So how would moving an optional only forum that was only available to registered members improve traffic?

Once the links are gone, I don't have a problem sharing it with more people. Social media is where PR is these days, and the questions I ask before I post something are "Am I OK with my family seeing this?" for Facebook, and "Is it OK if NY Times editors associate this with me?" on Twitter. With porn here, the answer to both of those was a resounding "no." With no porn, I'm OK with it.

I never said anything about traffic. BUT since you asked, here's what I see happening:

People visit and register.
People see a generally wholesome board (not sleazy).
People actually link to forum from their blogs and whatnot because they know they aren't corrupting people with porn.

Aren't people allowed to post tits and whatnot in other parts of the forum? There are plenty of non-Titty Board NSFW threads. Will they be banned?

Of course not.

You see logan, the hall of fame threads all about working in the porn industry or horizontal pussies of all things is something we cherish and preserve forever. We put it out there for all to see and read. But god forbid you scroll down the page and see a board dedicated to such a vile little thing.

They've drawn an astonishingly arbitrary line in the sand. Fark did the same thing and it is a pale imitation of what it once was, overmoderated at the whims of nervous advertisers. This is an adult board. We have always had lots of sex and nudity all over it. With no effort in virtually every discussion subforum here you can find explicit content. And I have always appreciated that.

Road to hell. Good intentions. If your family or an advertiser can overlook the literally thousands of other posts with sexual content, they should be able to not scroll down to the dark evil ez. Enough said.

Eh. I'm not done making changes.

FARK not only removed the porn, but they filter language as well

I am probably just getting into trouble at this point, but is your avatar the first thing you plan to change?

Did you really just describe this board as "wholesome"? Wholesome?!? Seriously?

I would never hve described this board as sleaz either, which I think is a lot of the appeal and has always bee, despite the amount of adult content.

So does Digg. The big difference between us and those two sites is that they are profit-based sites that rely on advertisers. We are nothing like that. We rely on donations from our users to survive, so we are entirely dependent on YOU GUYS. That's right, YOU are what makes the TFP run. The rest of those sites have taken full advantage of their popularity and partnered with other companies that will shape the way they run and operate. We remain independent and free.

With that said, the removal of the porn is a risky move, but a necessary one from my perspective. It allows users to recommend the site to their friends and family. It makes it OK. The one thing we LACK is permanent links to the site. 99% of our traffic comes from searches. This means that users are not coming from sympathetic sources. They are just coming for specific information, which they get, and then they leave. If we make the site more audience-friendly, we open the doors for people to recommend us to a larger amount of people. This is what quality traffic is all about.

Additionally, I have many more changes planned for the site. We probably won't even see them in action until the middle of next year.

so why "censor" the porn but not, say, the weapons discussion? which is more damaging?

If all you have a problem with is the words that I use, then we don't have a problem at all.

---------- Post added at 02:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 PM ----------

Because the world doesn't work the way we wish it would.

Don't be ridiculous.

Guns don't kill people, big gaping cunts do.

So let me see if I have this right. Of all the places on the internet where you can get porn for free, TFP was your number one pick?

I was one of the mods in favor of losing the porn. Why? Because it's not drawing in users, and it's preventing some of us from telling our friends to check the place out. It isn't drawing in users because anyone who's heard of Google can find more and better porn than we ever had with a 30 second search. No one's going to come here for a few pictures of naked women when there are literally millions of pictures and videos of naked anything-you-want at other sites.

So, our lackluster porn collection is failing to bring in new members. And because it's a "porn-site" I certainly can't tell my coworkers to come check it out, because I'd be out of a job by the end of the week.

Keeping the porn around simply does not, from my perspective anyway, make one iota of sense.

There's a difference between having forums explicitly dedicated to porn, and having a site which is accepting of adult-themed discussion and not shy about the human body.

So then I ask again, with porn being the reason you can't recommend this forum to your friends and family, what will be done about tits and other sexual material in other places of this forum?

1) Will it become against the rules?
2) Will existing content be deleted?

I honestly don't see much difference. *shrug*

Whatever. I wasn't big about that forum anyway.

Give that man the stuffed elephant.

I guess I got too soapboxy. Logan is really focused on the question that matters. I can easily click an extra link to get to ez content (I guess until the link goes away) but what does this change mean for the whole board's direction.

Pretty sure that was covered above. There's a difference between forum "post porn" and a porn site.

You don't see the difference. I do. It is all about shaping a first impression... the things you are mentioning are things that people generally notice once they've dived into the site - the nuances. The porn section was a large chunk of the forum itself that was apparent immediately.

For some, there's not much of a difference. For others, there is. This will allow those people to be invited. It's a lot easier to say "hey, the board has some adult discussions and it's the internet, so you know some people sometimes post NSFW stuff or have NSFW avatars," than "hey, check out this great forum which has open and frank adult discussion, AND BY THE WAY ALSO HAS A POOOOOORN SECTION!!!" (whether that's how you say it, that's how it's heard by many)

If that's the case, then Crompsin packing heat becomes a nuclear option.

It's like this:

If the porn isn't a reason you come here, not much at all.

For your friends, family and coworkers who would be scared off by porn, how will they feel about the sexuality forum or the hall of fame, explicit avatars or the exhibition forum? Are we going to turn off access to those boards to some people based on who referred them here based on their comfort level or something? People who are scared of seeing boobs are still going to be scared of seeing boobs. Doesn't matter where the thread is...

People who have issues with porn don't necessarily have issues with watching a French movie (yay stereotypes!)... porn and boobs are two different things.

Personally Im in favour of this, I agree with the reasoning, and I think its a good call.

Time will tell, but I think you are not leveling with yourselves. I guess I can hope.

I hope that by the time that most folks who have stuck around here for long enough to have to TE get there, they understand the basic difference between "your body as art" and real porn. We have a lot of the former and only a little of the latter in TE.

There is no plan on sanitizing anything. Consider this the equivalent of putting our nudie mags in a drawer (or in Bobby's case, a warehouse) when we have a party for the new neighbors. Maybe we'll get to know them well enough to share that with them too.

Somebody should make this thread NSFW.

...

Don't make me post Crompporn.

Well it's done. My objection is noted. I feel silly saying this, but this board was built on porn. I know times change, but it is going to be a little weird not having it there. Hopefully our evolution takes us somewhere good.

FWIW, the porn "thrill" wore off for me a while ago. Yes, I came here originally because of a link from FARK to the Titty Board. I was also at one time (probably about 4 years ago) a pretty heavy poster on the Titty Board, no doubt a result of the exuberance of new discovery. Nowadays I don't post there any more, and I think the fascination has worn off a bit; less and less of the stuff there gets clicked on. So this change is perfectly OK. I won't stop coming by here just because I can't ogle bare bodies, mainly because that's not why I come here anymore. I wonder if other people are experiencing the same feeling of "overload" re porn, too.

...and before the porn, it was a gaming forum.

Evolution.

*raises hand*

*and another*

But you still play Unreal, right?

I dont really see the downside.

For the people who want porno, its still there - its just separated from the main board, isnt it?

It's like meeting a really hot chick and having loads of mind blowing sex with her then it progresses to a relationship. I kinda liked my mind blowing phase instead of the girlfriend phase.

Either way, I will be heartily browsing the other domain. ... and Manic_Skafe called me a tight ass ...

They have a pill for that now.