[Show Page] Add Explicit Content Warning

[larryl79]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. no

Describe the solution you'd like add a field to show about age limitation e.g 16+ 18+ 21+ etc, which automatically shown on show page even with own logos like below

[tonyzeoli]

@larryl79 id like to understand this better. For the most part, broadcast radio in the United States does not have a rating system like our film industry (e.g. P, PG, R, X). Not do our broadcast television stations, because it’s federal law you cannot broadcast age inappropriate content over the airwaves, especially because there is no way to restrict it. Is there some law in Hungary that delineated what is age appropriate and do you have to display that rating on a website? Bad silly, why are you asking.

[larryl79]

It not just Hungary. It's in all in europe by EU law what I know about. My Host friend got $500 penalty for say a "f*ck" accidentally, because it wasn't shown an appropriate age limit on his show. That money is about a minimum wage in Hungary. And you making this plugin worldwide... ;)

[larryl79]

I don't say this have to be mandatory, just make a possibility of choice of the radio to turn on or not.

[tonyzeoli]

@larryl79 I understand. There will be many differences around the world for age-restricted content. But, there are plugins for age verification that do not allow the user to access the website until they confirm their age. Here is one I found: https://wordpress.org/plugins/dispensary-age-verification/

It would be very easy in the Show Description to add a line of text, instead of us adding some feature to display to the end user of the website and on the schedule. It's easy to display this on the Show Description by using Advanced Custom Fields to your plugin mix and using that plugin to build your requirements and add those custom fields to a Show page. Or, I think it's best to leave age restrictions to common plugins that do the trick.

Radio Station does not host the broadcast on our servers. We are not responsible for age-restricted measures. We cannot possibly support every country or territory restrictions, as we do not know the laws of each country and we are not responsible for the broadcast, only the schedule. If the user can't get pas the age restriction as set by the plugin I recommended, they're not going to see the schedule anyway, because they can't access the website. That's really where you want the age restriction to be - accessing the entire site and disabling the stream for users who do not pass the age restriction.

[larryl79]

I understand what are you saying, but it's not about age verification or access. It just about secure us hosts from (in my country MAHASZ, ARTISJUS) (in your country e.g. BMI) against penalties for "french speak".

I've done it in show description the adult restriction where I needed. Just came an idea to make it easier, and shared with you. As per I made programming as well I've got ideas how to sort out if you like my idea.

[tonyzeoli]

I think we can do something like the following:

The content of this Show is appropriate for:

• Children under 12
• Teen & Young Adult (13-21)
• Adult (non-Explicit Language) (21+)
• Adult (Explicit Language) (21+)

The user could click one or more and it will display the appropriate label.

I hesitate to put an age with an icon because it could be 17 in one country and 21 in another, you don't know and then we'd have to build out an entire selection system per region. So, keeping it broad would be good.

[tonyzeoli]

@majick777 This seems like a simple idea to execute - just display age-appropriate list on the left sidebar of a show page. @larryl79 suggests that having this option display on a web page will help station owners with legal issues related to explicit content. He was advocating for iconography, like an age with a circle around it. But, I prefer to just list out, as I've done in this ticket as test only. The user can style as they wish.

[tonyzeoli]

@majick777 @larryl79 After reading Ofcom Offensive Content on Radio Guidelines from the UK, I'll add the following:

If the user selects (Adult - Explicit Language), we should have a tooltip "?" icon that displays the following statement.

"This show's content may include, but is not limited to, offensive language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human dignity, discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion, beliefs and sexual orientation)."

But, according to Ofcom, it's either over 18 or under 18.

I found a chart on Wikipedia with the television ratings system, but as you can see on the chart, it applies to people haphazardly across the world at different ages in different countries.

We could certainly follow the TV ratings system and use it's badge colors from this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_content_rating_system

It's a useful guide and I would have to change my age limits then or not list them at all. Listening ages is problematic because they change from country to country. It's better to just list the badges and the intent of the content warning and leave it at that.

[tonyzeoli]

Here's the Ofcom guidance: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/40541/offensive-language.pdf

[larryl79]

@tonyzeoli only difference in rest of europe (how I knows, and including hungary) 12+ 16+ 18+ (18 is the adult limit) which is somehow applying in UK as well because they can't apply 21 on farreners. So for this case let users select own icons for all content rating categories from uploaded media, and can be shown like this below. in this way every station can apply own countries rules.

[larryl79]

I just spoke with my friend, and he said in Germany there's a different signs for content rating (they are using letters like in U.S.A.) so it can be a good idea to select from uploaded media/images for each categories.

