How spicy is too spicy?

[Darkshines]

So in my first episode of my second chapter, there is a heavily implied scene however you can't see anything. Things are strategically hidden etc.

Would that still trigger it to be considered as mature?

I ask because one of my episodes was marked as mature and I lost a tonne of views for it.

[Crusoe]

Think of it this way: If a 12 yo came across it, would you feel comfortable showing it to them? If you lose views because of a mature marking, then the filter is doing its job because readers who are too young for the content depicted or readers who don't feel comfortable with what you are depicting can skip the chapter. Ultimately, it's up to you whether you want to mark something as mature but see it as a service to your audience rather than a loss.

If you're looking for a more straightforward answer: yes that triggers it to be considered mature. The ratings are as much about themes as expliciticy.

[Cheekybee07]

never spicy enough haha

[llobucervallince]

ok hold on,
so basically my comic has on its first chapter my main character doing it with a married woman. so that has a pass.
and I know of other comics showing tits. so that's also a pass, as long as no one reports it I think.
you just have to avoid genitals. besides that I think everything is cool.

[Darkshines]

Thanks for the replies it's actually pretty helpful!

Here's what I have of said scene so far, what do you think?

[llobucervallince]

oh yeah, there's nothing wrong with this one.

[Darkshines]

So, if I was to keep it like this, I wouldn't need to mark it as mature?

Good to know as I only intend make it as implied as this!

Thanks so much!!

The help I've gotten from everything I've read here has been so great!!

[llobucervallince]

I haven't done that yet, well I'm about to but that's because my main character is about to kill and eat a village of innocent people.

[abigaillmartin]

I was worried too. I think it’s alright if it’s implied.

The idea is there. I dunno. I tried.

[kyupol]

Don't see anything wrong I think it's ok

Anyway here's how I did it before...

[Calculus_Homework]

Hmm. Personally, I tagged my whole comic as mature because it'd be too much work for me to tag each update for cursing, F-bombs, innuendos, etc. (Young teens can intentionally look for it on their own via bypassing the age filter. I'm not their parent, so it's not up to me at that point. lol)

Even though I think that my story is appropriate for 14+, that doesn't seem to be a thing on Tapas. It's either G or M, which is a bit stifling imo. If you just have a scene like you're talking about that one time or maybe another time, I wish we had the ability to label the whole story as 14+ so that we still have a teen audience who is interested in reading.

I think if you have a LOT of scenes that imply sexual content, the whole comic should be marked as M. Especially any precarious angles, even if censored. That can get precarious. lol

For just a page or a once in a while scene, you can just let Tapas' bot mark it as M on just those updates. :}

[Calculus_Homework]

btw I legit thought your post was going to be about literal food. That's why I clicked on it. lmao

[Darkshines]

amazing!!!! I did wonder if my title was a little misleading.

this has made my night lol thank you!!!

[Darkshines]

ok awesome!! thanks everyone this has been a massive help!

[simplykit]

oh no! im sorry to hear that you lost views, i guess thats up to the mods if its too much...

for me im thankful my comic isnt banned or taken down...

this is like a normal scene in my comic, had to cover up the gruesome stuff with smoke and shade to tone it down a little...

[UrMom]

Yeah, that's what sucks about hosting sites/apps like this. They have strict, and sometimes really odd, rules on what they consider "mature content". I imagine you probably lost views due to people needing to have accounts to see episodes or pages marked as mature, a lot of people don't want to bother with making accounts to view things, even if it's free.
I guess I can kind of see why that scene would be mature, especially if your comic isn't super mature overall, even if the sex scene is censored. It's still a sex scene, and the average person sees even the mention of sex as too graphic for kids and teens.

At least Tapas isn't as bad as Webtoons as far as censorship. Even if your story is too mature for the app, it's still welcomed on their desktop site (Unless it's pornographic, of course.), which doesn't get as much traffic since kids like apps, but it's still better than getting totally axed.

[kyupol]

What about where the character is covering genitalia with hands but they're obviously naked?

[UrMom]

Edit: Btw, if you're under the age of 17 don't click the link in my post. I don't have the time or energy to deal with that shit.

Like, is it alright on the desktop site? Sure. I mean, in the first chapter I have a (non-sexual) full frontal nude scene where a naked guy walks around an apartment full of passed-out party animals with their tits and asses hanging out, I don't see why a shot like that wouldn't be alright as long as it's few and far between, and non-sexual. At least that's the reason why my nude scenes were fine, according to the staff back when I emailed them about it. Not sure what their stance is now, but they haven't taken any of the graphic scenes down in my comic yet.

There are a couple other, less graphic, nude scenes later on that I didn't check in on. Although all together I think there are only about 10 or so pages of nudes in over 200, so it's not like it's super common. I think as long as it's not porn or overly sexual, and not a regular occurrence in your story, you're good. Take that with a grain of salt, though. They might have just forgotten about me over the years. Lol

[Darkshines]

Just to add to my original post, when it comes to curse words and swearing, where is the line drawn there too?

I used the word "bastard" in an episode so I marked it mature.. but then was torn whether it was actually that bad. So how bad does a word have to be?

Not planning of dropping F bombs everywhere or anything, just curious

[Lensing]

That´s one of many reasons why I will not publish anything from my comic online.
It will be a print only comic. I feel pressured by thinking about what´s acceptable
online and moralistic guidelines and this suppresses my creativity