The talk
about the recent widespread release of the Daniel Pearl Video
(news)
and the fact that I have inevitably run into this video online
has started me thinking about the moral dilemmas a webmaster faces
when publishing questionable or controversial content online.
Interest runs
through all parts of life and is often confused with entertainment.
I wouldn’t exactly call the news entertainment; however,
I spend at least an hour a day catching up on daily news. I
have no desire to actually view some of the rather disgusting
types of porn or macabre imagery often thrown in the mix of an
innocent search for humor. Sites such as ConsumptionJunction
(that give you a fair and consistent description or warning) have
given me as much fun as they have disturbing thoughts. “The
truth is out there” and if you go looking for trouble, it’s
not very hard to find.
Paying
to Play
The fact of the matter is, you, the webmaster, pays to publish
content online. The hosting costs of serving “hot” pictures
or videos can quickly skyrocket. If that content is construed
as harmful, be it porn or gore (or whatever), attempting to even
the costs by putting up banners or popup windows to make a profit
makes you the worst person in the world in the eyes of the conservative
public. This conservative group, my webmaster friends, is the
public majority and our government.
Being The
Bad Guy
When it comes down to it, we all exploit content online. We buy
(or “acquire”) it and we use it to try to turn a profit.
From softcore porn to scat, it’s out there and some webmaster
has to look at it every day like a mirror. What you publish or
what you work on reflects a part of yourself, and whether your
reasons are monetary, enjoyment, or free speech there are moral
issues, ethics, and the consequences of how that content will
be perceived by the majority public and the law. These are things
that need to be taken into consideration beyond financial gain.
What is
Harmful?
It is not for me to question why someone would search to look
at death, rape, bestiality, hate, or other forms of extreme content.
Curiosity comes to mind, the “because you can” factor,
but is that novelty idea enough to make it worth a webmaster’s
while? Just like interest, humor has a very broad perspective
in the human psyche and in society. Personally, I think the above
named forms of content are much more harmful to minors than most
forms of porn found online. I would rather have my 13 year old
brother or son having wet dreams about a beautiful naked woman
than having nightmares about messy suicides, accidents, and murders.
Regardless of what I think, all these are parts of our rights
to free speech that I would not give up for the world.
Self Regulation
I am becoming more of an advocate of the idea that we can better
protect our free speech rights by regulating how “mature”
forms of content are marketed and presented. Unfortunately there
are always going to be the deadbeat reckless webmaster who has
to push the bar by doing something unethical just to make a buck,
but these are the types of people that need to be punished. Do
you throw away apple because of one bad spot? They say all it
takes is one bad apply but through self regulation and education,
positive changes can be made with out changing laws.
Fair Warning
I believe many of these issues of publishing questionable content
online can be resolved by simply requiring the user acknowledge
that they are entering a site themed for a mature audience and
are of age, and either a second screen, section, or description
of each image warning the viewer of exactly what to expect. If
you choose to create a rating system than do so, especially if
you are mixing soft with hardcore, straight and gay, or humor
and graphic content.
For example,
at ConsumptionJunction I may want to see all the “drunken
shaming” pictures but definitely NOT “god’s mulligan”.
Banners that feature nudity on a non-adult page are completely
out of place, same with popup consoles. Mixing the two forms of
advertising (especially in the search engines) requires that page
titles contain a “Mature” warning and it is important
to frequently search for your domain name in the engines to view
pages where users can “walk into” pages with content
that should require a disclaimer. This can be easily done by invisibly
framing the page and will not result in loss of ranking.
Balance
Ultimately I think the TGP2 concept had the right idea but is
only one singular format for keeping free hardcore porn out of
the “limelight” and eyes of young or unsuspecting viewers.
I believe it starts with every adult webmaster who has ever given
advice to a newbie about a site or required certain criteria before
listing a site in a directory or engine.
Most people
won’t change on their own but does it take new laws and a
loss of freedoms to make positive change happen? No, I don’t
believe it should. It will take a growing number of ethical webmasters,
editors, and sponsors to set the bar - the example. It is impossible
to know the story behind every photo shoot, extreme video or photo
just as it is impossible to know what the interpretation of every
user that sees it will be.
Our freedoms
are too important not to care. In a perfect world there would
be no moral dilemmas and how boring would life be. We all know
in our hearts the right thing and it is in this trust I know our
webmaster community will over come any obstacles presented by
our government. Like every form of adult media before us, we will
overcome and find a secure balance in the future of many generations
of webmasters to follow.
