After getting my anger under control, I took a quick look at my stories and found that 13 are okay, 12 can be fixed with a quick rewrite and change of story codes, and 26 have to go. So, not a total disaster.
After getting my anger under control, I took a quick look at my stories and found that 13 are okay, 12 can be fixed with a quick rewrite and change of story codes, and 26 have to go. So, not a total disaster.
2 of 4 of mine can stay, but one of the ones that can't, I've invested 10 years and 150k+ words into. The rest are whimsical short stories.
That should be addressed many writters have invested years on their stories that might fall into the delete calagory. Some authors are no longer living or writing. The works like Glassballs that inspired me to write will be gone, the aurthor dead.
Yet if Lazeez were to personally preserve the works, it would likely further expose him, and the entire site, to increased scrutiny. In situations like this, there are few safe 'middle grounds'.
My hope is that he can provide the stories to others who can preserve them as they see fit (without relying on everyone randomly downloading whatever they want and somehow coming up with a complete set).
Yet if Lazeez where to personally preserve the works, it would likely further expose him,
If he archives them off line, he should only have to worry about local law and there should be no exposure for the site.
I'm not actually recommending that he do this. I have no idea what his local law is like.
Of my 16,000,000 words over the last 10 years, 15,000,000 have to go. Of those, 10,000,000 are probably not salvageable in any way.
I haven't done a complete analysis of ALL my posted stories, but offhand, I can only think of one two-volume set which fits the requirements. This wipes out several complete genres: coming of age, do-overs, and virtually ANY story involving teens.
For example, one of my current WIP has adults and college age students, yet since MOST families pace their children roughly two-years apart, if you have one 18-year-old, that means you're likely to have a 16 and/or a 14-year-old too.
Plus with my 'pseudo-incest' focus, the vast majority of my stories are gone. And of my 5 current WIP stories, only one is likely to remain, and with nowhere to post it, is there really any reason to continue?
In the past, each time we had a major election, someone would get up and denounce pornography, and various U.S. states would automatically start banning ALL the more progressive stories they've ALWAYS wanted to burn.
Yet after the election, that whole purge would be forgotten and everything would return to normal. Yet with our current 2025-inspired Supreme Court, that's highly unlikely to happen. As the entire concept of "Freedom of Speech" now seems to be gone for good, as is the whole "One Person, One Vote" concept, as now that money counts as 'Speech', it doesn't matter what anyone but the billionaires think anymore.
But, I'm not going to suddenly start writing all new content, so it's either write for myselfβas I've always doneβor give up writing entirely. And at this time, I'm split which direction I'll choose.
However, I have one story, currently at 9 chapters and 36,000 words (not yet even a novella) which definitely qualifies (no sex, yet plenty of friendly, playful teasing with plenty of innuendo) which WILL be posted here before long, as it's a much better story than my last several. (I started writing it as a challenge, so the story structure and premise are fairly unique.) But beyond that, who knows.
Yet after the election, that whole purge would be forgotten and everything would return to normal. Yet with our current 2025-inspired Supreme Court, that's highly unlikely to happen. As the entire concept of "Freedom of Speech" now seems to be gone for good, as is the whole "One Person, One Vote" concept, as now that money counts as 'Speech', it doesn't matter what anyone but the billionaires think anymore.
This is not the place for it, so I'll just say 'one person, one vote' is NOT a constitutional principle in any way (even after the 14th Amendment), nor is denying First Amendment rights to a corporation which is people assembling to speak together (and asking redress of their grievances). Come to my Discord server for a political discussion so we don't upset Lazeez when he's in the middle of a crisis.
However, I have one story, currently at 9 chapters and 36,000 words (not yet even a novella) which definitely qualifies (no sex, yet plenty of friendly, playful teasing with plenty of innuendo) which WILL be posted here before long, as it's a much better story than my last several. (I started writing it as a challenge, so the story structure and premise are fairly unique.) But beyond that, who knows.
