SWG is a group for teenage and adult Tolkien fans and so it is essential that all unrated material be suitable for teenage audiences in terms of both content and language. Whenever possible, we'd like to refrain from directly presenting adult-rated material in posts to the Yahoo! group; however, we recognize that discussions of sexuality and graphic violence are inherent to this fandom.
Therefore, SWG allows adult-rated material to be shared as long as this material is clearly marked and rated as being for adults only. This means that if your post contains adult-rated material (not links ... material directly in the post), the first word in your subject heading should indicate that the material in the post is adult-rated. For example, "Adult-Rated: Elven Sexuality" or "Adult-Rated: Interrogation Methods Used by Melkor." (Please keep in mind that graphic descriptions of gore or violence are also counted as adult-rated; be mindful that not all members wish to encounter this sort of material in their inboxes at unawares!) Likewise, if a subject turns to a discussion best kept among adults, please add the label to the front of the message header. (It is important to keep the label at the front since many email programs truncate long subject headers and might cut off the warning.)
As with off-topic posts, we allow adult-rated discussions in this group because this privilege has never been abused. In fact, to this date, we've yet to have a discussion on the Yahoo! group that counts as adult-rated; given this, we are reluctant to list us as an "Adults Only" group and distance an important part of our member base. Like with OT posts, however, if adult-rated posts begin to be abused, this privilege will go away. So please use your best discretion in correctly labeling what you share here. When in doubt, be conservative in your assessments, put a label on the front of the message header, and there will never be a problem.
If you are sharing a link to a story or material that is for adults only, then you need to state this explicitly in the body of your message. For example, "I just posted a new story about Maedhros, but warning--it's for adults only! If you're old enough and interested, it's here: www.storyurl.com."
Last updated 30 May 2008.