This is definitely true! That’s why I feel like it’s our duty to prove how much better we are than Episode itself when it comes to writing and sticking to guidelines. I already think a lot of user stories are better quality than the featured stories. We need to show them that you don’t have to break guidelines to make a compelling story!
Definitely! I think readers should get a three strike policy on this kind of thing. Maybe they could be sent the no-nonsense guide the first time as a warning and to help them understand why the story doesn’t include anything that breaks the TOS… but if it’s frequent and clearly deliberate, I think it does count as trolling. They should definitely lose their right to report stories… but perhaps something even more since they’re wasting Episode time!
The problem with that is that you’re on Episode. Whether or not you agree with censorship, surely you agree to sticking to contracts? They’re not sticking to their contract with Episode, so that’s the issue here.
A 13 year old may know that once upon a time, Hitler was in charge and there was Nazism and gas chambers, but Mein Kampf rambles on for ages about Judaism… something that is a massive issue with the rise of anti-semitism now. So while they might not become a full-blown Nazi, it could affect their stance as an anti-Semite. Like… anyone with a brain will think to themselves “why is it that Hitler managed to convince a whole country to support him?” That may lead you to think that maybe his ideology was good but not his methods… which is wrong.
As a teenager, you’re starting to develop your critical thinking skills. It is detrimental to the thought process to introduce young teenagers to ANY extreme idea… they should be first introduced to the less extreme things and then expand out as they develop their skills. This is especially true since it is natural for a teen to question authority. It’s also natural for a teen to think that you’re right as soon as you start thinking for yourself. It takes time and age to realise that you’ll never be 100% right when it comes to ideology. So extreme ideology should be introduced gradually and when people have the skills needed to understand it critically… and not fall into the trap that the majority of Germany did. Or even the Nazi parties elsewhere in the world. No one is born a bigot. It’s reading stuff like this at vulnerable times in their life that makes them a bigot.
Hmm…so if I am just a reader, maybe I don’t even have an account, I just downloaded this free story app and starting reading the first thing it brought me to. Do I have to know the guidelines? Do I have to report it?
Consider when you first get on the app, it doesn’t make the guidelines so very visible to people, and if you never read anything except for the first thing that popped up, “Hey, we’re Episode. Wanna read this?” No one knows the exact guidelines at that point. It isn’t any one’s responsibility as a reader to report stuff.
HOWEVER, it IS a writer’s responsibility to know what they can and cannot write and publish. Try looking at this not knowing as much as we already know. Even if I am a writer and know the guidelines, if I am reading a story, I am a reader, too. And as a reader, I won’t report a story.
I don’t think we’ll find any common ground about Mein Kampf though. As I said, I appreciate your point of view, I just disagree. I read Mein Kampf a couple of times myself, just as I’ve read multiple articles/books/whatever from writers on subjects I agree and disagree with.
I think it’s important to be exposed to all these different points of views for all people. WHEN an individual decides that is, that’s on them. A lot of kids at 13 aren’t even interested in politics and stuff yet. Some people NEVER are, so…shrug. I don’t think anyone should decide when other people decide they want to read something and check it out. That’s okay, though! I understand your point of view and thank you for sharing with me.
This isn’t the point, though. None of those reasons are the same as simply refusing to report something out of principle. If you know something is violating the TOS and refuse to report it because you’re against censorship, you’re allowing someone to break a contract simply out of principle.
And this is something I agree with doing. Not everyone who reads Mein Kampf does it to understand other people they disagree with, though. As I said, it’s much easier to be convinced and swayed by a charismatic speaker and writer when you’re a 15 year old who is only beginning to understand free thought at school. When you’ve developed critical thinking skills (like they encourage you to at university), you have much more of a mental barrier against extremism than someone who hasn’t been encouraged, taught or had the time to develop them.
Which is why I support age ratings. Every topic should be available to every age, but the intentions and messages should become more and more neutral as the audience gets younger.
This is a really extreme example, but it’s the same idea:
Stopping someone from going out if you know they’re going to commit a crime is a duty. Stopping someone from going out if you don’t know they’re going to commit a crime is not.
See, I see what happened. We misunderstand each other again. XDXD We must stop doing this.
Try approaching this issue as a new reader. New readers don’t know the guidelines. Are people who are readers only, are they doing something wrong if they don’t report a story? Odds are, they don’t even know the guidelines all the time.
I have nothing against not reporting if you’re new or young and don’t understand the TOS. My problem is this:
I understand not doing anything if you’re ignorant to the TOS, but this makes it seem like the reason you wouldn’t report is that you don’t like censorship, regardless of whether or not you understand the TOS. The issue here, though, isn’t censorship. It’s actually a failure on the author’s part to abide to their contract with Episode.
And being de-platformed is not censorship. To paraphrase ContraPoints: you have a right to free speech, not a megaphone. You have a right to make your art and not be persecuted for it. You don’t automatically have a right to use someone else’s platform to share it with the world. You have to follow their rules.
sure, authors shouldn’t go against guidelines, but if they do, Episode should at least put an age warning on it or make a new shelf for age 15+ readers or something. people work really hard on their stories and people shame them because they’re inappropriate and then they get taken down. there are also adults on here who might enjoy mature stories (like me) as well as children, so i really think the shelf for 15+ readers would be a good idea. this would keep the children on episode safe, and if they read a 15+ story they’d have had a warning and enter at their own risk (with permission from their parents). Or episode should change the age on their app. correct me if i’m wrong but i believe the age for Episode right now is 13? i think they should bump it up to 15 because there are some very mature stories on the app that are getting shamed and hated because they don’t follow guidelines, but they’re still good, enjoyable stories. another thing you could have is a child-friendly shelf, with endless amounts of child appropriate stories that would be safe for them to read. don’t ruin everyone’s entertainment, just bump up the age and change the guidelines
The problem I have with doing this is that it’s the same as saying “people shouldn’t break the law. But if they do, then the government should make areas where they are allowed to or change the law.”
The problem is that the TOS is the law of Episode. Breaking the TOS and writing things that are not suitable for 13+ audiences is the Episode equivalent of breaking a law in the real world. There are plenty of real-world laws that don’t make sense or aren’t the best, but that doesn’t give us a right to break them. It gives us a right to petition for them to be changed. We can petition, but only after it is changed can we write 15+ or 18+ stories without being fairly banned.
We did agree to the TOS… you can’t join the app or start writing without agreeing to them.
i’m not saying that breaking the contract is wrong, but there are really good stories that people work hard on and i think they should be given a chance, but i understand that allowing 13 y/o to read these is bad, which is why i’m suggesting new shelves and tos changes
We should petition to change the TOS… but not because Episode is being forced to by people who can’t abide by their contract. We should get the change because respectful people ask them to and show it would be beneficial!
Respectful people who only write 15+ stories once it’s allowed. The people who break the contract should still get repercussions for it.
Yes, failure on the author’s part. It isn’t my problem as a reader/writer that someone else did something they aren’t supposed to.
Sure, you could say I am “allowing” someone else to break the rules that I know there are, but no one should have to be responsible for other people’s actions. If someone is going to break guidelines, that’s not a good thing to do, but personally, I won’t do anything about it because in this case, it’s an issue close to home with me.
I just personally won’t report them. I’ll roll my eyes, but that’s about it. XDXD