Going too far with the Male Nude full frontal and Slavery?!

[bobt54]

To me the idea of being able to choose is great. I really like it. I do also think self-regulation can help a little bit (the gallery we´re talking about DID remove the vote option, as we could check). But I wouldn´t agree with a procedure that might become cencorship to what can be voted or not (or, what is the same; what can be seen or not).

I am not saying that you shouldn't vote on them, but how about they stand on their own in their own category. There are a number of examples where the photography is average but the girl is gorgeous. Just like the political galleries, people have been voting based on the subject matter and not just the quality of the photograph.

I find it odd that the American political galleries were quickly segregated out of the general population of galleries but adult oriented ones remain.

I don't think anything should be censored here at Pbase, not even the galleries that are being discussed here. I just think they deserve their own place where it is clear to everyone what they will be seeing. You hear the term "consenting adults" used from time to time to defend the viewing of adult material. How is it "consent" when you could be faced with seeing images you did not "consent" to viewing?

I look at Pbase as a virtual town with virtual avenues that take you to galleries. I see the popular galleries as "Main Street". How many real towns put their red light district as the first thing people see? In a museum or art gallery, are the nudes the first things that greet people when they walk in the door?

The popular galleries are one of the first things visitors see when they come here. If we are not careful, visitors will come to think the "P" in Pbase stands for Porn and not for Photograph.

[gillettecraig]

I think it's important to remember or at least realize that the "popular" galleries don't require a lot of votes to get there. Think back to when the complaints were about car parts/rebuilding projects galleries being popular? I even got on the popular gallery list for a short while and I simply don't have anything particularly excellent. I'll admit I like my stuff but it's not standout material like some of the stuff you get here. Yet the "popular" galleries pop right up on the home page. So it doesn't take much activity to drive adult material right into the public eye. It doesn't take a lot of experience surfing or dealing with the internet to get here or to find the home page. I don't think Phyllis is that far off the mark, lots of isps have porn problems because it doesn't take too long to drive usage rates way off the scale. Even a simple "joke" site or popular picture can be spread rapidly through the internet communities and cause surprising viewing spikes.

[moxfactor]

afrikhan:

i really do agree that pornography has no place on PBase, but we simply have different views on what is pornography and what is art. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the links you mentioned before they got removed.

about popular galleries, do voters have to register? if not, why not make registration mandatory for voting? make 'free account' registration difficult, so as to discourage those who use registration bots to mass produce accounts to vote.

as from the comments in this thread and the general photos shown in this Show and Tell board, i'm sure most paying users here do not vote for said "pornographic" galleries. it's probably just some people with relations to said galleries who use bots to shamelessly advertise themselves. it's been done elsewhere, it's easy to do, and some people have no dignity.

[moxfactor]

in regards to the 'missing links' from afrikhan. he sent them to me and i had a look.

wow, i do agree those are very disturbing for the unsuspecting to wander into. however, rather than completely banning something for it's subject matter, is it possible to add a warning template for PBase so these gallery owners may select it for their galleries, if not, then their account will be banned without a refund. (like warning pages found on many other 'adult oriented' websites)

if said warning template is selected, whenever any links goes to these galleries would first have to be redirected to a warning page.

this way, PBase's freedom is maintained and those who do not heed warnings, well, that's their own personal choice.

this would also cancel my previous post in regards to "pay-to-have-a-say". voters should still be registered, however.

[donutrun]

Here's a pretty good working definition of how American law sees pornography/obscenity as it relates to this discussion:

For something to be "obscene" it must be shown that the average person, applying contemporary community standards and viewing the material as a whole, would find (1) that the work appeals predominantly to "prurient" interest; (2) that it depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and (3) that it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. An appeal to "prurient" interest is an appeal to a morbid, degrading and unhealthy interest in sex, as distinguished from a mere candid interest in sex.

For me, if galleries are well labeled, contain images taken by the artist who posts them in his/her own gallery, and viewers are not drawn in to them through deceptive postings, then I'm pretty comfortable letting pbase artists display their work regardless of content.

Should pbase find something objectionable to them as the owners of the site, let them remove it. Should one of us find something objectionable, let us object to the artist and pbase ...

Heck, there are those who object to my roadkill pictures ...