I'm fixing Climbing the Ladder, as I only need to fix three or four scenes across the four books.
I have an archive of our own account they take a lot of erotica that has lost its home. I'll eventually post my master story files there.
I've had one for years. You can post original works. Just cut and paste, I started backing up over there since this crisis started so I have a place to point readers of my stories.
Something is broken in the main Purge thread (or is for me) and I can't post there. No matter whether I try to reply to Laz or someone else, I get a message about not being allowed to start a new topic.
So, posting here:
I honestly (not just playing ignorant) do not know how to interpret the new policy.
It is:
Age restrictions: Your work (stories, poems or blog entries) may not contain characters younger than 18 having sex or being in sexual situations (masturbation and nudism are not allowed). In other words, all characters that engage in any sexual activity must be 18 or older.
What is a 'sexual situation'? Is that explicit, or implied? Can my characters say 'let's go have some fun', then later say 'wow, that was fun!'? Hint more? Hint less?
Obviously, explicit anything is off the topic.
My question is: is this the only Finestories policy, in effect, where explicit sexual content (including descriptions of naked people) is off the table but the notion of them having sex is allowed? Or are we required to not acknowledge their potentially having had sex?
My fervent hope is that it's the 'no explicit content' version. In that case, my first four books are generally salvageable. If not, they're not without one or another forms of ridiculous hoop-jumping.
But I can't tell from the policy. I'll ask Laz (who I know is utterly exhausted and overwhelmed), but it seems likely someone already knows the answer.
I understand bestiality is also out unless there's some sort of otherworldliness about it. I guess there will be plenty of 'Is this allowed?' questions that Laz will have to rule on.
AJ
I had the same thing happen, and I've already filed a message to Lazeez over it. But I'm guessing it's a glitch based on sheer magnitude to posts today.
But at the moment, Lazeez is urging everyone to NOT post (i.e. remove) specific ages and grades, as a temporary work around until they can figure out how to proceed.
However, given how this all began, I'm assuming that ANY reference to underage sex (i.e. under 18) is just as likely to trigger further complaints. Yet that's still to be determined.
However, given how this all began, I'm assuming that ANY reference to underage sex (i.e. under 18) is just as likely to trigger further complaints. Yet that's still to be determined.
And it's important to note that the complaints didn't come in to SOL directly. An activist in Germany is/was pushing SOL's server hosting provider to deplatform SOL due to under age content.
I could, in theory, delete ages. Grades are just about impossible, but I could, maybe. I think that's a workaround for shorter works, though, and it makes sense there.
Or I could go nuts and create an alternative reality where humans 'hibernate' for the first four years of their lives and thus the typical US high school student starts at 18 or so (in a 14-year-old body, but we won't mention that). The problem, of course, comes when we get to the characters having kids.
Basically, crazy workarounds already considered and largely discarded. It's just too much work to do anything other than punt explicit sex and point people who are interested to the 'unexpurgated' edition.
The problem with that (fairly minor) is that some readers will prefer the no-sex version and be flummoxed when Books 5+ have explicit sex. I can remove that, but now nearly every 'sex scene' is totally entangled with dialogue and content, so ... yeah.
We'll get there. It'll take time.
Some children progress more slowly than others.
As a silly example, Jethro Bodine of the Beverly Hillbillies.
Perhaps a statement that this 6th grader is 18 or 19...
Grasping at straws.
FYI, I received clarification from Laz. This is an answer to the same question I listed above.
What need to change is the explicit stuff. Any character in explicitly described scenes need to be 18+. No explicitly described sex, then no age restriction.
That's the reading I was hoping for. On that basis, I can (and will) start creating a bowdlerized version of VoaT that passes muster. Timeframe unknown, hopefully soon.
As I'd mention, Nowhere β¦ Like Home? is now gone (a central issue was that earlier, primitive cultures, had an entirely different concept of maturity than our current advanced culture does.
