for one am certainly more than happy to give appropriate warnings with any of my stories (even went and learned how to adjust thread titles so that I could label "Brett's Story" as "NSFW"), and I'll make sure to give appropriate warning for any stories I post featuring under-18 pregnant character. :)

[LuvTheBump]

Mark, we've said before that the NSFW labels aren't just for literal work settings. In fact, we're pretty sure most people don't look at this site while at their day job. The NSFW label is to distinguish the graphic content from the non-graphic content because not all of out members like to read graphic material. Think of it like a Parental Advisory warning on explicit CDs. We chose the NSFW label because it's most universally recognized for marking explicit material.

So it's not redundant in that we're insisting that only parts of a fetish site are not work place appropriate, but rather it's us extending a courtesy to the users who prefer mild material.

[Mark]

So it's not redundant in that we're insisting that only parts of a fetish site are not work place appropriate, but rather it's us extending a courtesy to the users who prefer mild material.

Then what's the difficulty with having the under-18 warning like with the previous site? Going by what both you and The Kicking are saying, doesn't that really fall under the same overall umbrella? While it's not extreme or R-rated, it would certainly seem (well, to me, anyway) that it would perhaps be best to say that such warnings are there for people who do prefer more mild material, which, among other things, sometimes includes having the pregnant individual (whether male or female) be at least 18 years of age.

And yes, I realize that part of this discussion (as well as Elvira's question on clarifying NSFW) is just trying to figure out how to say that in such a way that people don't have to read several pages' worth of rules and examples before they feel comfortable with submitting anything. Perhaps something along the lines of a statement like the following would help:

"While we recognize that there are many in the Mpreg Community who like a wide variety of descriptions in both stories and art, there are also those who are not comfortable with reading certain descriptions. As such, we do ask that you include in the subject line a label of 'Under-18' for stories involving pregnant characters under the age of 18, and 'NSFW' for stories/art/RP including..." (listing the things The Kicking specified in her post in response to Elvira's "Clarify NSFW" post).

Thoughts?

[Lyric]

Mark, I've refused your request already and explained why. The system works decently enough as it is without needing to bog it down further with more requirements.
I do appreciate your concern, though. Locking this thread.

[Buggy Girl]

So it's not redundant in that we're insisting that only parts of a fetish site are not work place appropriate, but rather it's us extending a courtesy to the users who prefer mild material.

Then what's the difficulty with having the under-18 warning like with the previous site? Going by what both you and The Kicking are saying, doesn't that really fall under the same overall umbrella? While it's not extreme or R-rated, it would certainly seem (well, to me, anyway) that it would perhaps be best to say that such warnings are there for people who do prefer more mild material, which, among other things, sometimes includes having the pregnant individual (whether male or female) be at least 18 years of age.

And yes, I realize that part of this discussion (as well as Elvira's question on clarifying NSFW) is just trying to figure out how to say that in such a way that people don't have to read several pages' worth of rules and examples before they feel comfortable with submitting anything. Perhaps something along the lines of a statement like the following would help:

"While we recognize that there are many in the Mpreg Community who like a wide variety of descriptions in both stories and art, there are also those who are not comfortable with reading certain descriptions. As such, we do ask that you include in the subject line a label of 'Under-18' for stories involving pregnant characters under the age of 18, and 'NSFW' for stories/art/RP including..." (listing the things The Kicking specified in her post in response to Elvira's "Clarify NSFW" post).

Thoughts?

My thought is thus: Why are you intent on making this so complicated?

If you're going to write something with characters under 18 and feel it's important to let people know, by all means, DO SO.

But not every one will feel the need to create that tag and it's not a tag we in the mod team feel like mandating. As it is, most of the stories on this board contain characters that are over 18, even without the restriction of disincluding characters under 18 portrayed in a sexual manner. It seems to me like it would be a bit silly of us to worry about enforcing such a tag, when so few people would be using it.

Writers, RPers, and artists, of course, are free to provide warnings they deem appropriate. This is why I myself am a fan of people who give brief summaries of their fiction at the beginning of a story, complete with warnings. I do like to be known what to expect, especially if it's a longer story, but I also know not every one feels the same way, so I'm not about to force my ideas on any one else.

So take it as you will; the standing rule is tagging anything that may be triggering, sexual, violent, etc -anything that's, ya know, not something you'd want a coworker seeing over your shoulder- as "NSFW". As for other tags and warnings, use them at your own discretion.