Yahoo to Eliminate ‘Adult’ Profiles !
Medical Tourism, On Writing (and/or Media), Telecom Comments (9)
This almost sounds as though it is an e-mail hoax, but it is not. And I wonder if the brainiacs at Yahoo have really thought all the way through about what they just told me they’re going to do.
From my inbox, two minutes ago:
“We’re making some changes that will affect one of your Yahoo! profiles. After April 9, 2008, mature content will not be
permitted within Yahoo! Profiles. In accordance with this new policy, users will no longer be able to designate an ‘adult profile,’ and mature content will be removed. The profile for the Yahoo! ID scribblerbot is marked ‘adult.’ The picture associated with this profile will be removed and deleted on April 9, 2008.”
This is goddamn big news, for a number of reasons. Yes, I have a Yahoo adult profile and it has a photo on it. It’s the one in this blog post. As you can see, it may not be the greatest photo in the world, but it is not a nude photo of me or of any nekkid body parts. (None of your business as to whether I have any, either. 
)
1.) I know that there are, oh, about a bazillion people who have adult profiles because they belong to Yahoo groups for which Yahoo has REQUIRED a Yahoo Adult Profile, because the group has adult content.
Yes, this includes a LOT of groups dedicated to ogling nude photographs. However, because Yahoo has been amazingly prissy in the past, with this whole adult-content schmear, it ALSO includes lots of people who belong to groups that are about cosmetic surgery or weight loss surgery, for example. I know about those because I belong to a bunch of these groups. It was part of my research for Beauty from Afar and I still keep track of what is going on with people who go overseas for surgery.
Some of these groups used to get closed or even deleted by Yahoo when “someone” would complain that there were nude pictures on the group pages, right where anyone could see them! Hence, these got made into “Adult” groups, meaning no kid could look at them unless, of course, he or she jumped that HUGE hurdle and clicked on a box that said “I’m more than 18 years old.” (As though that ever stopped someone.)
2. And yes, then there a whole lot of people who use their “adult profiles” to post nude photographs of themselves and/or other information in hopes of enticing Mr. or Ms. or Mrs. Right-Now will want to have sex with them. And there are a cajillion (which is not as many as a bazillion, but almost) women who have a Yahoo adult profile, or even many of them, for a single purpose: To advertise their webcam stripping activities, for which some people pay money.
Presumably, Yahoo wants to get rid of the porn-related profiles … and that’s going to be unpopular with a lot of people who will scream about censorship. I’m witholding comment on that for the moment but if you’re not, click the comment button and go to town.
My big issue, for now, is that they haven’t told me anything yet about how they are going to handle the relationship of adult profiles to adult groups, especially those groups that have nothing to do with anything that could reasonably be considered as porn. Breast Cancer Awareness groups, perhaps? Etc.
I’ll be following up … Stay tuned. (See next related post.)
(See the latest, including how to browse the soon-to-be-deleted profiles.)
And … April 11. They did it. No more Yahoo adult profiles.
jss @ March 27, 2008
Thank you for directing me to your article/blog. I, too, am very frustrated with the way Yahoo has handled this. Information is key to keeping morale up during major changes. The problem I have is that Yahoo has stopped us from even being allowed to make changes to our profile’s picture and they didn’t even give us a chance to change our profile so that it is no longer marked “Adult”.
Great writing… I’ll be sure to check back to see if you’ve gleamed any new information.
Carrie
How about if the billion people or so who have adult profiles delete their profiles, decide NOT to use yahoo anymore….Less hits means less add revenue! I detest yahoo and these policies.
PS We heard about this buzzing on all the groups. Thank you for a great article that was well written and we will keep looking for more!
Thanks for the link to your blog. I too am pissed, and so are some of my readers. But it comes as no surprise – in fact I had to go and check to make sure none of my nekkid pics were still linked to the profile. I used to have one of those “nekkid” Yahoo groups. It met all the terms of service, so Yahoo never touched me, but now I’m worried that the word ‘bitch’ in my email address will be enough to get me banned. Sure, I can make up a new name. But dammit, I wish they’d just leave well enough alone. What a pain in the ass.
Ooh. That’s four curse words! Hope you don’t get shut down!
I find it odd that they take ADULT advertisement and make tons of money off it every year with their PPC system. Adult site owners can also pay a fee of over $600 a year to get their adult websites listed permanently in the YAHOO search engine directory. Guess their adult profiles are not making them money…
@France: They have had kind of a schizophrenic view toward “adult” over the years, which is what makes their adult users suspicious. I wonder if the paid “Yahoo Personals” will add “intimate dating” … and compete with AdultFriendfinder, LavaLife, etc.
Adult Groups? I was wondering same thing. How they gonna handle that? I dont understand what they’re trying to do, I wonder if they even know. A little ambigous on their end possibly…
Thanks for the info.
great seeing this issue out there. i couldn’t help but laugh when i got the Yahoo email request. so i thought, okay…that’s cool, i’ll comply. then realized that i could NOT remove my ‘adult’ photo…got their goofy message they were unable to do it at this time, try again later. that message has been on there for months.
soooo, it seems weird that they request you do something on their site, yet it can’t be done. ahhhhhhh…it’s Yahoo and “the new AT&T”. well let me tell you, i worked for AT&T for 28 years and their management can fuck up a one car funeral. seriously. so things will get much worse.
April 10 … and Yahoo ain’t pulled the trigger. Hmm.