I had another four books flagged, from my oriigional Catalyst, which I'd removed from my listed works some time ago. The six book series is simply too massive to do a full line-by line edit, as the character's ages are defined early, and the protagonists remain the same age for the whole story. So, it's simply easier flushing the entire series, since it hasn't been available for years anyway.
All of my other stories seem to be okayβfor now, at leastβthough I suspect, having seem the impact they've had, the initial complaining group will likely keep escalating their claims.
And, of my current five WIP, only ONE will EVER be publishable, so again, I'm ceasing ALL further development on them because, as noted, what's the point of having them properly edited, is they can't be posted/published. But the others, even my initial Great Death series, all seem to be fine (5 out of 33).
Luckily, I have a LOT more 'adults ONLY' stories, though it radically alters the types of stories I CAN write going forward.
So, just think of this as a FineStories version of your regular story, making your story more accessible to those who frequently read the latest postings at work.
This is the first I've heard of this "purge". Sorry if I'm being dense, but I can't find any post about it. Will someone please tell me where to find it?
This is the first I've heard of this "purge". Sorry if I'm being dense, but I can't find any post about it. Will someone please tell me where to find it?
The forum thread announcing the change has either been deleted or hidden.
Will someone please tell me where to find it?
Laz seems to have hidden it so that political discussions and name-calling don't break out while he's getting some well earned rest.
If you look at your story stats page, stories that are potentially a problem under the new rules, and liable for removal, are marked with a black dot.
AJ
Currently, only 5 of my stories are flagged, yet they're mostly within the same series as others which weren't.
It's in the one containing the title. The dot is right after the last letter of your story title (if applicable).
potentially a problem under the new rules, and liable for removal, are marked with a black dot.
One of my stories with the black dot is "Last Kiss." It has no sex and is listed as such. It has the mt/ft tag, but that's for the romantic relationship between the two characters who are under 18.
So are the relationship tags ONLY to be used for sexual relationships? I asked that question several times over the years and never got an answer.
So are the relationship tags ONLY to be used for sexual relationships?
That looks to be a "yes", so clear that tag and your story is as clean as driven snow. You may need to tell The Boss that you cleared it, but a simple check will tell you that.
so clear that tag and your story
Actually, there was no way to delete the tag. When I went into edit tags (in manage stories), it didn't exist in the options. But I selected "teenagers" and the "mt/mf" went away.
I had already notified the webmaster and the black dot was removed before this change. I think they removed them all for stories with no sex.
Simply resubmit the corrections (i.e. changing the tags) and it should be cleared right away.
The link is still up on the front page of the sister site scifistories. Interestingly, when you click on it, it takes you to the original forum post which appears to have been subsequently hidden....
https://storiesonline.net/d/s1/t13261/the-great-change-and
I restored over 1300 stories (unhidden) by un-hiding stories with no sex but tagged with the problematic tags.
Chapeau! π©π©π©
The handling of chapter replacements is nothing short of amazing! Thanks for handling this unwarranted situation decisively and with consideration!
My blog to readers about the purge is gone. I just resaved everything minus the offensive tags.
I can't post in the original Great purge thread, so i'll post my response to a question about archiving here-
As this is (supposed) to be about protecting children from harm online, if the stories were archived to a few storage servers that were then physically & wirelessly disconnected from the internet, then yes they could all be archived and meet the requirements of protecting the children.
However as had been posted later in that thread, this is most likely about protecting children from *all* harm online, which means there can be nothing online that could harm them, regardless of it's legality whether for them or adults, so how long before even stories that are now considered Ok for the site before they too are no longer Ok....
I see them pushing for age verification for all sites- which is so broken & open to privacy issues it's ridiculous.
Having idiots in positions of power or of significant influence really does suck big time.
Having idiots in positions of power or of significant influence really does suck big time.
Is there anyone in any position of power and/or influence anywhere in the world who isn't an idiot?
Is there anyone in any position of power and/or influence anywhere in the world who isn't an idiot?
