Hey folks. See Blogger's email to me - and I'm sure many of you who blog or who read these types of blogs:
Dear Blogger User,
We're writing to tell you about an upcoming change to the Blogger Content Policy that may affect your account.
In the coming weeks, we'll no longer allow blogs that contain sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video. We'll still allow nudity presented in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts, or where there are other substantial benefits to the public from not taking action on the content.
The new policy will go into effect on the 23rd of March 2015. After this policy goes into effect, Google will restrict access to any blog identified as being in violation of our revised policy. No content will be deleted, but only blog authors and those with whom they have expressly shared the blog will be able to see the content we've made private.
Our records indicate that your account may be affected by this policy change. Please refrain from creating new content that would violate this policy. Also, we ask that you make any necessary changes to your existing blog to comply as soon as possible, so that you won't experience any interruptions in service.
I don't know where this will leave this blog.
I have been posting more 'adult' imaged or videos. I suppose I could change my writing style to present my activities in terms of 'educational'.....maybe even 'scientific', but I'm not sure what - if anything - will get past their review board.
I can stick with just text.....but it is common knowledge that I get higher traffic when a picture of video is attached.
I don't know what 'restricted access' means. They won't delete my content, but only people expressly share my blog with will be able to see the content?
Does anyone know what that means?
I have 620+ entries here. Since I don't know the threshold of 'explicit', I'm not going to start amending previous posts. But if anyone has words of wisdom on what this actually means, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
From what I can tell is that I will have to make my blog private by March 23rd.
I wasn't planning on buying my own url to support this endeavor, but if I went private - would you guys be ok with that?
I've got a month to figure this all out.
12 comments:
Tell the pearl clutching Blogger and Google, to F***k off and move the blog to a different site. This is just censorship and they will find out that this will hurt their bottom line when less and less people read blogs on their site.
I would be OK with you going private as long as I was included in that "private." I've been faithfully enjoying this blog for several months now.
--John in Atlanta
Should be easy to just move to tumblr that has a more liberal policy on explicit blogging. The only downside is they often take down explict videos unless they are hosted elsewhere. There are even tools to help you move your blogger posts over to tumblr easily.
They want all blogs that maybe "offensive or deemed sexual" to be private blogs. That means only people who you approved to see your blog will be able to see your content. It will no longer be accessible from the general public unless you directly add them to your blog reader list.
I recieved the same note. It pisses me off. I would definitely follow if you went private. You might want to back up your blog to your computer so if anything happens you will still have your material.
This new policy sucks, but your writing is excellent and, in my humble opinion, does not need to be enhanced with illustration.
I got the letter too, of course. My very masthead will have to go. And, as you said, where is the line? Is a picture of my new fuck bench obscene? Even when it has no one on it? Me dressing (and covered) in leather?--I'm sure that's obscene to someone.
I am not sure where this leaves any of us...
What about a move to Tumbler?
I love your blog, and would want to continue reading it !!!
Michael
I've been an avid reader and follower of your blog from the beginning, and I would definitely hate to see you go. Are you able to put age verification like a ticker or something where your readers have to enter their date of birth prior to accessing your blog? You have in my opinion the best blog out there, there has to be a way to keep you online.
Having followed your blog for years, I'd hate to see it go. Keep us updated on where you go next please.
I'm gonna use the tool they have to migrate content easily to tumblr. I've heard that they take down explicit videos because of the high traffic (and therefore cost) in hosting videos. But I think I'm gonna mirror my two sites for awhile. The email to blogger feature will help post simultaneously on two sites if the migration tool isn't smart enough to keep posting additive posts to tumblr. Apparently, we won't lose our content after March, though. It will just turn private and be inaccessible to the general public. I'm just gonna see how long it takes for them to turn it private. Ha!
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