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In light of certain questions asking about content that may potentially violate the site's content policy on sexually explicit content (aural, written, and visual), should we impose a policy or restriction against these question or disallow them completely?

I personally don't see any long term advantages in allowing them, but I'm okay iwth it if we try to keep things from being too explicit. The only problem with such a solution is how to educate new user on what is and is not acceptable. The type of enforcement, in the long run, might be more trouble than it's worth.

Adding a tag seems to be as counter-intuitive, much like the short-lived . We might be able to use the spoiler tags in some way to cover up the images, but the fact of the matter is that the content still maybe sexually explicit.

So I ask the community, how do you think we should handle this matter?

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    Note that even if we do enforce it for visual and linked content we will still need to consider the written content of the question or answer (and any comments associated with either) since they have the potential of becoming explicit as well. – кяαzєя♦ Dec 7 '13 at 20:59
  • meta.anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21/… ಠ_ಠ – looper Dec 7 '13 at 23:17
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    @looper that is about the topic, this is about the content. – кяαzєя♦ Dec 7 '13 at 23:37
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It's pretty safe to define 'explicit' as any content that a normal user of the site would not want to be observed observing. It's content or links to content that you wouldn't want your spouse / children / parents walking in to find you viewing. In other words, it's offensive or embarrasing to the average user of the site.

This is a subjective call, and always will be. If you find that you'd have to explain your browsing habits to someone looking over your shoulder, it probably crosses the line. If images we served in your browser cache could cause you to have to explain your Internet use to your I.T. department at work, we've got a problem.

We also allow anyone over 13 years of age to participate on any of our sites, and that's something that we ask people to keep in mind.

What I recommend is narrowing the discussion quite a bit. Should we allow questions about hentai, or not? That in and of itself alleviates you from needing to judge this as it's posted. If hentai is off-topic, then surely requests to identify it are also off-topic. Most questions that you get directly about hentai seem to be identification requests.

You could just as easily allow the topic in general, but close or delete posts that make people feel uncomfortable, or would be likely to do so. However, that puts you in the very awkward position of:

  • Judging them individually
  • "Why was this one left but mine closed?"

That may be the way to go if it's worth the added toll of dealing with a few horrible questions every so often. If there's enough good that you can get out of hentai as a community, then just make sure to err on the side of caution when evaluating questions. If you think this might be a little on the inappropriate side, then it probably is, and at least needs editing.

I don't have enough knowledge of hentai, the culture around it and the appreciation of it as art - so I'm not well equipped to guide you there. Another CM will probably join in on the conversation.

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  • Related: meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1582/… – Shog9 Dec 8 '13 at 17:09
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    It seems to me that we've already discussed whether hentai should be allowed, and the consensus then was a definite "yes". The reason for bringing this up now was a particular question which was a bit borderline. Because of that it was decided that we should be more explicit with regards to what sort of content is allowed. – Logan M Dec 9 '13 at 0:16
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    @LoganM I updated my answer. If you feel that there's enough value in the topic to support it by default, then you just need to be diligent in evaluating it. It's hard to define what's bad in this sense, other than you know it when you see it. – Tim Post♦ Dec 9 '13 at 4:49
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As far as I know, this site does not have a policy against posting of any sexually explicit content beyond the Stack Exchange content policy, which states that:

Sexually Explicit Material. Accounts that use Stack Exchange to post sexually explicit or pornographic material, or links to it, will be suspended.

This is rather vague to me. Certainly, pornographic images or links are included, but it's not clear to me that written descriptions of sexually explicit events qualify in all cases. For example, I'd expect a textbook explanation of sexual intercourse would be allowed and on-topic on sites like biology. Given that SE was willing to create a sexuality site, it's pretty clear that the policy isn't just "any mention of sex is against the rules". Exactly where the line is drawn is up to SE, but I'd assume that we want to be as lenient as possible on this while remaining compliant with the SE global requirements.

On the other hand, we've already discussed whether asking about Hentai is allowed, and the strong consensus was "yes, so long as it is done in a 'scientific' way". While that post is about whether the topic is allowed at all, the answers also suggest a particular policy for policing such content. Specifically, it could be inferred from the answers there that, so long as the question is written with "grown-up" mature language, it should be allowed. We've had a few good questions about hentai series as well.

So, in my opinion, unless and until we hear back from Stack Exchange directly for clarification on exactly what is covered by the content policy, we should proceed with allowing questions about sexually explicit material so long as the questions themselves are not sexually explicit. Questions which do not have pornographic images/audio/links and which use the most scientific language available when mentioning about sexual events should not be a problem in my view. For what it's worth, that seems to be the policy on Movies & TV as well as on the failed Sexuality site. If a question fails to meet these (and can't be fixed by slight changes in language) it probably qualifies as spam/offensive and I'd think that in most cases having it deleted that way would be preferable to having moderators enforce the policy.

