User blog comment:Nalyd Renrut/The Ratings Templates/@comment-460966-20110427205628/@comment-1874924-20110428054239

If we do get rid of the R rating, the admins will have to formulate more specific guidelines than we currenty have on what is or is not allowed under the PG-13 rating. We do have a couple of PG-13 stories that might be seen as pushing the envelope, and my competition story will also have a scene that some people might regard as questionable. (I believe it's PG-13 material, but opinions may vary.) For example, if we use the same criteria that movie ratings use, the PG-13 rating allows one--and only one--"f-bomb". If we want more restrictive criteria, then those criteria must be spelled out.

It is important to note that ratings are based on what elements are present, and NOT on whether those elements are gratuitous or are crucial to the plot. It's also important to note that it only takes one out-of-compliance scene to force a story into a more restrictive rating, so I respectfully submit that the Saw references for R-rated stories are missing the point.

I mentioned Life After Lies previously, but I think it bears mention again because it is central to the "R" rating question. Although it is currently rated PG-13, some parts (especially the latest chapter) have some pretty graphic violence, and Gigi has been waffling on whether to rate it PG-13 or R. If she decides that it should carry an R rating, does anyone here really want to tell her that her story--one of the wiki's best-loved noncompetition stories, I might add--can't be posted here anymore? A less extreme example is my own short story, Legacy. Like LAL, Legacy has a scene so graphically violent that, although no one has objected to its PG-13 rating, a case could be made for it to be rated R. It, too, is one of the wiki's most popular noncompetition stories. My point is this: those who question whether we should allow R-rated stories should take care not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.