Regarding adult styles

JasonBarnabe

userstyles.org is dependent on advertising to pay the bills. Advertising networks have restrictions on what kind of content sites they advertise on can have. Recently I've had a problem with an advertiser complaining about adult content. This resulted in the advertiser pulling their ads from the site, and I'm unsure if this is temporary or permanent.

Options to retain "adult" styles (ensuring there are no screenshots containing adult content, not showing ads on "adult" styles, or having a separate section for "adult" styles) have proven to not be acceptable to advertisers. Simply mentioning an adult site on a page with no ads is enough to raise red flags with the advertisers for the whole site.

Due to this issue, userstyles.org will now no longer allow styles for adult sites or styles that add adult content (e.g. backgrounds) to non-adult sites. I've already performed a scan to find "adult" styles and deleted them. If you know of any that were not deleted, please let me know.

The advertisers' definition of "adult content" is not defined, but the working definition I've been going with is any site whose primary purpose is pornography/nudity, or any site that contains links to pornography/nudity from their home pages.

I apologize to those of you who have had your styles deleted. If I can come up with a way to host your styles without risking advertisers' wrath, I will try to implement it.

mikedl

Perhaps the language in this review (and the commensurate Style name) might've been a contributing factor as well, Jason?

CatmanIX

Hmm, quite a predicament...

Perhaps running a separate site for "adult" styles? Fund it with revenue from the ads on this one or find another "adult" ad-service for it.

I know there are a few sites that do this, though, mostly piracy sites (nyaa torrents, nzbmatrix, etc.).

mod_wastrel

What you're basically saying is that you're willing to let advertisers tell you that not only can one not have any "adult" content on this site but that one cannot even talk about it. Well, it's your site.

(Are advertisers so deluded as to think anyone actually sees their ads?)

war59312

A warning before deleting said scripts would have been nice.

You could have sent email or added some sort of notice to the site. And give a dead line to remove said scripts ourselves.

Now it seems we really do risk having our styles deleted without notice. :(

mod_wastrel

Ahhh, the question is, though, did you see them or did you "see" them? Sure, I see ads on some sites that I go to, but I don't actually "see" them--I'm looking right past them, ignoring them en masse (as most people do--the exception being the few who actually look at them for their entertainment value... some people actually like getting spam, too (not just the hosted spam provided by "advertisers")).

mikedl

Even so, mod_wastrel, it's the currency of the internet.

I can't blame Jason for desiring to preserve that currency.

JasonBarnabe

A warning before deleting said scripts would have been nice.

Unfortunately I couldn't give any notice as it pretty much an emergency situation. In the majority of the cases though, the code is still there, so the valuable part is not lost should you want continue using it.

Ahhh, the question is, though, did you see them or did you "see" them? Sure, I see ads on some sites that I go to, but I don't actually "see" them--I'm looking right past them, ignoring them en masse (as most people do--the exception being the few who actually look at them for their entertainment value... some people actually like getting spam, too (not just the hosted spam provided by "advertisers")).

It is kind of hard to believe when you think about it, but I do get paid for showing the ads, which means people are clicking on them, which means companies are paying for it, and presumably they are getting some sort of sales/whatever out of it.

mod_wastrel

As I remember it, something like 3-5% of "browsers" click-through to whatever these ads hawk. I guess those few are enough to ruin it for everyone else. It's not like anything is really "free" though. If you're not giving up money (because there isn't one product sold anywhere whose price doesn't include the cost of advertising it), then you're giving up something else (the freedom to make your own decisions about how you want to run things?).

mikedl

Unless Jason is self-supporting this forum, mod_wastrel, any help he gets (whether it be 3-5% or whatever) is better than nothing.

Is "ruining" something (though I think it the opposite; it augments the viability of the forum) wherein adult content is no longer condoned that big of a deal?
If you want it, you can find it separate from this forum.

His decisions, I think, regarding this, helps this forum to continue.

Jason, do what you think is best to keep offering what you do.

With all that said, mod_wastrel, I understand your stance about the power corporations (and advertisers) have on the 'Net. It is what it is.
I'm helping to chip away at it so Jason might be no longer beholden to such (this forum is not the place but I do respect your opinion thereof in this forum). How about you? :)

mod_wastrel

The so-called "adult" content is irrelevant to me. And I don't equate "power" with "extortion"--the Google et al advertisers have no power beyond what we allow them.

Everyone has a right to his/her own opinion. And as I said before, the owner of a site can do what he wills with it. What I would do is not relevant.

User 100561

I want to know what is meant by "adult". I have a myanimelist style that was deleted for adult content when there was nothing adult or explicit at all in the code. It didn't have a screen cap, either, so why was it removed?

JasonBarnabe

I believe I made a mistake in marking MyAnimeList as an adult content site. You can feel free to undelete your style.

there.is.only.xul

Yeah, I don't know why an unadvertised "Adult" styles website wouldn't be such a bad idea -- It would be a consolidated place, you could figure out some means of making money off of it, and... sex sells.

I know, your advertisers don't see it quite like that, but at the same time, the truth cannot be discounted -- There are all sorts of successful porn sites all over the place, and a website that caters to horny, nerdy folk would be nice to have to fill this "Niche" of users, while at the same time using it as an extra source of income. And advertisers don't even have to know about it, as it'd be an "Undiscovered" sort of place, known to only the interested and those who dig deep enough to find it.

CatmanIX

Hmm, quite a predicament...

Perhaps running a separate site for "adult" styles? Fund it with revenue from the ads on this one or find another "adult" ad-service for it.

I know there are a few sites that do this, though, mostly piracy sites (nyaa torrents, nzbmatrix, etc.).

nsfwuserstyles.org and userstyles.xxx both seem to be available.

gerdami

Didn't know that there were ads on the site. I promise to disable Adblock+ on userstyles.org ;-)

tknr

can userstyles.org show line numbers on below error message?
'Styles for adult sites are not allowed on userstyles.org.'
i want to know what i must remove domain("xxx.xxx") lines.

JasonBarnabe

Post your code here and I'll let you know which one has been marked as adult.

Fovrfelt Beboer

Good thing that I discovered that the collection is censored by a bunch of evil brainwashers before I contributing any of my work!

sparr

Any chance of this decision being revisited? It's been 3 years, maybe the current advertisers are less censor-y?

JasonBarnabe

No, I don't think anything's changed in that regard. More likely would be a sleazyfork.org-type solution.