There are a few (and we all have our D'oh! moments), but there are the varying levels of idiocy- occasional and minor all the way to always & extreme.
Unfortunately always and extreme seems to be the norm these days- actually taking a step or 3 back and seeing if a proposal will actually do what it claims it will do just doesn't seem to happen anymore.
Whether it's ideology, ignorance, or stupidity (or a combination of all 3), even fewer people than before take the time to really think things through.
I've got some flagged that I hadn't anticipated. I thought I'd dealt with everything that ran contrary to the rule, and found there are others flagged. Looking at them now, I'm seeing lower-case tags I don't remember putting on there. They're all available elsewhere that already had an 18 rule...
Guess I'll tweak the tags, repost unchanged, and let the chips fall where they may.
I was reading this thread and have NO CLUE what it is referring to. I can guess, but...
There is no site announcement. I don't see anything like "black dots" on my stories (many of which should be affected if my guess is correct)
Is there someplace that a new rule is posted?
Is there someplace that a new rule is posted?
The thread was hidden. The gist:
So as of today, no more stories with characters under 18 engaging in any sexual activities. We've had that policy for images since forever, but now even written words must be policed.
We have some time (not much) to clean up the site.
The problem is coming from a German NGO that believes it's their ___ given obligation to impose their sense of morality upon the world.
The problem is coming from a German NGO that believes it's their
And, if I read Lazeez's posts in the now hidden thread correctly, the German NGO isn't attacking SOL directly.
They are interfering with the relationship between SOL and their server hosting provider. SOL bows to the demands or the hosting provider stops doing business with SOL.
How do you know that? I've been wondering where this is all even coming from. Did I miss that part in the original announcement post?
How do you know that? I've been wondering where this is all even coming from. Did I miss that part in the original announcement post?
It wasn't in the OP, it got mentioned in a subsequent comment by Lazeez that it was coming from a German bureaucrat. I think he mentioned a name.
Someone else tied that name to a German NGO.
If you want to check it out, the link above by Pixy to the thread still works. The thread was hidden, but not deleted.
Here's the link again. https://storiesonline.net/d/s1/t13261/the-great-change-and
There is no site announcement.
There was in a thread, but that thread has been deleted. I haven't checked, but the rules (terms & conditions) for posting have been changed.
No sex, nudity, etc. for any character under 18.
No bestiality.
Unlike the last change, there won't be grandfathering. The stories are being removed from the site.
It has to do with a German organization that will cause havoc on SOL if it doesn't make the changes.
There was in a thread, but that thread has been deleted.
Not deleted, just hidden. The thread is still accessible with a direct link. Others have mentioned the announcement is still on the sister sites.
Sadly, The Windy Pines was flagged. Horrible timing for me as I was just trying get the last book in the series posted. Awful. Just f-ing awful. This book was my best writing yet according to my Beta's and editors. Damned shame.
Just remove any age or grade designation, which for a later posting, shouldn't be an issue, since your readers already know your characters.
All the ages have been changed to "eighteen" on all of my stories. I also made a blurb for anyone who opens those stories that the original, uncensored versions are available.
I did manage to get TWP4 part 2 up on Bookapy, so there is that!
Ah, that's fine, but what about the continuing story, is everyone 18 now, despite the purge being over, or will we need to download the story, once completed, and manually revert all the ages back to their original version?
Note: I've done that for editing purposes before, to make my own download copies easier to read, yet never for content.
I've spent more than the past year pouring heart and soul into a story that I was getting ready to publish once it was ready, that apparently now will be in violation of the new rule with no realistic way to change it, other than just removing reference to character ages and hoping nobody gets too nosy.
I refuse to accept the idea that all my effort has been for naught; the story has to be shared somewhere. Anywhere. There's got to be some way of salvaging all the wayward stories that are being affected by this.
I have a suspicion AO3 is about to get sudden boom in content from displaced writers looking for a new home.
I belive you can share it on Archive of our Own as an original story.
