Censorship Yet Again- And No It's Not Amazon, This Time.

I'm not a pro and I don't do it often but I love blogging.  It's like a journal except its here for everyone to read unlike my diary-- thank you Mom and Dad for reading it.  Yes and my therapist thanks you too because he's just bought his fifth Mercedes but I digress.  

Having embraced blogging about five or six years ago I really admire not only the work people put into maintaining them but the posts that come out of them.  Especially from those who share my love for romance and scifi.  So you can imagine how surprised I was when Blogger warned me that they may be kicking me out of my blog home.  

Recently I received a letter from blogger stating that beginning June 30 2013, those bloggers whose blogs bear adult content run the risk of being removed because it violates the terms of service they are amending or have amended or aliens have landed, I don't know.

Now mind you, I am grateful that blogger is free, however something stinks like a fish market with a broken freezer.  I mean it.  This whole thing reeks of censorship.  Why do you ask?  Because they stated that only adult contented blog sites will be affected by this change.  

If you are a rebel like Luke Skywalker, Cap. Mal Reynolds or Han Solo you are into shaking things up a bit.  You can do this by linking said blog to commercial sites that sell adult related items.  Become a commercial blog and sell adult related items.  Or correct me if I'm wrong here-- continue to place adult rated content on your blog.  

Okay, umm...I realize that the arbitors of good taste are trying to save us from ourselves.  But aren't we all adults here? Hence the sign before entering.  Okay yes, I respect the fact that they would like to keep people away from sites that contain such content assuming the adults in question want to stay away.  (Yes I know we can have a field day on the meaning of adult related content but I think you and I know what they are referring to) 

And of course I agree that minors should stay away from these sites as well.  I'm for all of this but please don't protect me from myself.  Cause I'm grown and you're grown and we all know where babies come from.

Let's examine some of their stipulations, shall we?  For example, we purveyors of smut or the destroyers of family values, shall either remove said content, links to sites and just plain ole stop selling the stuff on our blogs or you/we will be shut down.

Okay for the record, this blog is not Porn Mart.  However it is a place where I post articles by other Erotic Romance Authors, who in turn post excerpts from their published novels.  Not to mention, I post excerpts as well.  Is Erotic Romance, a sub-genre of romance is this considered 'pornish' or i.e. 'Adult Content.'  I've read some stuff in the genre that wouldn't even make it in the letters section of Penthouse magazine.  (Not that I've ever read it mind you, just what I've heard characters mention on tv. Okay this is not about me, so move on.)  Then there are others that are so hot, these guys wish they had an imagination like that.  It has a story, characterization, a trope and a plot.  But then again so does Fanny Hill and it's considered a classic.

What about the umpteen dozen links I have to my publishers' websites/stores that sell my books along with the other authors who write in this area?  Oh and then there's Amazon and Barnes and Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo that sell the stuff too.  Do they count?

All I'm saying is if they are so afraid of people stumbling upon it accidentally, can't they employ filtering technology?  Or better yet, if its about money and they don't want people profiting off of a 'free' service-- then inform the violators to pay if they want to remain on blogger.  

But to remove us completely?   Come on.  Really?  I sigh with a heavy heart because I must admit a few years ago I was just as fearful of adult content books i.e. Erotic Romance as the most staunch conservative.  It was my own thing, I had no one else to blame but my belief system which I chose to employ.  That's where I was emotionally and mentally years ago. 

And that all changed when I read my first erotic romance novel.  After I finished, I remembered thinking-- 'This is nothing like I thought.  In fact not only is it good, it's fun read.  And hell this doesn't make me a horrific person for reading it.'  So having been there I refuse to bad mouth any one on the subject per se.

With that being, said the powers that be at Google, I know when you're the biggest game in town you have leverage.  But pushing us little guys to the side or wiping us away completely is not going to change anything unless you remove or prevent any and all types of adult sites from appearing in your search results.  

I know once you do that, a huge chunk of your audience will go to any competitor that allows it.  

And we all know the dirty little secret of internet technology and publishing-- porn sites helped perfect and popularize internet technology like flash players etc and romance novels including the erotic ones keep the publishing industry a float.  

Don't believe me?  Ask E.L. James. Will you remove searches for Fifty Shades of Grey from your searches?  I suppose if we authors were making boat loads of cash like her, we wouldn't need your search engines but what about the reader who wants to find out what the story is about?  The title does little to inform the average person that it is about a naive college graduate who falls for a billionaire who's into BDSM after interviewing him for some project.  

All I'm asking is, 'why are you kicking us off if we are playing by the rules?'

Food for thought or a quiet neck to nibble on, thank you all for reading my rant.  I realize some of my info may be wrong because I was too livid and confused by the legalese in the letter they sent me to read on.  But I'm pretty sure I got the gist of it.