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by gray_-_wolf 884 days ago
I also do not like "crypto", but I do not think this type of restriction is great on a paid service. Maybe, maybe it could be argued for public repositories. Or if it was free. But like, why does Drew DeVault care that I would have a private repository with "explicit sexual content"? On an account I pay for?

And even if you agree with the current set of restrictions, are you sure it will not be further expanded? I am not.

4 comments

Having dealt with this in the past, once you let cryptocurrency people onto a service they will stop at nothing to abuse shared resources for whatever mining fad is currently underway. As an operator, you can either hire staff for a full-time whack-a-mole game, get into arguments with customers about whether what they're doing is shitty even though it meets some pedantic interpretation of policy, or just ban the whole crowd and focus on customers who don't suck.

As for banning sex content on a paid service, you'll find it's more common than you think, since payment processors tend to drop customers who permit that sort of thing. Porn-enabled services have chargeback and failed-charge rates orders of magnitude higher than services which forbid them.

There are a ton of reason to fire a client. The two mentioned here are completely uncontroversial from a business standpoint.

> why does Drew DeVault care that I would have a private repository with "explicit sexual content"?

For the same reason GitHub does? GitHub's AUP at https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/acceptable-use-polici... says:

"We do not allow content or activity on GitHub that: ... is sexually obscene or relates to sexual exploitation or abuse, including of minors".

Atlassian's AUP at https://www.atlassian.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy says "Inappropriate content" includes "Posting, uploading, sharing, submitting, or otherwise providing content that ... Is deceptive, fraudulent, illegal, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, harmful to minors, pornographic (including child pornography, which we will remove and report to law enforcement, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children), indecent, harassing, hateful"?

GitLab's AUP at https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/legal/acceptable-use-po... says "unacceptable use of our services [which] applies to all users of all GitLab services including those on the Free, Premium, and Ultimate GitLab tiers" mean "you must not: Create, upload, submit, execute, transmit, or host anything that ... is vulgar, obscene, or pornographic, or gratuitously depicts or glorifies violence."

Now, there are differences between "explicit sexual content", "sexually obscene" and "pornographic", but if you are worried about possible further expansion, you shouldn't use any of these code hosting services.

The reason does not seem to be stated at the provided link. If you know the reason (which your message seems to imply), could you please share it?
I was conjecturing it was the same reason as the other hosting providers, not saying that was the same or that I had special insight.

Instead, I was pointing out that since all the providers I looked at have essentially the same restriction, you likely shouldn't use any of them. Certainly there are a lot of people who use GitHub despite having no guarantee the ToS won't be more restrictive in the future.

Sourcehut's ToS is certainly not exceptional in that regard, so really you are objecting to essentially every 3rd party code hosting provider, yes?

Or is there one you had in mind where you aren't concerned about further expansion?

It's hard to find a payment processor for pornographic providers. Existing payment processors are likely to stop supporting you if you become a porn provider. Additionally, there are branding risks in being associated with adult content. There's also more legal scrutiny involved, and it's outright illegal in some jurisdictions.

A simple Google search on the topic should be educational.

I like when people bring their values when they do business. Especially when those values are more than “make money”, and expressed in more ways than product design.
I do too; it shows me who can be professional.
> On an account I pay for?

On an account that you pay _Drew_ for. Do you also complain because someone renting you a garage doesn't want you running a strip club out of there?