To be clear I didn’t think @Mike_G was off topic - the question is whether the US’ KOSA is off-topic. Since we now have two closely related threads I don’t think we need more. Feel free to fork this to the other thread though.
I don’t think it was off-topic, but it would probably be better suited to the thread for non-UK age checks: Age checks are now in force in Florida and surely that is just as relevant as the UK law?
Maybe I could’ve phrased it differently, but if you can’t tell, these things piss me off.
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Honestly, it feels like we have half-a-dozen threads that are very closely related to the point that I have to question why they were split off, but I’m not a mod, so shrug.
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If it’s still difficult to understand:
- politics+gaming - on topic
- politics - off topic
We also get requests from people to split threads, so it’s not like we do this for sport.
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Maybe I’m late to spot this, but Itch is now blocking entire creator pages (authorname.itch.io), citing the UK Online Safety Act; for instance communistsister, porpentine, kastelpls. (See screenshot.)
Often I (from here on Normal Island) can see the pages for individual works by these authors, but can’t follow links from those pages to find out more about the author and what else they’ve made.
I can still go to these authors’ profile pages (if I remember they exist and the URL format: communistsister, porpentine, kastelpls) for some info, but these are often not linked from individual works’ pages.
I haven’t found a statement from Itch covering this specifically (this is what they say about the OSA in general but I don’t see anything about creator pages – these aren’t ‘community pages’, are they?) I can’t remember if creator pages (these ones, or in general) previously had like ‘18+’ interstitials or anything.
This seems distinct from the kind of blocking they’ve done for that other issue[1] (where I can see norbez’ main page and find out that Bi Lines exists and be exposed to a little of the shocking description of what it’s about, but can’t access the actual Bi Lines page, which I assume is still blocked for everyone).
(As a reminder, itch’s censorship in relation to the UK OSA is distinct from itch’s censorship in relation to pressure via payment processors, and that other thread I linked to is the appropriate place for the latter topic.) ↩︎
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This doesn’t even seem to make any sense, since as far as I can tell all of the works themselves are still accessible - is there supposedly meant to be something harmful on the creator pages themselves?
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This is very weird, and yeah they definitely don’t mention it at all in their statement… They’ve been fairly responsive to people on Bluesky, so I will try asking them about it over there and see if I get a response! (EDIT: Actually, maybe I’ll start by emailing their support team, as they suggest in the screenshot.) (Second edit: I actually decided not to contact them about this after we discovered that it is disclosed to creators per the below posts.)
Yeah, still not available here in the US. 
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The itch.io game dashboard contains this note:
Important: If a geo-restricted game appears on your profile page, your entire profile will also be geo-restricted for UK users. Please review each of the games on your profile.
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Ah, thank you for that! Can you point me to where exactly you’re seeing that notice? I’m looking on my account but haven’t found it yet…
Edit: @manonamora found it!
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Update: I’ve discovered a verified workaround (tested by someone in the UK)! On your page, click “Edit theme” and then toggle on the “hide” option for any NSFW games (see screenshot). This will get rid of the georestriction on your creator page.
Then, if you still want those games to show up on your page, follow this guide to put them in collections and display the collection on your page instead of the individual games.
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FYI, in my experience I’ve found Itch.io very unresponsive when using their support email trying to get my game re-indexed. I wish you better luck than I.
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Sorry to hear that. I actually decided not to contact them about this after discovering that the restriction is disclosed to creators under the “Distribution” tab.
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(post deleted by author)
This legislation will do nothing to address any of the concerns you have, and does not distinguish between live action porn, drawn images, and erotic text. This legislation does not even attempt to target the production of live action adult content nor the myriad issues you’ve pointed out that are frequently involved – it’s entirely about restricting what minors can see on the internet. Your points aren’t really germane to the discussion at hand.
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To ask the obvious question: does this affect IFDB, IFComp, IFWiki, or this forum? Maybe! We need to talk to the lawyer some more! We are figuring this mess out as fast as we can.
@zarf Two weeks on, can you provide any updates on the OSA potentially affecting other IF platforms/events?
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I note that while zarf is the chair of the IF Archive committee, he’s not in a similar position for other IFTF Programs or the IFTF as a whole, so you may need to find other people to speak for those programs.
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Yeah, I’m focusing on the Archive, sorry.
(I’m also at a convention, so I’m not getting a lot done this week. Just checking the forum quickly from my hotel room.)
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Just for the record: the OSA does distinguish between images and text. Text-only erotica is not required to be age-restricted. Of course, this doesn’t really help because the regulatory burdens imposed on e.g. the IF Archive would be the same even if the only content that the Act required to be age-restricted was depictions of capybaras in bondage gear and mortar boards.
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The IFTF lawyer says IFWiki just needs a content policy saying we do not allow any of the things that are not allowed, eg encouragement of self-harm. We are drafting that. We are also confirming that all administrators are 18 or over. I’m planning to read through the Act to double check.
We don’t need an age gate. We haven’t had mucky pictures since I deleted some pornographic cover art a year or two ago. The wiki definitely isn’t suitable for children to use unsupervised, though, as there is some quite unsavoury text content.
P.S. We will coordinate with the other IFTF services on content warnings, though not because of the Act (which is about preventing access rather than just warning you).
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Being out of the loop on this whole matter, I had misunderstood both the intentions behind and actual effects of this legislation.
My response was mostly provoked by seeing reactions and discussions elsewhere, and being upset over the state of the world in general. Either way elsewhere is not here, and angry ranting and pointing fingers at everyone is not going to help matters other than a temporary mood boost from self-righteousness. Sorry.
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