In the interest of users here, it would be good if such posts generally have some sort of indication or warning so that users who do not want to see that content won't accidentally do so. I'm not proposing this as an official policy, but as a strong suggestion to askers. The warning could be in the title or at the top of the question, and could be as simple as e.g. including "hentai" in the title. Use of spoiler markup as suggested in Braiam's answer is also probably a good idea.

For the question which lead to this meta post, in its current form I would say it is allowed, and actually a very good example of exactly how one should ask an ID-request question about a hentai series. The images (in their current form) are censored appropriately. The text uses the terms "fellatio" and "masturbate" rather than more vulgar equivalent slang terms. The title of the question has the word "hentai" which serves as a warning to anyone casually browsing the site. In its current state this should be unlocked. The history should also be wiped since that does contain images with nudity.

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    Worth keeping the intent of such rules in mind... Folks use these sites at work, folks use some of these sites for work, and we're not helping anyone by getting them fired - or getting our network de-listed in normal SFW search results. Beyond that, there are probably legal concerns with hosting straight-up porn: US law requires to limit the folks participating to ages 13+, but we don't have any kind of age-check set up for viewing. – Shog9 Dec 8 '13 at 17:14
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Until we hear otherwise from one of the CMs on an official stance, hentai questions and content will be allowed, with the following stipulations:

  • All images, video, and audio are allowed as long as the content is not explicitly sexual or graphic in nature
  • Descriptions may not include content that is explicitly sexual and/or graphic in nature
  • Borderline content (e.g., panty, bikini shots with a bit too much skin showing) that is deemed questionable must be hidden in a spoiler markdown tag (>!)
  • A noticeable warning of some type must be included within the body of the question to indicate that the material may be or is explicit/graphic.

Please leave a comment if you feel that anything has been missed and might cause potential issues.

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I agree mostly with Tim Post's post (lol), some things I'd like to point out:

I personally think we should permit:

  • Discussion, plot (is there plot in that stuff?)
  • Identification requests

But not allow

  • Explicit links

First of all, we want to avoid explicit links given our audience. Posting a link to such content is nearly the same as hosting that content here. A spoiler block wouldn't really help much.

However, I don't see a problem with discussion and identification requests (once again, avoiding explicit content links). The only way an user would be stumbling upon any kind of inappropiate material would be by doing an actual Google search for the subject, which is clearly none of our business.

Regarding the usage of a tag, it doesn't seem necessary to me if a question already has the tag.

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  • The main problem I would have with identification-request here is that a new user might include an image or be overly descriptive in hopes of making it easier to identify. Sure it might quickly be edited, but say the first user to see it is at work or something. We don't want to get people in trouble for stuff like this. In regards to your plot point, some shows are not exactly hentai but can still get quite non-family-friendly. – David Starkey Dec 11 '13 at 18:44
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Allow me to list some Pros and Cons of each. the content, if accepted, would obviously need to be restricted. However, I will let others discuss on the How.

Allowing NSFW content

Pro

  • More users/questions
  • Quality, Professional answers for NSFW questions

Con

  • Risk being banned by some networks/filters for NSFW content
  • Risk exposing some users to adult content
  • Legal issues? (I know very little in the way of laws so someone else should verify this)

Prohibiting NSFW content

Pro

  • No worries about underage users, site blocking, etc.
  • Users can have no worries about finding inappropriate material (ask/answer from work)

Con

  • Users that really want an answer will have to look towards less reliable, potentially dangerous options
  • Defining the line between acceptable and NSFW

Due to the nature of this answer, I suggest an up-vote means "Allow NSFW in some manner" and down-vote means "Prohibit all NSFW".

NOTE: This is intended to be a list of pros and cons for each option. If you would like to add to the list, feel free, but please refrain from offering suggestions on how it would be done. Instead, offer the suggestion as a separate answer and link it to your addition so it can be voted on based on its own merits.

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Could be that the NSFW images be hidden in "spoiler" quotes blocks and inform the users that behind there's NSFW content. Is an idea.

Like this:

NSFW:

here goes your nasty/explicit image/content

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    The problem here lies in that even if the content (assuming that it is potentially explicit) is initially hidden the content still exists on the site, which is still a violation of the content policy – кяαzєя♦ Dec 7 '13 at 21:25
  • @Krazer ah, huh? I was thinking if the content ever gets tolerated... BTW, what about DxD and such... where the thing is too ecchi? – Braiam Dec 7 '13 at 21:28
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    Rather than the actual image, I think a link would prove better. That way the image is never loaded unless you understand the link in the spoiler tag is NSFW and click it. Perhaps thinking about adding a mature version of the spoiler feature so there is no confusion about what the spoiler means. – David Starkey Dec 11 '13 at 18:37

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