Warning page still needed?

[teadrinker]

Lately people have been dropping warning pages. I've seen most site don't have warning pages, a simple search "porn" on google shows the big sites don't have one.

I think it's kind of dumb to have a warning page if you already have the word "porn" in your domain name, your site only shows up if someone search for the word "porn" or porn related. If there is no chance the visitor come to your site by accident then why have a warning page?

I know back then the consensus is mostly to have a warning page but we're not in the year 2000 anymore, what is the consensus now?

[jmcb420]

if your site url is something like youngnakedteens.com, then you wouldn't need to bother.

if you have something like happytimes.com, then you might want one.

[Roby]

free sites also use warning page

[pornguy]

You might want to stick with using them.. Makes it a lot easier to defend yourself in court when you are accused of freely giving porn to a minor.

[burntfilm]

we were advised to use one by a few smart peeps, so we do. Doesn't seem like TGP's and tube sites that offer full on free hardcore are having a problem without them- but whatever, I'm sticking with it

[alexchechs]

We dont use them on our main site burningangel.com but once our network launches we will be using them for our more hardcore sites....

[Sands]

You might want to stick with using them.. Makes it a lot easier to defend yourself in court when you are accused of freely giving porn to a minor.

This is the best advice. Anything that makes it appear as though you've tried to keep minors out of your site will go a long way should you ever need to defend yourself in court. There are some webmasters who prefer to not have one out of laziness or because it may clash with whatever SEO or navigational goals they may have, but a good compromise between having a static warning page and none at all is to create a JavaScript overlay or prompt that makes the visitor confirm their age and that it's legal for them to view adult materials.

[Raf1]

You might want to stick with using them.. Makes it a lot easier to defend yourself in court when you are accused of freely giving porn to a minor.

this is a good point. Especially if you're getting SE traffic that is not necessarily from porn searches.

[INever]

Still being litigated. I use non-nude images on my warning page.

[Stephen]

Some folks see the defeat of COPA as an excuse not to have a warning page, but if you're based in the U.S. you would be well advised to use some sort of barrier between those who innocently stumble upon your website and the explicit content it may offer.

Regardless of where you're located, it's the right thing to do

[pornlaw]

Stephen is right, now with COPA gone, warning pages really arent necessary, but they are smart to have.

However, warning pages are absolutely useless legally. You really need to have a click-thru contract instead of a mere warning page. Without the surfer taking an another affirmative step -- checking a box that says "I affirm under penalty of perjury blah blah blah" the contract isnt valid. The surfer needs to digitally sign the contract on your front page in order to be bound by its contents. I would also capture the surfer's IP address with the digital signature and log it properly in case they try to say they didnt sign it.

With that in mind I would also not allow people to deep link into your site and by pass the landing page.

[HandballJim]

Stephen is right, now with COPA gone, warning pages really arent necessary, but they are smart to have.

However, warning pages are absolutely useless legally. You really need to have a click-thru contract instead of a mere warning page. Without the surfer taking an another affirmative step -- checking a box that says "I affirm under penalty of perjury blah blah blah" the contract isnt valid. The surfer needs to digitally sign the contract on your front page in order to be bound by its contents. I would also capture the surfer's IP address with the digital signature and log it properly in case they try to say they didnt sign it.

With that in mind I would also not allow people to deep link into your site and by pass the landing page.

Is it possible to show us an example that you recommend would work, as far as deep links...I think most webmasters want as many pages and links as possible..for SE to find.

I went to a seminar at the Exxxotica show that a lawyer gave and he said that when someone will take a snapshot of your website to see if it is obsene they will be looking at the page as a whole so you should have non-nude also listed, and he said if you just have a website with links...and no photos you should be okay from legal issues for the most part. Either way he said you should set up a corp. or LLC

[pornlaw]

Is it possible to show us an example that you recommend would work, as far as deep links...I think most webmasters want as many pages and links as possible..for SE to find.

www.providerreport.com

I went to a seminar at the Exxxotica show that a lawyer gave and he said that when someone will take a snapshot of your website to see if it is obsene they will be looking at the page as a whole so you should have non-nude also listed, and he said if you just have a website with links...and no photos you should be okay from legal issues for the most part. Either way he said you should set up a corp. or LLC

This really has nothing to do with warning pages... this is an obscenity issue. You cannot make your site "non-obscene" with a contract.