If you draw enough traffic/attention to Archive of our Own, they will get hit with the same kind of attack on their hosting and/or ISP.
I doubt it they are pretty free speech and a closed group, no membership without invite.
All I know is I'm not giving up on my project after all the time and energy I've put into it.
If worse comes to worst, I expect I should be able to get away with simply removing the lines that specify character ages. Pleading the 5th if you will. Plausible deniability. It's only a couple characters out of a large ensemble cast who would fall under the scrutiny anyway.
But one way or another, I'm putting it out there. Even if I have to sink to the level of just posting a link for my Reddit followers.
Keep your original files (for once this all passes over) and for now, patch what you can, just to get the stories out there. It's hardly an ideal situation, but something is better than nothing at all!
I refuse to accept the idea that all my effort has been for naught; the story has to be shared somewhere. Anywhere. There's got to be some way of salvaging all the wayward stories that are being affected by this.
Print them on paper and ship them to the US.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a direct attack on SOL. Someone went to the company SOL uses for server hosting and got them to threaten to shut down SOL's servers.
Nearly any site out there big enough to host all the affected stories and handle the level of traffic that SOL gets will be vulnerable to the same sort of attack. Few such sites can afford to run their own server farm.
And if you found one that does, the people behind this will go after their ISP.
Obscurity might protect them for a while, but it's not a reliable defense.
Even repealing the anti-CSAM laws they use as leverage won't necessarily stop them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point
Operation Choke Point was an initiative of the United States Department of Justice beginning in 2013[1] which investigated banks in the United States and the business they did with firearm dealers, payday lenders, and other companies that, while operating legally, were said to be at a high risk for fraud and money laundering.
This operation, disclosed in an August 2013 Wall Street Journal story,[2] was officially ended in August 2017,[3] and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners and to cease issuing "informal" and "unwritten suggestions" to banks.
https://www.cramer.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cramer-reintroduces-fair-access-to-banking-act-to-protect-legal-industries-from-debanking#:~:text=The%20Fair%20Access%20to%20Banking,against%20legal%20industries%20and%20individuals.%E2%80%9D
I suspect if this law passed in the USA perhaps would stop some of the category rules, maybe.
That is partially in response to Operation Choke Point as well as more recent efforts against conservatives.
However assuming that bill passes, it will only protect access to banking services, not hosting services or internet access.
Reading the FSM site it appears that any porn content is in violation of its rules unless there is a age verification system approved by it.
I don't see how just the removal of underage content would satisfy them. I wonder if an approved system was put in place would that content would be ok.
I suspect that the underage issue has more to do with the new host's internal policies than any real threat to it from Germany.
I don't see how just the removal of underage content would satisfy them. I wonder if an approved system was put in place would that content would be ok.
I suspect the hosting provider is OK with adult content and will tell the German NGO to f-ck off, but will not tolerate underage content.
Just spitballing an idea here, what about someone creating a Universe (Alternate Earth FU/+7) where puberty doesn't happen until 18 and you're not considered voting age/adult until 25?
I wondered whether it might be possible to 'hide' problematic stories so that only the author can access them. That would satisfy child protection, give authors time to make their works Deutschland-compatible, and give Laz an easy way of resurrecting the stories if he finds a less pusillanimous host or if free speech campaigners force a German climbdown.
AJ
ah fuck this, the site is dead, thats the only reason people came. I should actually get a refund for this month, wasteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed
Seriously, some Dude from a country where the age of consent is fourteen, starting a crusade against sites that allow stories featuring sixteen-year-olds in sexual situations.
Call me crazy, but if this doesn't reek like the usual overcompensation we see from REAL predators right before someone discovers the shit they tried to hide on their hard-drives, I don't know what does.
As always, if you describe underaged sex, you're liable. Thus limit the extend of the physical descriptions, so their sexual characteristic aren't explicitly stated. That's always been true on SOL, so you can describe events in someone's history as a matter of history or as interpersonal dialogue, so think of it as 'fudging' the descriptions a bit, rather than deleting the entire story.
