Screamer Wiki has always been the place to share and research large amounts of screamers, and yes, shock sites. They've always coexisted on the wiki since the start, and there was always little issue with them. I started browsing the wiki at 13, and they always fit in nicely. They were never directly hosted on the website, so it always felt completely safe.
Flash forward to 2021 and the wiki was getting more and more pages about random gore videos, those that wouldn't really have the bait-and-switch element that would make a shock site a shock site. There was a thought that the screamer wiki was becoming the Gore Wiki. The general decision then and there was to do the following:
- #1. Prohibit new shock sites that do not meet the bait-and-switch criteria.
- #2. Grandfather existing pages that did not meet the definition.
- #3. Do not feature any of these shock sites on the main page.
This generally worked pretty well for a while, and always felt sufficient. However, times are changing, and I have been feeling more and more of an ethical and moral issue on allowing these pages on the wiki, especially since many children browse our wiki despite our disclaimer. This isn't 2015 anymore. This isn't 2019 anymore. Heck, this isn't 2021 anymore. States and countries worldwide have raised their minimum ages from 13 to 16, which our wiki has followed suit with. As for adult websites, many states are even requiring an ID verification just to browse them, meaning that a site like goatse (not the content itself, but the setup of the website due to its absence of an ID or 18+ verification page) would likely be illegal these days.
Now this isn't just an issue with us. If you go to Wikipedia, you can search up "penis" and it will indeed show them uncensored and without any warnings, but it's an ethical issue they've started to have to deal with as well.
With the general direction of society, screamer wiki has a few ways we could remedy this:
- #1. Delete the remaining grandfathered pages, but otherwise keep all existing shock sites which strictly meet the definition around. This would of course cause our traffic to decline, but does not matter in this case. Any of the pages that were deleted will of course always live in the web archive.
- #2. Keep the current grandfathered pages around, but then put in some verification technology (I wish device-based age verification existed). I really don't want to do this, since I think it completely negates the idea of what a wiki is supposed to be.
- #3. Delete all shock sites. Once again, I do not want to do this. Removing pages that DO meet the definition, for example monkey sugar, Meatspin, and Offended, would remove a huge part of what this wiki was supposed to be about--warning people about things that might shock you.
We would like your opinion on what we should do with the shock sites on our wiki. It truly matters, and you will help shape the future of this great community.
click for tl;dr
(tl;dr generated by AI) Screamer Wiki has long balanced screamers and shock sites, but changing societal norms and increased child browsing raise ethical concerns about shock site content. Options being considered:
Delete non-bait-and-switch shock sites, retaining only those that fit the definition.
Add age verification for accessing shock site content, though it conflicts with the wiki's open nature.
Remove all shock sites, which would undermine the wiki's purpose of warning about shocking content.
Feedback from the community is sought to determine the best course of action.!<