Warning Pages

[Dzinerbear]

Hey all,

With the all the hoo-haw in the United States about moving forward to stamp out obscenity just wondering about options for warning pages and other efforts to show due diligence at keeping minors out.

The problem for me is that search engines consider a site's index page to be the most important. If you throw up a warning page as your index page, you've already started losing points with search engines. And if you put up a warning page and a surfer Googles to you through a secondary page, did the warning page matter anyway?

Thoughts?

dzinerbear

[Xstr8guy]

Warning pages are useless unless you have some kind of age script in place and then noindex, nofollow the rest of the tour. And who is going to do that?

What we need is a key like they have in Germany. I don't really know what I'm talking about, . But I think it is some kind of physical device that you plug into a USB port. Either that or Visa needs to use it's database as a real age verification. But then all adult sites would need to be updated with some kind of adult content labeling.

[gaystoryman]

Well to me the warning page or index page is as Michael says an important page.. it is the doorway into your business no matter what type of adult site it is.

I think primarily that whatever the US government brings down it is imperative that you show dilegence in that you attempted to discourage minors or puritans.. but you need to do it in a way that is both not scary to your real potential customers and yet sufficient to show that you did your best.

By itself it won't matter much but taken as a whole it can help show you tried.

ON that end I'd also label the site with ICRA and Safesurf along with links to sites for parents. Bottom line is that eventually it is going to have to come down who is responsible, us for attempting to provide a service to those who want it, or parents who have the kids... I am not some nameless person's baby sitter but I still like to do my bit.

While I place warnings on the page, I work them into the selling text... but that is me.

Just my pennies worth
Ian

[basschick]

every adult lawyer i've talked to - or read - says the average warning page is useless. a judge might feel you've shown good faith if he chooses, but the government won't be impressed either way.

if you have a script that accepts a digital sig, you're better off, but only if you block all other pages so the only thing a surfer can see is the warning page or other pages with no potentially objectionable material.

[Marc]

Lawrence Walters sells this script for warning pages.
http://www.birthdateverifier.com/

I like it because he's a lawyer who knows this industry well, and even if a judge found that this warning page isn't enough, at least you as a webmaster can say than you were following the suggestion of an expert attorney and made a serious effort to follow the law and keep minors out.

You can see it in action here (have to scroll way down)
http://www.ampland.com/

[longboardjim]

speaking of lawyer....ohhh chad ( chadknowslaw )

sincerely ~ jim

[Squirt]

Lawrence Walters sells this script for warning pages.
http://www.birthdateverifier.com/

I like it because he's a lawyer who knows this industry well, and even if a judge found that this warning page isn't enough, at least you as a webmaster can say than you were following the suggestion of an expert attorney and made a serious effort to follow the law and keep minors out.

You can see it in action here (have to scroll way down)
http://www.ampland.com/

You used to have to be a paying client of his to use it.. looks like now he's "licensing" it so you'll have to pay him to verify age.

Scripts that do exactly the same thing that can be found on many script sites FOR FREE. Last I heard Lawrence was trying to copyright age verification, at least that was what I was warned when I was going to post the free scripts on another board about a year ago, something about possibly infringing if I posted the free scripts, Hammer ended up doing it. Maybe Lawrence will drop by here and update everyone. Things could have changed since then.

Can you imagine a person owning the copyright to online age verification? It's almost as bad as the Acacia claims. We would have to pay them to verify age online in the easiest way known.. good thing their is plenty of prior art out there in all the little nooks and crannys of the net :francais:

[Lee]

The problem with warning pages as *I* see it is that they are only used as warning pages.

We have sites with warning pages that actually rank quite highly in the SE's and, at the same time, actually make sales

The same is also true for some of our 2257 pages.

Just because you need to use a page for something, be it a warning page or a 2257 page, that dosnt negate the fact that that page is still a marketable traffic and sales generating tool

Regards,

Lee

[dalimili]

I never understood the point of warning pages.

If you search for "barebacking", "big cocks", "horsehung", "sexy gay models" and you come across a gay oriented site, should you reallllllllllly be warned at all, or are you that stupid that you actually don't know what you're searching for... I just don't get these

[gaystoryman]

Funny, warning pages or index pages as they really are have been a bug a boo for me for ages... i mean really each page on your site that is open to the public view needs to be a selling tool, and to me, not enough time is really spent on that first page many will see... your so called warning page/index page...

Yes it is good to cover your ass and give yourself every possible edge but it doesn't mean you have to scare the poor surfer off... it is a major selling page, just like any STOREFRONT is...

Yet it amazes me how many adult webmasters ignore it.. its a glancing thought and yet it is your most important selling point. And let's face it, the warning really doesn't stop a person who wants to view porn.. unless you use those fancy age scripts which still won't stop them, but will stop the SE spyders.. so I don't know... makes me wonder if most really want to do business or if its a hobby...

It is like the exit link on your warning page.. I make a few bucks a month off it by sending people to a non adult affiliate site... not a lot but then again less than 5% click on the exit link.. yet how many put the link to Google or somewhere else on the exit?

phew I feel better now, and hey just my opinion.

Ian

[JustMe]

Greetings:

Yet it amazes me how many adult webmasters ignore it..

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm not ashamed. I was one of those webmasters. We just had our warning page redone and I was AMAZED to see the conversions of the site improve!

You're all absolutely right, the warning page is something everyone needs to rethink and spend more time on.

[gaystoryman]

Greetings:



Ok, I'll admit it, I'm not ashamed. I was one of those webmasters. We just had our warning page redone and I was AMAZED to see the conversions of the site improve!

You're all absolutely right, the warning page is something everyone needs to rethink and spend more time on.

Thanks.. at last.. a convert! :extat:

Seriously I think it is a very important page, which is why it is almost always the last page I do for a site... so I can be sure it sets the tone for the whole site... it is what entices the surfer if you go for SE traffic, but more than that, I think the first page is your make or break page until you get fully indexed into the SEs...

It is also one of the pages I constantly look at for tweaking, especially if the traffic coming from it is low vs how many hits it receives... it is a very very important page in my mind.

I think too that ALL of a sites pages, including resource pages, 2257 info pages, contact pages etc all are still selling pages.

To me I guess marketing/sales is something I was always aware of. I think many webmasters forget that their goal is to sell.. instead they think it is to entertain. I think that is wrong, that entertaining is a side result of things but the primary goal is to sell.. so each page has to sell something, whether it is the notion/idea that online reading is good or whether you need a new dildo to replace that small one.. you have to sell.. and design and market on that premise..

but again, that's me and my personal view,

Ian