Of mine 25 of 47 have black dots. I'll wait until the Purge announcement is reposted before doing anything. Thank you AJ for telling us latecomers what is going on.
~ JBB
I took the time today to fix Climbing the Ladder. It was relatively easy as there were very few scenes violating the new rules. I did mark the changed chapters, but the only comment is that they were changed to comply with the rules.
Good Medicine is a bigger challenge. A Well-Lived Life is basically hopeless.
Okay, so I missed the original thread and the announcement. I noticed however several of my stories have black dotsβwhat is constituting the banned codes? All characters in stories with this pen name are 18+
what is constituting the banned codes?
Mf, mf, mF, mm, ff
It wasn't mentioned in the OP on the announcement thread, but Lazeez in a comment mentioned that bestiality and zoophilia are also now on the banned list.
All characters in stories with this pen name are 18+
18 and 19 year-olds are legally adults and should be coded as adults, not teens.
Changed the coding, guessing there's nothing yet on how to get rid of the black spot?
I find it interesting the teenagers tag still existsβ¦. But also, eighTEEN and nineTEENβ¦. Just saying
Apologies if it's been mentioned, but I couldn't see it when reading through this post.
My story has been removed and it doesn't have a black spot - it has a white spot next to it. Does anyone know what that means?
My story has been removed and it doesn't have a black spot - it has a white spot next to it. Does anyone know what that means?
The original announcement thread has been hidden for now.
The original announcement says this:
Stories mentioning younger character ages in their descriptions will be removed. Stories containing the above tags and scoring below 6 will be removed. Anything that was grandfathered under the 2011 change will have to go.
And this:
The way we'll proceed is that stories grandfathered in 2011 will be completely removed, the rest will be filtered out until we clean everything up.
There is no mention of a white spot in the announcement thread. Check your access level setting. Change it to full access if necessary.
Thanks for that. Now I feel foolish - I had the site on dark mode so it was actually a black dot.
Now I just need to work out why it was removed since every character was over the age of 18.
Now I just need to work out why it was removed since every character was over the age of 18.
I have a story that had mt/ft but the story was listed as "no sex." The mt/ft was simply to define the characters in a romantic relationship (not sexual). I notified the webmaster and the black dot was removed because they removed the black dots from all no sex stories.
I did have those tags as I, and probably a lot of people, just considered it to mean teenagers.
I did remove those tags when I first saw the post about the purge - which was accurate since all my characters are over 18 anyway. But I guess it was too late at that point.
No beastiality? There go 90% of my posted works. No under 18? Swarm Cycle goodbye. Well that probably means all of my posted stories are going....π€¬
No beastiality? There go 90% of my posted works.
I'm not happy about that one either, but it is what it is. There's not much Lazeez can do about his hosting provider saying we won't allow this on our servers.
As I noted elsewhere that this is being done by a NGO reeks of government using a 'cat's paw' to do what is otherwise not something the government is allowed to do...
reeks of government using a 'cat's paw' to do what is otherwise not something the government is allowed to do...
The US government under Obama pulled something similar with the banks. They called it operation choke point. And the target wasn't criminals, it was legal but politically disfavored industries.
I see it more as being a lawyer who has found a long-term well-paying gig and is milking it for all he can, "won't anyone think of the children" works pretty well.
On the other hand, Ursula von der Leyen used to be the Minister for Families (or something like that) around 20 years ago and she tried to introduce internet censorship back then. Her ministry's proposals were unworkable but that never stopped any politician, I believe that was the reason they never became law though.
From what Lazeez has said, it will be automatic and done on his end for short stories with a low score and or stories where the author is no longer around.
Authors who are still around will be given a chance to bring other stories in compliance, but if they can't or won't, they need to let Lazeez know which stories to remove.
The prohibited tags are no longer available on the wizard for adding tags to a story.