[tonyzeoli]

Sorry, this is way too much for a free open source plugin to support. I agree that you need a content rating, but we’re not going to add age or content rating. Too many variables all over the world. The thing that I am going to settle on is a simple checkbox that displays and adult content warning. We’re not going to get into age stuff. That’s all you need - “this show contains adult content” Because there is no single global standard you’re asking for way too much here then we can support. If, at one point, you want to build an add-on for Radio Station PRO that does this, we are going to open up that possibility, but I am gently but firmly saying no. We are not going to support this idea to the level you need. It is too complex in terms of ratings around the world and the station can already restrict the site by age or use Advanced Custom Fields to add a rating system themselves. It is outside the scope of our responsibility. However, we will add an adult content warning and that’s it. I’m not trying to be difficult here, but that’s what we can support. There are only two of us and we have PRO to address right now and this is not a major priority.

On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 4:02 AM larryl79 notifications@github.com wrote:

I just spoke with my friend, and he said in Germany there's a different signs for content rating (they are using letters like in U.S.A.) so it can be a good idea to select from uploaded media/images for each categories.

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[tonyzeoli]

@majick777 I'm settling on adding "This show may contain explicit content" warning. We should do the same for the Playlist tool, where this Song contains is marked "Explicit" on a playlist. I'll create a separate ticket for that one.

We can add this explanation in the Show Description section: ""This show's content may include, but is not limited to, offensive language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human dignity, discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion, beliefs and sexual orientation)."

It can be in a warning notification with a red warning styling that can be hidden by click the X. And, by clicking the X you confirm you have read the content warning and are not under 18-years of age.

[tonyzeoli]

@majick777 I've been thinking about this and users can go to get one of a number of age verification plugins for their website. I'm thinking, at this point, if we want to offer age verification, then it's an Add-On we build and offer as an add-on. Most users don't need this for radio and if you're Internet radio, it doesn't much matter, because it's not broadcast - but that depends on the country.

So, I'm of the mindset we build and Age Verification add-on that can be purchased for $9 - $13, which triggers a pop-up that blocks the page it's added to. The user has to click to verify their age.

Here's some examples: https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/age-verification-restrictions/

We should move this into PRO as an Add On.

[majick777]

@tonyzeoli Hmmm... I think there is a distinction here that needs to be addressed further. It is one thing to view a Show page with a description that may have explicit content, and another thing to Play the Show with the explicit content. Plugins already exist for the former, allowing for age verification before viewing the Show page content. So if users really want to do that, they can use an existing plugin for the purpose.

If we add the explicit content flag to the Show, a simple confirmation alert box on the Play for the Show file would seem sufficient? I don't know that we'd need a separate Add-on just for that.

And well, there is a further complexity when we have the Player included... If someone is playing a stream and the Show changed from a non-explicit to an explicit one, do we pause and popup and alert confirming continue play? That seems somewhat intrusive, but maybe it could popup an alert without pausing also... Or have an option to play an explicit content warning audio clip instead. Those I would consider to be Pro features... Maintaining a separate Add-on is possible, but I am not sure it is desirable for small features like this.

[tonyzeoli]

Good questions.

The reason I’m suggesting it to be an add-on is because it’s not something that everyone needs and to build it would have a cost that needs to be supported. I was thinking the narrow scope of people wh need this would pay for it and making it an Add-On would support it’s ongoing development.

Yes, I am aware of the plugins that age restrict content and I mentioned them in my earlier reply to the request or, but then I got to thinking they restrict the entire site and not just individual pages that are Shows. So, the question then becomes, as a Stettin do you ask every listener to accept that the station might okay adult content? Or, can you do it by show, so they when you get to a specific Show page, you need to acknowledge you understand the show has explicit content.

You bring up a good point about the stream itself in that if there is explicit content in a show, how do you let the listener know? Is it a notification during the stream? So they have to accept the notification and the stream stops until they do? Or does it just play and the notification pops up as a browser notifications and you have to accept it to close it, yet the stream still plays. Or is it just a flag that appears on the player itself during any show with explicit content?

To simplify and maybe not go to an Add-on, we can just have a warning banner on a Show page and we can deliver a browser notification when the show is explicit and leave it at that. Without stopping anything and without the age check and user action. And, we can out something in the player that denotes if a show has explicit content, but I’d argue that has to be in the upcoming shows and current on air DJ widgets as well.

In all cases a tooltip should explain the warning.

In the U.S. you have movies, alcohol, and tobacco that either have a rating system or age restriction for the website. But that does not exist for TV or Radio in terms of blocking people from watching or listening. The commonly accepted legal time is after 10 pm, but stations don’t say that here. However they might need to around the world somewhere - I don’t know.

But we’re just two guys building a plugin and we’re not responsible for whether a station needs to do this or not. We’re just being asked to support statins that do, so it’s a worthwhile suggestion by the resistor, we just have to agree on scope and make it simple, so it doesn’t take too much time. And the simplest way right now is to just have a warning on the show page and widgets and leave it at that.

Of course, songs should have an explicit flag too, but I’ve added that for playlists on another ticket.

At the end of the day, it’s really not our responsibility to add this feature. Maybe just a simple “this show contains explicit content” warning near the show description and that’s it for now.