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New Ratings?
Mar. 30th, 2005 10:01 pmWell, it seems like the SWAT Kat Fanfiction Archive may need to change its current ratings system. Apparently, the Motion Picture Association of America is now insisting that the G, PG, PG-13, etc. ratings system is copyrighted to them (and this seems to be true according to various sources) and is demanding fanfiction and other sites not use it on threat of being sued. Fanfiction.net has recently revamped their ratings system in lieu of this and Fictionised.net has as well upon being sent a copy of a letter the MPAA sent to another site (the letter is posted on Fictionised.net's main page, for the curious).
The SK Archive is tiny and obscure, but, even if we are number one billion twenty-six on the MPAA's list, there's no sense in risking trouble. We've never attempted to borrow the MPAA's exact definitions for ratings anyway, so renaming the ratings classifications should be simple enough. There are other changes we've been considering anyway.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jessiesk and I have discussed things over the last few days, and we're currently looking at something similar to the system used on videogames (and hoping that won't be trouble in the future):
E = Everyone (or maybe All Ages?), equivalent to G
K = Older Kids, equivalent to PG
T = Teens, equivalent to PG-13
M = Mature, equivalent to R
Anybody with any suggestions, please let us know. We're still feeling this out.
Additionally, we're looking into the possibility of setting the Archive up so that viewers could chose how to organize and view the stories - by author or by genre or by rating, etc. But, don't look for this feature anytime soon and note that we may run away screaming when we realize what all it's going to take. We already know it's going to require studying up on programming and a lot of time and effort to put the necessary codes in each and every story file.... not to mention the fact that many of the stories are still in .txt format and will probably have to be put into html... Yeah, it's going to take a while.
The SK Archive is tiny and obscure, but, even if we are number one billion twenty-six on the MPAA's list, there's no sense in risking trouble. We've never attempted to borrow the MPAA's exact definitions for ratings anyway, so renaming the ratings classifications should be simple enough. There are other changes we've been considering anyway.
jessiesk and I have discussed things over the last few days, and we're currently looking at something similar to the system used on videogames (and hoping that won't be trouble in the future):E = Everyone (or maybe All Ages?), equivalent to G
K = Older Kids, equivalent to PG
T = Teens, equivalent to PG-13
M = Mature, equivalent to R
Anybody with any suggestions, please let us know. We're still feeling this out.
Additionally, we're looking into the possibility of setting the Archive up so that viewers could chose how to organize and view the stories - by author or by genre or by rating, etc. But, don't look for this feature anytime soon and note that we may run away screaming when we realize what all it's going to take. We already know it's going to require studying up on programming and a lot of time and effort to put the necessary codes in each and every story file.... not to mention the fact that many of the stories are still in .txt format and will probably have to be put into html... Yeah, it's going to take a while.
