Here we go again and again and again.
This entire thread left one one MAJOR ingredient. Once upon a time, minors could be members here. One day, the owner sold the site. One of the first things the new owner did was ban minors. There were many who protested. I was one of them. However, about the time this site was bought by Rob_E new internet laws took effect here in the US. They were written by the Republican religious right who wanted to do everything possible to shut down all pornography on the Internet.
There are two issues here. The first is easily dealt with. The owner of this site determines the rules here subject of course to federal and state laws. If he wants to change this into a Share Your Favorite Recipe site, that is his right. He owns this website. He can do with it what he wishes.
I don't believe very many people here are completely agreeing with the US Internet laws, most are saying we have to obey them. The way the Internet laws are written, something written or shown in the print media sometimes, even print media produced and marketed for teens, can pass federal laws with no problem because print media doesn't come under US Internet laws. The very same article or picture could get the person displaying it in serous trouble if it were posted on the Internet.
I can already see the mass postings saying wait a minute that doesn't make sense. Keep in mind that the present US Internet laws were written for the express purpose of shutting down all pornography if possible and so the most stringent of possible rules were made for minors. Since much porn depicts young adults, the threat that somehow a minor passed for an adult can happen and the owner of the site faces prison time.
Which brings in the moderators. The mods here have discussed this. Let me make this very clear. We do not have a single moderator who wants to be a martyr is this situation. Not a one of us is willing to go to prison so you can enjoy your "rights" to view child porn here. Regardless of what any mod or the owner's personal opinion is of what is morally right or wrong, none of us want to buck the law on this. Not when it is our ass, not yours that is on the line.
Mindseye touched on this in his answer. This is considered a porn site by the US government. Therefore, we are subject to closer scrutiny than if we were a family issues support site. That is just the way it is.
For my personal views, I don't view a 17 year old as a child anymore than I do an 18. I can argue that 18 year olds aren't adults either. But then some could argue that real adulthood starts at age 25. It does seem ridiculous that a pic of a 17 11 months and three days on the Internet gets the poster put in prison for 5 years as a child predator, but another pic taken four weeks later is perfectly fine.
It is the same thing as parents having a big 21 year birthday bash for their son with booze and all. If they have it the night before the birthday, the police can arrest them and charge them with all kinds of things and they can be found guilty. On the other hand, by waiting just one night, it is all legal.
So you are thinking that if the feds can prove that I put on the Internet a pic of a guy who was at the time 17 and was to turn 18 in just five minutes, I can be put in prison and have to register as a child predator?
If you answered yes, then you are catching on to the legal world. Morals are personal. No two people will have exactly the same identical moral view 100 percent of the time. Legal laws are very arbitrary. Legally the teen is a child, no different than a six year old. One second later at the stroke of midnight, he becomes instantly an adult, no different than a 35 year old. Welcome to the legal world.
