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Adding a PICS label

Friday February 25, 2005

I took it upon myself to add a PICS label to this site.

It probably comes from being a parent, and whilst I make no apologies for swearing, I think it is probably the right thing to do to warn people about the possibility of straying across content they may find offensive.

Using the ICRA label generator I set my site up as follows:

  • Crude words or profanity.
  • Material that might be perceived as setting a bad example for young children.
  • Unmoderated chat.

One important thing to note about these labels, if you include them in the head of your page, is that the meta tag should come before the first call to an external file.

I know very little else about PICS or what impact it might have on search engine results etc. but there we go, now I can say fuck it arseholes and not worry about it, much.

Update

There is also a label tester available to see if it's doing what it should.

  1. Morgan Knutson

    1273 days ago

    Fuck. Because I can too.

  2. Rob Mientjes

    1273 days ago

    Wow, I want this shit!

    Now, I hope you can keep your children from actually reading it, cause it’s of little use when they do.

  3. Schultzy

    1273 days ago

    Yes I used the IRCA label.

    I guess if it took of it would be good.

  4. Kev

    1273 days ago

    Good idea. I’ve done the same.

  5. Gordon

    1273 days ago

    Great idea. Will look into it for my site methinks.

    And I have to say the tempation to swear like a trooper in this comment is almost more than I can bear…

  6. Jann

    1273 days ago

    Cheers, I’ve been meaning to implement something like this for a while. Looks interesting.

  7. Turnip

    1272 days ago

    Fair enough, although it’ll probably mean I won’t be able to browse it proxy-less from my school. Oh well, so long as they don’t block Bloglines I’m happy.

  8. John Oxton

    1272 days ago

    @Turnip: I would be interested to hear how that works out for you, I have never really seen PICS in action, it would be nice to get some feedback on it.

  9. Andrew Hume

    1272 days ago

    In that case I should edit the last sentance in my last comment to:

    “Damn my fuckin’ cunty, cock sucking personality.”

  10. Turnip

    1272 days ago

    John: Interestingly, I am at my school typing this right now. So it works. The filter is Websense.

    Seems a bit stupid that there are standards like this and Websense can’t even be assed to implement them.

  11. paul haine

    1271 days ago

    Websense has actually categorised joshuaink.com – according to Websense, it’s a “Message Board and Club” – it’s then up to the institution as to whether they filter on that category or not. Where I work, they do, so as from a few days ago, I can’t view Joshuaink from work. Or, in fact, my own website. Or dozens of others. I’m writing an article on it now because it’s winding me up no end.

  12. Turnip

    1271 days ago

    Ah, I didn’t realise that you could look it up. I just wasted my time registering only to find my site isn’t categorised. Statistics gathering bastards!

    When I own I company, I am never going to subject my employees to web filtering software. I just won’t employ any assholes who will abuse my trust.

  13. Jeff Wheeler

    1271 days ago

    Hmm… I implemented this, and after reading about problems with blocking, I think I’m going to take it down immediately.

    I don’t see any benefit from doing this.

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