FF.net Ratings

[Alicia/Sue Spinnet]

No: HPFGUIDX 956

Hello:

Bizarrely enough, I can relate; I write mostly in the PG-13 range on 
ff.n.  However, I wrote a story once, and since there was a 
considerably amount on innuendo and language in it, I slapped the 
good ol' R-rating on it.  

(While it may seem a bit odd that a 15-year-old's writing can surface 
to the R-range, keep in mind that most teens today live in the NC-17 
real world.  I think I'm keeping myself pretty innocent... ^_^)

You wouldn't believe the e-mails and 'reviews' I got telling me that 
the rating was unjustified!  I finally wound up changing a few 
naughty words around and re-rating it PG-13, not to mention changing 
the title.  (I'm sorry, I still like "Salsa, Sex, and Storage 
Closets" better.  *shrugs*)

I figure: if the f-bomb can show up once in a PG-13 movie, I can 
write it once in a PG-13 fic.

Lori, I think you made the right decision with the reader who wanted 
you to subscribe her; in doing that, she was expressly going against 
her parents' wishes.  As one of those weird girls who actually gets 
along with her parents, I can't imagine doing that; it would be 
disrespectful.  It's nice to see that there are people out there who 
are willing to make the right decision, no matter how much it 
irritates us precociously annoying teenagers!  ^_^

*
--Alicia/Sue "Bitch v2.7" Spinnet

"Edible roaches DON'T CRAWL!" --Jay Sherman

Last Movie Seen: "Rocky Horror Picture Show"
Discman's Spinning: "Becoming X", Sneaker Pimps
Current Book: "A Long Fatal Love Chase", Louisa May Alcott
*



--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, summers.65 at o... wrote:
> 
> The mention of ratings on ff.net brings up something I've been 
thinking
> about lately, to wit, how one should rate one's work.
> 
> When I began posting Paradigm of Uncertainty, I rated it R.  It's 
still
> rated R.  The content doesn't really justify this rating.  There's 
no
> explicit sex (I usually cut away, though there has been a bit of 
feeling-up
> recently), no horrible swearing, and the violence isn't very 
graphic except
> perhaps when various people get stabbed.  I didn't rate it R 
because I
> thought it contained objectionable content, I rated it R to 
communicate
> that the story was intended for grownups to read and wasn't really 
suitable
> for 11-year-olds, to whom PG-13 is fair game.
> 
> I'm wondering if I should change the rating to PG-13.  I've gotten 
a few
> mildly irate emails from teenagers who think I'm saying they can't 
handle
> this subject material.  Not really the point.
> 
> I recently had a bit of a heated email exchange with a young woman 
who
> wanted to join my mailing list, but couldn't because the parental 
controls
> locked her out (the list is indicated to be for grownups).  She 
wanted me
> to subscribe her myself, I refused.  I told her that if her parents 
didn't
> want her reading stuff for adults then it wasn't my place to 
contradict
> them.  While I doubt that anything on the list or in the story 
would give
> them problems, that's not my decision to make.  As an author and a 
list
> administrator, I think it's better to err on the side of caution 
and rate
> the story perhaps more severely than it merits on its face.
> 
> Any thoughts on this rating system and its implications?
> Lori
> 
> 
> **********************************************************
> Lori   "Scrambled Eggs Super"  Summers
> 
>         Reality is for people who can't face drugs.
> 
> Last movie seen:  "X-Men" (most excellent)
> Reigning car-CD:  "This Time Around"  Hanson (shaddap, you)
> Current book: "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
> ***********************************************************