Post by leafo in Itch.io is now blocking anything with queer content in it in the UK.

Viewing post in Itch.io is now blocking anything with queer content in it in the UK.

horribly misused that italics

The italics were quoting what the original posted said in their title, which, in my opinion, is an incorrect statement. I’ve updated the post to use the full quote. (possibly the semantics of anything vs everything are confusing here, I take the original poster’s intent to mean everything)

I think the discussion of the intersection of adult content and queer content is valuable and should be had. We are not the creators of this legislation, and unfortunately we have to comply with it even if we disagree with it. My post was plainly stating that we do not consider the use of queer tags as criteria for the automated restriction.

I did a quick query so you can get an idea of how impactful the restriction is. We have approximately 20,000 public projects containing tags queer or lgbt. Approximately 5,700 of those will be put into geo-restriction based on the developer-provided tags. That’s definitely a substantial amount, but there’s still a large volume of queer content that will not be affected.

In our post here we talk about the criteria used, how developers can check their page’s status, and how they can appeal if they think a restriction has been unfairly applied to their page: https://itch.io/t/5133739/our-update-on-the-uk-online-safety-act

Thanks

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Sanguine-Oni123 days ago (2 edits) (+3)

Love the info on the stats, that makes me happy to know. Not sarcasm, being sincere. So, thank you for posting that. I honestly assumed the number of de-listed items to have been much higher in the percentage.

I will correct your improper use of italics however, as you don't quote someone with italics, but with quotation marks - hence the 'quot' in 'quotation' - so your initial post just came off as if you were placing emphasis on on words to stress them for your own sake, and the italics were still misused either way. (Edit: I just saw you also already fixed it into quotes and of the entire several words used rather than just the emphasis on 'anything'. Thank you, as it looks much less hostile now. lol)

I somewhat disagree with your statement of "we have to comply with it even if we disagree with it". You aren't being lorded over by government officials, the rule is being offered by a credit card company (well, two that I am aware of). You have every legal right to raise a middle finger and sever services with them. You are choosing not to. Again, as I said before, I understand that most of your revenue probably passes through their hands and not everyone would be like me and value principles over money, but personally, I'd not bend to the knee to either of them. There are many other ways to transfer money. But, your website, so I'm not here to tell you what to do with it. I'm just stating my feelings. I sincerely hope things work out with your choice and that MasterCard and Visa don't end up severing services with you anyway as they have with other websites in the past even after removal of all adult content on them. And I sincerely hope when all of this blows over it doesn't effect the future of Itch.io negatively.

Anyway, your site has been a huge service to me, and I want to end on a good note to show I'm not trying to be mean or angry at all, so I wanted to thank you for what you have built here. If all of this blows to shit, I at least want to give my thanks for your services and let you know some of these devs have given me safe outlets to filter my depression into when I was going through a hard time and I would have never discovered them if it weren't for your site. So, sincerely, thank you.

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leafoAdmin123 days ago(+5)

I somewhat disagree with your statement of “we have to comply with it even if we disagree with it”. You aren’t being lorded over by government officials

I think you may be mixing up which topic you’re in. This is about the UK Ofcom Online Safety Act. If we do not comply we face serious fines and the potential removal of our service from the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer

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randsomehyena123 days ago(+7)

The UK does not rule the world? Let them block it. People can use VPNs.

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Sanguine-Oni123 days ago (1 edit) (+2)

You would be one-hundred percent correct in your assumption. I apologize. I saw you posting the UK link but felt as if it had no place for me to look at as I am in the US. I saw the first post posting a petition and thought you and he were just posting links to discuss a UK petition for the government to step in like the 2 US ones I signed, and didn't realize it was VERSUS the government. Wow, so it effects me even though I'm not there. This BS has escalated way beyond what our news and media have been covering. Man, I knew you were in a tough spot, but the fact of the matter is way beyond what I thought; especially after reading the post below by another user detailing the rules stating even mentioning eating disorders is a violation. This entire world is F-ed due to people with money trying to press their views on those without. Just because they want to shelter topics that are negative will not make them go away, it just builds weaker people and less awareness, making for more easily offended people and worse issues because people don't know how to cope with the things that are no longer discussed.

Edit: Okay, I just read the link you provided. I have to say I am sick of this sexist BS where everyone only lists females as victims. In this link "Protecting women and girls" or of course because CS is feminist theirs is "objectification of women". That is all I see everywhere in media, and it always enrages me. I'm a guy and got objectified CONSTANTLY in my youth! I've also had someone attempt to rape me when I was in my late twenties. But no one seems to F-ing care about the male population and want to act as if it is EXCLUSIVELY females that have these things happening to them. As if men are the sole villains.

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PJOZeus122 days ago(+2)

Male assault (that is to say, Males being assaulted by women, or possibly by anyone) is one of, if not *the* most underdiscussed and openly demeaned topics on the planet.
At a certain point regardless, it's not about the topics they claim, they just want to use sympathy for those valid issues, twisted to meet their own purposes - as has always been the case for hundreds of years

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