I’d like to think this is true, too, but unfortunately I know some popular authors of stories like these that aren’t just naive teenagers 
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I really like that question!
I’m 19 now but if I was 13 and the age restriction was changed to 15+, I’d probably be frustrated because not all under the age of 15 are immature and get affected by what they read. I’d read on anyways.
But now as I look back at myself when I was 13, I wouldn’t allow myself to read most Episode stories since I think they portray a lot of horrible things as completely normal and though I really was a mature 13-year old, I was going through stuff just like everyone else and I’d definitely be affected by what I’d might read on Episode.
When you’re not old enough for something, you always argue against it and come with plenty of reasons why you specifically aren’t too young for it. But when you get older, you see things in a different perspective and you suddenly become aware of why there was an age restriction. My view on 13-year olds now is so different from my view on them when I was 13 myself.
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Definitely! Even if I continued to read Episode stories, I think I’d feel massively put out that they didn’t think that people like me were worth appealing to anymore. We fight for all types of representation on Episode… what about age?
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You’re right. Some of them are probably naive adults too… I just hope none of them are actively trying to promote that lifestyle. Although, as adults, I think they have the responsibility to research and abstain from writing about things that they know close to nothing about. The excuse of being naive or ignorant doesn’t hold up so well once you’re a certain age and have the internet to help you with any kinds of research.
I’m still battling with this in my mind. And we don’t really know if we can report gang/mafia stories because we don’t know what really constitutes “promoting criminal activity” in Episode’s eyes, do we? They freak out over a little blood overlay but allow detailed descriptions of some disturbing things… Where’s the line at? I wish they’d give us examples or clear descriptions of what goes against guidelines so we really know what can and cannot be reported on their platform. It wouldn’t only help the users, but also Episode themselves.
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Hehehe, I’m glad you brought this up because I remembered something the other day…
There was a shelf dedicated to gang and mafia stories!
The mega list to past shelves is here in case you wanted to see
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I definitely agree with the mafia/gang stories. I think in many gang stories the author is somehow violating the guidelines but honestly, I think they’ve become so popular that Episode won’t take them down because it’d cause too many readers to be completely unsatisfied and angry.
And maybe that’s also the reason we’re in doubt when trying to find out whether to report these stories or not because they have so many reads and followers that maybe people are just ok with the somewhat violent content that they have?
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I’m in the age range for episode (I won’t say my age- but between 13 and 18) I wouldn’t really be able to read episode if it changed to 15+ because I honestly don’t like those stories. I always immediatly leave an inappropriate story, and stick to the “family friendly” ones.
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Yeah… This is exactly why I don’t read inappropriate stories right now… It’s not really because of my age but more of I just think I can’t handle it yet. I don’t understand a lot of the mature things in the stories and haven’t experienced things like that yet myself, or seen it in real life, so I just think I shouldn’t be reading them.
If the app changed to 15+ I’d probably stop reading the stories and just use it for writing.
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Do you know what really bugs me? People on the community acting like adults would only be interested in stories that violate the guidelines, so we should rethink them and bump up the age of Episode.
It’s like… you realise that millions of adults read Harry Potter and loved it, right? Isn’t that proof that you don’t need to be vulgar in a story to get reads from the older readers? You just need an actual good story.
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That’s so true! And it’s actually probably a lot of the younger ones who are more interested in some of those types of stories anyway
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Exactly! Only liking 18+ stories is pretty immature if you ask me. I don’t know why they call them “mature stories” 
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I now need to update this. My Thrill story was taken down for too much gore, and eh. I mean, I did so I’m not mad. I don’t think they did a good job reviewing my story because they flagged only the girl-MC scenes. So if I wanted to be cruel, I could totally go in and just change the girl-MC lmao. Eh I am however, a bit salty I’ve been given so little time to fix everything. I had a day to fix 7 scenes that they found, and double (if not more) if I want to fix the ones that weren’t flagged. (I was given a day)
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A day?! I thought they usually gave you at least three?
Is it a lot to fix?
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Wow! Can you contact them asking for an extension?
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Kinda, but I think I can complete in time (if I don’t do my homework D:)
@ShanniiWrites, I might but I am going to see how much I can get done today.
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That’s so unfair to only be given one day 
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Does anyone know how long it takes for them to respond back once you changed what they said needed to be modified? I got an email today regarding something in one of my episodes (I nearly capsized when I saw it lmao), so obviously I promptly went and fixed what was wrong before replying: this was 3 hours ago and so far, nothing. Maybe I’m just being really anxious, but now I’m worried that they haven’t received my response and they’ll take my story down on the 9th (that’s the time limit I had to fix my shiz and get back to them) 
Also, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, I can delete it if it’s too off-topic. I’m just nervous lol
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They can take up to 3 days to respond.
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But I only have two…
Thanks for letting me know though.
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You poor thing. Sorry to hear that. I personally have no experience with it, but from what other people have shared here and on other threads, I think it’s similar to when you submit tickets - sometimes you get replies straight away and other times it takes a few days… (but I believe they wouldn’t take it down without first checking to see you replied to them anyway)
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