I keep seeing comments about changing story tags when reposting a story, but I don't know how to do that. Did a resubmission of one this morning that only needed changes to the tags, but I didn't see anywhere to do it. Maybe this whole kerfuffle has my ancient brain in a fog.
BTW, when you see "DarkKnight" as a poster, that's me. Sometimes I forget to change from my nickname when posting.
I keep seeing comments about changing story tags when reposting a story, but I don't know how to do that. Did a resubmission of one this morning that only needed changes to the tags, but I didn't see anywhere to do it. Maybe this whole kerfuffle has my ancient brain in a fog.
Use the Story Manager (or click from your stats page). Then click on the tags. The tags that are no longer available are not there; change others Save. All set.
Logically, what's to stop the group (or person) behind this to decide tomorrow that any mention of sex between adults is also verboten?
Eventually they'll be hauled into court and faced with a multi-million dollar lawsuit for interfering with lawful (in the US, at least) businesses. So don't erase the backups.
Eventually they'll be hauled into court and faced with a multi-million dollar lawsuit for interfering with lawful (in the US, at least) businesses.
The people doing this are not in the US. The US courts would have no jurisdiction.
And the servers are also not in the US. Given the current climate, I wouldn't move to the US to avoid trouble. On the other hand, there are countries where hosting providers would be much more likely to tell the German group to go pound sand.
The issue really comes down to payment processing. If the payment providers cave to pressure, there's little recourse.
Again, they're effectively doing an end-run around the courts, by unduly threatening to publicly embarrassing the server's facilities. Thus, there is NOTHING legal about it!
Reflecting on the utter chaos and nightmares caused by a single ΠΌΡΠ΄Π°ΠΊ and just shaking my head.
Again, they're effectively doing an end-run around the courts, by unduly threatening to publicly embarrassing the server's facilities. Thus, there is NOTHING legal about it!
Even accepting your claim that there's nothing legal about it, that doesn't mean that the US courts have jurisdiction to do anything about it.
None of my stories are tagged, but due to a major disagreement at home because of this, all of my stories will be removed in the very near future.
Attack by the "Earth Firsters"?
Has an agreed non-scatological nickname yet arisen for the German group pushing the world to conform to their personal beliefs?
Given the impact on SOL hosting the Swarm Cycle stories, my nomination would be "Earth Firsters".
Al
One of my three stories on the site was affected. Unfortunately, it's my highest rated story, Lightning in a Bottle. I expect that this change might be the death knell for do-over stories - but LiaB is one that might be salvageable. The protagonist was sent back to his 17-year-old self - much older than you usually see in stories like this - and I've decided to take a crack at saving it.
The troublesome content is several sex scenes, early in the story, involving two 17-year-old high school seniors. For these scenes, I'll have to take the sex off-screen, but that is doable. I'm very grateful for the clarification that implied sex is OK, because that makes all of this manageable and easy to swallow. I can leave about 90% of the story untouched.
I don't know if this is a solution for you, but I'm in the same boat. I decided to add a disclaimer at the beginning of my story, where I state that European rules apply. Meaning:
- One CAN graduate from high school at sixteen, but, if you want to pursue higher education, you have to stay longer. So, a high school senior would be 19 or 20, depending on their birth month, before they leave for university.
- No driving before 18
So, I simply will say my character is a high school sophomore with a driver's license, making him eighteen thanks to the disclaimer, while he was sixteen in the original. I won't have to rewrite massive parts and settings.
I feel you! I've got far more scenes, but plan to figure out something. I'm not entirely sure what 'off-screen' means, so far, and am still working on clarification. If there's a lot of talking and the actual mechanics of sex aren't descriptive, does that fit?
Lightning in a Bottle is a great story, and I wish you the best in getting it back online. I'm probably at 95%+ untouched over my first four books, but that 5% is going to be a pain in the butt.
And difficult, if it has to be fully implied, because 'sex' is meaningless without context. If I just have them go off into a room, is that first base? Second base? Third base? Home run? And none of those are nearly descriptive enough to really convey what happened enough to provide relationship context. That, and I always have talking interleaved with sex, and it can't just be pulled out and moved before or after 'the act'.
