Site News & Announcements

New Content Rating System

Greetings Members,

The following email contains VERY important changes to the Writing.Com
Content Rating System. Please be sure you read this email in its entirety!


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:: New Content Rating System ::
This email is to inform you of an important and exciting change to Writing.Com's
Content Rating System (CRS). For the complete details on our new rating
system, please read, in its entirety:

Content Rating System (CRS)  [13+] #197141 Detailed information regarding our Content Rating System, its guidelines and rules. by The StoryMistress

When we opened the site and established our original content rating system over
3 years ago, we couldn't possibly conceive how much the site was going to grow.
Originally, we based our content ratings on the well-known MPAA film ratings. It
was the easy thing to do because most people were already accustomed to those
ratings and there wasn't any type of system for rating online literature.

It is now time to improve our system to best suit the present and growing needs
of our readers and writers. We have completely redesigned our current content
rating system to do just that. We have created a new system based on writing
and words, not movies or films.

The NEW Writing.Com Content Rating system is as follows:

         E : Everyone
         ASR : Adult Supervision Recommended
         13+ : Recommended for Readers 13 Years and Older Only
         18+ : Recommended for Readers 18 Years and Older Only
         GC : May Contain Graphic Content
         XGC : May Contain Extreme Graphic Content

Also with this change, we are introducing a new rating:
         NPL: Not Publicly Listed
This allows the Author to keep his or her item off of public listings for any reason,
such as drafts, works in progress, etc. The setting is easy to use and it simply
removes the item from public listings.


:: Introducing Intro Ratings ::
BRAND NEW: After deciding on your item's title and brief description, you will
now assign one of the following ratings to it, so that the Writing.Com system can
determine on which public listings to display it.

         E: Everyone of all ages
         Non-E: Not Everyone of all ages


An E-rated Intro is suitable for everyone of any age. There are absolutely no
references to sex (other than gender), drugs (legal/illegal), alcohol, violence,
cursing (of any kind), derogatory names or any combinations thereof. These titles
are displayed for members who have their rating preferences set to 18+ and below.

A Non-E rated Intro is not suitable for everyone of any age. There may be
references to sex, drugs, alcohol, violence, cursing, derogatory names or any
combinations thereof. These titles are displayed for all members who have their
rating preferences set to also include GC and above.

This Intro rating is not displayed on public listings and is only used as a guide for
the item's placement within Writing.Com's public listings. General members can
only see an item's Content rating on public listings; the Intro's rating is only
visible from within the item's header.


:: Existing Items and Their Ratings ::
The Content Ratings on all existing items will be automatically switched
to their closest counterpart in the new system. After the conversion,
members will be able to modify their item Intro Ratings and Content Ratings as
normal. The automatic conversions are as follows:

         G -> E
         PG -> ASR
         PG-13 -> 13+
         R -> 18+
         NC-17 -> GC
         X -> XGC

The Intro Rating on all existing items will start as E rated and should be adjusted
by the item's owner where applicable.



    We encourage all members to peruse their portfolios and take a close look
at their ratings to be sure they have rated their items correctly. With our more
detailed quidelines, most members should be able to rate their items much more
accurately. If Writing.Com Moderators find inaccurate Intro or Content Ratings on
items, they do have the ability to correct them.

If you have questions regarding the Content or Intro Ratings for your items,
please visit and post in:

Content Rating Support  [18+] #430933 The official Writing.Com Content Rating Support forum: questions, rating adjustments, etc. by Writing.Com Support

:: New Item Header Released! ::
With the release of our new Content Rating System (CRS) comes a new Item
Header format. It is full of enhancements and more information for our readers.

The Content Rating is more clear and obvious. The Intro Rating is also clearly
visible to the right of the title and description. Clicking on either of the ratings
launches a pop-up with more information about that particular content rating.
That pop-up also includes links to all other content and intro ratings.

Further, the "Content Rating Notice" for higher rated items is more compact, but
more visible at the same time. Last but not least, this new header provides the
item's size and to the item's owner, it shows the total number of views the item
has received.


:: Don't Forget To Read The Documentation ::
Once again, for complete details on our new Content Rating System, please
see the following item:

Content Rating System (CRS)  [13+] #197141 Detailed information regarding our Content Rating System, its guidelines and rules. by The StoryMistress

We appreciate your patience as we make final changes to the rest of
Writing.Com's documentation. It may take us up to a few days following
this ANNOUNCEMENT before all updates have been completed.



:: Extension For Grandfathered Free Accounts ::
On May 15th we announced some changes to our Free Membership, including
a reduction in items to a maximum of 5. For full details please see:
         "Important Changes To Our Membership Plans" 
The grace period has been extended and will expire January 1st, 2004. At that
time, Free members with more than 5 items will have items over this limit purged.


:: ** Please Remember To Update Email Addresses! ** ::
If you are still using your OLD @Stories.Com email address anywhere, this is a
reminder that email service for @Stories.Com addresses will end on 12/31/03. If
other services have your email address in the @Stories.Com form, your time to
update them is running out.


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Thank you for your continued support of Writing.Com!
  ~~ The StoryMistress and
         The StoryMaster

FORUM

Technical Support Forum  (13+) Members help other members with technical questions and problems using Writing.Com! #303715 by Writing.Com Support