nina recently wrote about the recent surge in Blogger blogs that have been recently "flagged,' resulting in one seeing a "content warning"page before one sees the actual blog in question.
Of course, these newly-flagged blogs all deal with some aspect or other of sex, to no one's surprise. In My comment on nina's entry I (jokingly, I think) suggested that some form of guerrilla action was called for -- I had the idea that we should organize an army of people to visit all sorts of "normal" Blogger blogs and flag them until they receive warning labels. Quilting? Badminton? Brazilian pop music? Flag 'em all. The theory being that the backlash would result in the end of the warning label system as Blogger got inundated with hundreds of thousands of complaints.
Well, up the revolution and all that, but it's not practical.
What I see more and more (and what nina advocates in her post) is leaving Blogger for other alternatives.
Just today I went over to Stiletto Diaries and found that the lovely shasta had moved to her own domain. As I was updating My link list to take this change into account, I realized that
Blogger wants all the sex bloggers to go elsewhere.
Blogger wants blogs that are going to connect to AdSense and generate revenues. And since "adult" products even in this enlightened age reside mainly on the margins, the AdSense opportunities in that arena are much more limited than they are for more mainstream blogs. Plus, not having any sex blogs would free Blogger (now a unit of deep-pocketed Google) from any fingers pointing in their direction along the lines of "your sex blogs made my son a rapist" and the like. However remote that might be, corporations always seek the path of least resistance, especially in the perception-is-reality-and-then-some area of children and anything remotely sexual.
So My advice to Blogger sex bloggers is: Stay. If people want to read you, a content warning screen isn't going to stop them. Stay. Because they want you to go.
There is no revolution. There is just a long series of tiny "no's."
4 comments:
Thank you for the mention in your post :)
The only problem that I really had with the content warning page is that it almost eliminated the ability of search engines to find my blog. My stats dropped over 70% and while I am not a 'hits whore' by any stretch, it's bad for business when it comes to the small amount of advertising I do allow on the blog.
Had I not been tangled up with all of that, I wouldn't have moved, even though I'll admit that I love my new digs and I'm glad to be free of some of the limitations I encountered with Blogger.
Not that I feel I have to justify myself :P HA HA! I didn't want to seem like I wimped out.
I think that the content warning is annoying, but truly not the end of the world, and I'll gladly keep clicking 'yes' on all of the Blogger sex journals I've grown to love.
XOXO
Shasta
"Blogger wants blogs that are going to connect to AdSense and generate revenues. And since "adult" products even in this enlightened age reside mainly on the margins, the AdSense opportunities in that arena are much more limited than they are for more mainstream blogs. Plus, not having any sex blogs would free Blogger (now a unit of deep-pocketed Google) from any fingers pointing in their direction along the lines of "your sex blogs made my son a rapist" and the like. However remote that might be, corporations always seek the path of least resistance, especially in the perception-is-reality-and-then-some area of children and anything remotely sexual."
Lenora,
This is perhaps the best, most logical explanation which I've read that comes close to explaining this sudden interest on the part of Blogger towards policing their own network -- it's about the money.
Money from AdSense dollars and mitigating any potential downsides from the crazy ones who like to blame TV, Video Games and the Internet for their poor parenting skills.
Tho in my own situation - I simply felt that I outgrew Blogger in a short period of time and felt that moving myself to better accommodations was the best choice for me - however even that has not always been problem free.
I think it comes down to each person deciding what makes sense for them - but I'd like to reference this post in geishaland because I think you've nailed it.
People shouldn't be afraid of expressing their sexuality in an open way. It's too bad this country's puritanical roots still get in the way of that. And I think ultimately if people want to continue using the Blogger service, they absolutely should.
Thanks much and thanks much for the link too.
nina
Lenora-
Well put and likely true.
-saratoga
Shasta:
I hadn't considered the search engine angle.
If I were a true conspiracy theorist I'd say that that's another money angle for Google -- the warning makes you less visible in searches, unless of course you pony up with $ to get yourself more "noticed."
It's probably not quite that deliberate, but almost all moves in a revenue-generating space have revenue enhancement and/or expense control as their motives, at some level.
I love your new place as much as the old one . . . more, in fact, since there's no annoying wanring page.
--Lenora
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