We have a dedicated Discord server for our little hobby group. It’s been going six years now. It’s a wonderful safe space.

Today, though, this happened:

The Online Safety Act has struck. Some of my server buddies are a little outraged but I’m not too fussed. I’m absolutely onboard with the intention. The internet is full of horrible shit that I’d never want my children to see. Or my Dad, for that matter; not unless he REALLY wanted to.

But, as we all know, the implementation is useless. Not least because it’s completely avoidable.

Case in point: I asked the member if he’d been asked to complete the age verification process before he posted the gif. He had not.

So, we can all browse this sensitive content (on Tenor?), via Discord, without verifying our age, just as long as we’re looking at it in the “add a gif” dialogue?

OK. We’ve now established (work intrudes) that it was a gif of the chestburster scene in Alien. I’ve checked and I can, indeed, browse exactly these gifs via the dialogue without having verified my age.

I just… I’m speechless.