According to the Marketplace, I publish Adult magazines. Who knew?

Yes, I must admit it surprised me too.  After all, the February edition of Prim Perfectdid celebrate romance – but it also shared the beauties of Second Life Norway, Linden Homes. our Pathfinders endeavours with photography … oh, the usual range of Home and Gardens material …

But I wouldn’t have thought the description I posted on the Marketplace was salacious enough to warrant the description “Adult”.

Do I looked through the wording.  That issue featured one of our Babbage comics – it was Called “Murder at the Burlesque” – although the worst you saw was a flash of thigh and no more decolletage than you would expect in the most respectable of Victorian ballrooms.  Still, maybe the mere mention of burlesque set the ratings monitors in a tizzy.  Out it came.

The censors were unmoved. My description still rendered the magazine adult.

So I tried again.  This time, I wondered whether it was the mention of Lost Eden, our February Landscape of the Month.  A lovely area, and hugely popular – on a ground level it has areas for romance and dancing – in the sky are private rooms that group members can rent for … more intimate encounters.  I’d referred to this in the description – describing it as our first adult sim, and “naughty but nice”.  But, again, the article was hardly raunchy.  The sternest pater familias, reading it aloud to his children, would scarcely hesitate in his sonorous recitation.  But perhaps that was triggering the censor’s scarlet letter A.  I removed the reference to Adult and even, with much sadness, the “naughty but nice”.

The censors were unmoved.

I took out the words “Lost Eden” for good measure. Now you will know that there’s a Landscape article, but you will have to look within to discover its subject matter.

Still the censors declare the issue of Prim Perfect off-limits to anyone who is not looking for fully adult content.

I’ve written before about the Kafkaesque nightmare of trying to comply with vaguuely stated directive on “adult” content – when Jayleden Miles was trying to post details of two pretty innocuous classes at Caledon Oxbridge, and having them firmly rejected as being inappropriate for a PG sim.

That was the Events calendar.  Now it seems to be affecting the Market place too.

Let’s be clear – I am not trying to pass off Adult content as General. This is, as ever, a magazine that focuses on Homes, Gardens, Landscapes and designers. There aren’t even any shots of people in their underwear! This is (as we often joke among ourselves) a family magazine.

In case you are wondering, this is the new form of the description deemed unacceptable for those of tender years and/or sensibilities:

It’s time for our first issue of 2012—and it’s a very exciting one!

The year 2012 will see our fifth birthday, which is a respectable age for any magazine in these difficult times, let alone one that exists to provide news and information about homes and gardens in virtual worlds!

We’ll be announcing more events as our May 1st birthday draws closer, but in this issue we are giving details of our first Prim Perfect Hunt in nearly three years—the Home is Where the Heart is Hunt, organised by those brilliant people behind the Whiz Hunts.

You can read all about the Hunt in the magazine—but there’s more! There’s a Quest to find thirty numbered hearts which will lead one lucky person to win L$10,000!

Some of the hearts are hidden at the Prim Perfect headquarters, some are hidden at the Designing Worlds studio… but no fewer than fifteen hearts are hidden in the pages of this magazine! For details of how to find them, see Page 10.

But, of course, we have a magazine packed with news and features that you will love to read too!

This month we visited the beautiful region of Second Norway.

Jedburgh Dagger set out to explore the fjords and waterfronts of this beautiful land, while Honour Macmillan talked to the man behind it all—Ey Ren. Java Jetcity explored Ten Places in Second Norway you should explore when you visit. And Rowan Derryth has been talking to our designer of the month, Winter Thorn of {what next}, and exploring the special and very lovely home she has created in Second Norway.

We have a special romantic story for Valentine’s Day with a steampunk twist, written by Denny Kozlov. And we have another comic created by Wildstar Beaumont and set in New Babbage (again based on a Designing Worlds show we recorded there). Discover for yourselves what happened when my co-host Elrik Merlin and I became embroiled in a murder most foul! And Tricia Aferdita explores our Landscape of the Month.

There’s a very thoughtful and timely piece from Tricia Aferdita on giving money to charities in Second Life—and on how charities can build a presence. Beq Janus presents a roundup of the Christmas Expo in aid of Relay for Life—and a new Heart-felt project that is raising money for Relay for Life too!

This month we have gained something very special in our Linden Homes. We have not just one but an entire village of Linden-styled contemporary homes, each using only 117 prims—and we asked a whole team of designers from the excellent Cookie Jar initiative to furnish them for us. I think you’ll agree that they did a fantastic job! Honour MacMillan interviewed the designers, while Beq Janus explored the homes.

Qwis Greenwood has been mentoring the Pathfinder programme, and this month the enterprising Harlow Heslop advised the Pathfinders on how to take great product photos. Find out what she had to say—and see some Before and After shots too! We also hear from our Trailblazer Laetitia Aluveaux, who has been blazing a trail with a store on Inworldz!

Winona Wiefel is on hand with Advice for Newcomers on making a picture frame (perhaps for a photograph you’ve taken following the Pathfinder article), and there’s more news about the series of Designer Challenges, as well as the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space.

There’s exciting news about Metaverse Arts—where Gwen Carillon is taking over from Tricia Aferdita as host—and there’s a whole new-look studio too! Learn what is happening with the Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting! shows on Treet TV.

And of course we have free Prim Perfect gifts for you. Gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version, but if you are reading this on the web, look at Page XXX to discover how you can get your inworld copy too. And, of course, amongst the gifts, you will find the stars that will help you win the Home is Where the Heart is quest!

And our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith Lefevre, GM Nikolaidis, Wren Carling, Tricia Aferdita, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour MacMillan, bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News from the Grid and more!

Can you spot the adult content here?  Do feel free to suggest where I’m over-stepping the boundaries in comments.

The Marketplace represents a very small section of our readers (and increasing small since recent changes were put into place). But still, this is irritating.

UPDATE: I think I found the guilt passage – and it was My Fault – there was a reference to being able to find information on Page XXX. When I saw that, as I was creating this post, I realised that it was a) a leftover from the original editorial article, before the pages were laid out and b) unnecessary in the Marketplace description. So after posting, I went back and tweaked the description again.

And lo and behold! The removal of those three little letters XXX rendered my magazine safe for general readership once more!

Now I just need to work out why Issue 8 of  The Primgraph has been deemed to be “Mature” …