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Wow. Thanks for everyone's lively comments. We appreciate it and think the discussion is great.

It might be important to point out that we are Wii fans. We have the console and love it. The release certainly got the conversation going but our aim was to be more educational than confrontational. Obviously, the latter seemed to come across :) Also we are technology fans. Not haters. That's why we use the web.

We also want to point out that this site is to help parents be informed about the issue of porn and the internet. Our goal is to help parents talk to their kids about these issues. Sadly to say we come across a lot of parents who simply dont understand technology and are not engaging with their kids period. This site is to help them. Turn the light on for them.

Finally, we would like to direct you to the page on the site that talks about parental controls that seems to have gone unnoticed on our site. We should of been more clear on the homepage Wii banner. Again, our point is to help parents, not attack Nintendo. For goodness sake, we love the thing.

Heres the link:

http://www.theporntalk.com/critical/wii.asp

So thanks for the great discussion, feedback, and comments.

PS: In regards to this being some Christian Right Wing Republican site, I'm afraid that is way off. Unfortunately, Kotaku.com has really misrepresented that point. But all is forgiven and no worries. I can just assure you were not Republican and were not Christian right wing. Those who know us have actually got a good chuckle today out of that one :)

Posted by Porn Talk Admin
2/27/2007 @ 6:24 PM

Cell phones are a new and emerging means for distributing porn. Though this technology is somewhat new, it still poses a serious risk to children. Most kids have a cell phone these days and it is certainly one of the most used tech components that a kid would use during the day. According to a study done by VisionGain, adult content transmitted to mobile phones could reach $4 billion by the end of 2006. Pornographic movies, pictures, and daily downloads are all accessible via the cell phone.

"You see pornography is not reality. It is fantasy. But kids have a difficult time distinguishing between the two."

I stopped reading there because that is basically their actual point and I think you will find that it is the other way around in regards to the reality distortion...

You show someone hard global warming evidence.. they switch off into their fantasy world.

You show someone fossil records dating back millions of years.. they switch off into their fantasy world.

I find that my niece knows exactly the difference between fantasy (as in not real) and reality (as in real) and she is only 4 years old. If my 4 year old niece knows the difference then I am sure a 14, 15, 16 whatever knows the difference. Why does everyone assume that their children are stupid? If I was these parents kids I would be insulted.

I remember when I was a kid and weird stuff was happening to me. I didn't want to talk to my parents about it.. its embarrassing and today parents do not want to listen anyway (I'm reminded of Stan's mum from South Park). I think its important for kids to be able to find somewhere to make sense about it all. That doesn't mean in porn but if this group had it their way then anything even slightly sexually related would be filtered even if it was about sexual health.

These people's ways of dealing with the important subject of sexual health it is through ignorance and its the wrong method. It leads to people thinking they won't get pregnant if they don't wear a condom or catch a disease.

If I had a child (which I hope to have some day) then I would want them to be educated about such things. Not to encourage that behavior but to avoid the worst possibility's if something were to happen.

This is a group that has figured out how cell phones, and ipods are portals to porn.

Apparently a lot of people haven't read the actual article in question. In fact, they do mention PIN numbers and parental controls. However, parents need to know that they have to turn these features ON, since it's default to off.

Also, the "Wii == Porn Portal" is actually something the gaming press came up with. The actual site itself doesn't appear to be "blaming the Wii" for any problems.

Unfortunately, this appears to be a case where the gaming media is blowing something out of proportion, and stands a good chance at doing more harm than good. If I were a regular parent who came across the article on this site, I would have thought, "Oh, the Wii has a web browser? And I have a way to turn on parental controls? Excellent!". However, if I had come across the Slashdot or Kotaku article instead, I might be thinking "THE WII IS A PORTAL TO PORN!? OMG!" . Gee, thanks gaming press.

After reading the actual Wii article on their website, it seems to me that the sensationalism is actually coming from the gaming press. "Smear campaign"? "Attack on the Wii"? I don't see at all in the article. Yes, they do mention that the Wii is a "portal to porn" in the press release, but that phrase isn't on the website, nor do they use anything similar blatant. Rather, it's the headlines in the gaming press where you see the sensationalism.

Yeah, so the website appears to be funded my some Christian group. Even though I'm not Christian, I don't really see a problem here, considering the actual messaging is quite reasonable and responsible. I don't see them blasting Nintendo or the console, in fact just providing parents the messaging they need to "do the right thing" (use the proper parental controls, etc.).

Sometimes I think the gaming press really does itself more harm than good ...

I know this is Slashdot and we never RTFA, but in case you mistakenly managed to locate it (here), you would see that this Christian Group does in general give a positive review of the console. It only goes as far as warning the parents about the Wii's ability to be used as a browser and how to enable parental control on it. Period.

But then again, how would the poster of the original review generate traffic to his website if it was not by sensationalism?

After digging through all the links I finally think I found the article all this blogging is about. Seems pretty calm reasoned and nonsensational to me.