17 is indeed lucky. I'm at 14, and most of that age is intractable without postulating an alternate reality in which there's an extra four years before adolescence hits, so high school is 18-22. But that means I have to shift birthdates four years, and would clobber me when my characters have kids (what do you mean, I have to write another four years of childhood for their kids?!).
OK everybody, hold on tight. More changes to policy are coming but in a good way.
I'm in talks with the hosting company's legal department and I have a better plan that a purge.
It involves refinement to what is allowed. There wouldn't be a total ban on under 18.
Please be patient. Things are looking up.
I'm in talks with the hosting company's legal department and I have a better plan that a purge.
I hope you have your own lawyer involved.
In a way, I second this (because it's generally good advice), but I also think this is one of those places where the law, a lawyer, and the contract aren't as much help as one would like.
The law (Canadian law and German law) now says SoL is fine. Nothing a lawyer can do there.
Hosting companies generally can refuse service if they want. Nothing a lawyer can do there.
Even if it's specifically written into the contract that it's 'total free speech - anything that's legal goes!', terms of service usually can be changed upon notice. And, even if they couldn't, Laz would have to sue the hosting company to force strict adherence to the contract, which he's said he doesn't have the resources to do. Otherwise, they just break the contract and nothing happens.
I've been in this boat a time or ten (with much less significant contracts, in one sense, though the dollar value may be higher). Host an event at a hotel. Get everything you want in writing. If the hotel, on the day of the event, says, 'Sorry, we know we said you can bring in a refrigerator, but no, you can't,' what are you going to do? A lawsuit would vastly exceed the value of the contract in the first place, and the event is already happening. No one is going to force them to allow the refrigerator. You can decide not to contract with them next year, but if they're the only game in town that'll work with you at your price point, much better to not antagonize them and deal with having no refrigerator.
Yes, that's a real example :) There are many others.
The law (Canadian law and German law) now says SoL is fine. Nothing a lawyer can do there.
I don't think SOL passes tests under either Canadian or German law. Generally Canadian law bans written porn about children which involves illegal acts. That would be "normal" sex under 16, incest, animals under 18.
German law requires a complicated system of age verification for all porn.
Canada's 'Romeo and Juliet' law goes down to 14 with (I think) a two-year age gap (yes, I checked).
Canadian law also has an exception for art:
Section 163.1(6) also provides a defence when the work "has a legitimate purpose related to the administration of justice or to science, medicine, education or art; and ... does not pose an undue risk of harm to persons under the age of eighteen years."
Most (but perhaps not all) of SoL would fall under that exception. A pure-sex story with age-inappropriate minors might not.
On the other hand, there is a court verdict in Canada that essentially legalizes written erotica (regional verdict roughly analogous to a circuit court, I think, with the supreme court refusing to hear the case, thus allowing the precedent to stand), so it may effectively fully legalize SoL. See: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/04/22/supreme-court-wont-hear-appeal-in-case-of-novelist-acquitted-on-child-porn-charge/
It's an interesting article. The judge ruled the law unconstitutional in two places, and wrote:
the court believes we must distinguish between material that exposes a tangible reality, videos or photos or even drawings, from literary fiction
Fictional works are legal in Germany, and it's not clear that written erotica qualifies as pornography at all, nor that the age verification system applies. That seems to apply to all ages within fiction.
Is there a way to revert my TWP stories back to the originals or would I have to resubmit again? Assuming things work out as well all hope.
Actually, given my own mixed feeling on the story, and the precipitous drop of chapter scores towards the end, I voluntarily request my Nowhere β¦ Like Home? story be removed.
However, following a series of requests (mostly from those completely unaware of the Purge ever having taking place) I've finally decided to relent. The quality of the overall story and the poor scores still bug me, yet I can ignore that, though I'll likely post the whole completed story at once, rather than starting over from scratch.