Filtering For Mature Stories
Readers can opt in or out of viewing Mature stories in Discovery on Ream (specifically Story Search, For You, Rising Reamers, and the Genre Lists sections) 🙈
Why We Added Mature Filtering for Stories on Ream:
First, Ream will always be proud to support our steamy romance authors and provide a space for erotica authors that is free from censorship and unwieldy ban hammers.
With this said, our mission is to help ALL storytellers rule the world.
This means not only creating a safe and welcoming space for stories intended for Mature audiences, but also a welcoming space for readers who may not be interested or comfortable with viewing or experiencing mature stories.
Specifically, Ream has seen an influx of thousands of young adult readers and with that hundreds of incredible young adult authors and stories.
We want to ensure Ream is a space that all readers can trust.
With Mature Filtering, we can display Mature stories to readers who want to see them while allowing readers who don't want to view them to opt out.
We require authors to categorize their content as Mature if it contains any of the following:
- Explicit sex scenes (graphic depictions of body parts).
- A sexual relationship as a primary driver of the story or plotline.
- Graphic depictions of sexual assault or non-consensual sexual behavior.
- NSFW art containing characters (nude or not) in any sexual position or situation.
You can read Ream's full Content and Community Guidelines here, and as always if you have any questions, we are always here to help you.
Now what does Mature Filtering for Stories on Ream actually look like for readers?
Mature Filtering for Readers
Point 1: Mature Filtering for Readers that are Not Logged In
First, when new readers come to Ream and are Not Logged In to an account, they will only see stories that are Not Mature in the top Genre Lists and Rising Reamers.
This gives a welcoming environment to all readers, while still making it easy for readers to find Mature authors and stories.
Point 2: Mature Filters Only Apply to Discovery, Not When Readers Visit Your Author Page
First, not sure what Discovery on Ream is?
You can read this guide to learn about all the ways readers can discover new stories on Ream. In short, Discovery is Ream's way to help authors grow their readership on the platform and readers find amazing stories.
Rest assured, if you are an author of Mature stories and a reader visits your author page OR you send them a link to one of your stories and they don't have a Ream account, they will still be able to access your stories and page.
This Mature filtering Only applies to Discovery on Ream and aims to reduce harmful and unwanted experiences readers have had seeing stories that they did not expect when first coming to Ream.
Point 3: Mature Filtering is at the Story Level. This means that Author Pages are Never marked as Mature or Not and this does not affect the Discovery of your page in any way.
To make things easy and effective for authors and readers, Mature content filtering is at the story level.
This means that readers who have disabled Mature content can still find all of your non-Mature stories.
Readers can still search for all authors on the platform. Even if every one of your stories is Mature, you will still display in the Author search to all readers.
And if a reader Follows or joins your Ream as a Member, they will also see All Of Your Stories, whether they are Mature or not.
Point 4: How Readers Opt In or Opt Out of Viewing Mature Content
The moment you create an account on Ream, you are required to Opt In or Opt Out of viewing Mature stories and content.
And the good news is that it is Simple to change your ability to see Mature Content on the platform at any time.
If you are sent a link to a Mature Story and don't have Mature Content enabled on Ream, you will be asked to opt in to view Mature Content before reading the story.
When you click into a Mature story, if you have enabled Mature content then you will be able to read it immediately.
If you haven't enabled Mature content viewing, the following message will display:
And at any time, you can visit your Settings page on Ream to toggle viewing Mature content On or Off.
So now that we understand how Mature Filtering works for readers... how can you mark your stories as Mature or not as authors?
Luckily, it takes just a few seconds.
If you have ever published a story on Ream, you have already entered this setting in... so there is No Action Needed on your part unless you want to update your Mature rating to reflect Ream's Content Guidelines.
How to Categorize Your Story As Mature
When publishing a new story or updating an existing story on Ream, you can easily mark your story as Mature or not.
To do so simply:
1. Navigate to your Ream Author Dashboard
2. Navigate to your Stories tab and click the Edit button on an existing story or Begin anew story.
3. On the story Details section you will find the field: "Does this book contain mature content?"
- If you select Yes your story will be included in Mature Filtering. If you select No your story will not be included in Mature Filtering.
Ream also has a little information icon that displays a bit more about what kinds of stories are defined as mature.
You can check out our updated Content and Community Guidelines here 💜.
If you have any questions, please contact our Support Team at support@reamstories.com.