Unlike other social media sites, StumbleUpon started out as a toolbar that would show you random pages based on what tags you had indicated an interest in.

Since people never really know what they are going to see through the toolbar, StumbleUpon uses a helpful preference option that allows you to filter what level content you wish to be shown.

stumble-filter

This is where many people make one of the biggest mistakes you can make on StumbleUpon, by selecting to see R-Rated or X-Rated content.

StumbleUpon’s Ratings Guide:

  • Suitable for All: No offensive content
  • R-rated: Contains some nudity or graphic violence
  • X-rated: Contains pornography, excessive nudity or a nude “My Photo”

Of course it is easy to see why many, including myself, have made the mistake of selecting to see R-Rated content, since we may not be easily offended and don’t want to miss out on anything that might be cool.

The problem is really not in the fact that you have selected to view adult content, but rather that once you start stumbling adult content, your profile then takes on an R or X rating as well. Once your profile gets an adult rating, only people who have selected to view adult content will be able to view it.

This means that whenever someone who has not selected to include R-Rated or X-Rated content visits your profile page, they see this instead:

r-profile

When people are unable to see your profile, they are unable to see your discoveries, favorites, or blog posts. They are also much less likely to request to be your friend or accept your friend requests.

Additionally, your profile avatar is also hidden. This means that your avatar is not shown in the two columns of people who have stumble a page or as the discoverer on the tag/review pages.

So basically you become invisible to any user who has not also elected to view adult content.

Already made this mistake and wondering what you can do?

Well here are the steps StumbleUpon suggests you take in order to get your profile back to a non-adult rating and visible to everyone:

To request a change of your blog rating, follow these steps:

  1. Copy and paste this link into your browser:  http://[username].stumbleupon.com/public/
  2. When your profile appears, scroll down and click “Flag this user”
  3. Use the link there to send a request for recategorization

report-su

Our team will review your request and will take the appropriate decision.

To change to a G rating, unselect any Adult Topics, remove any adult content from your pages and follow the steps listed above to contact Community Support.  Use the “please explain why” field to confirm that you have ensured no adult content remains on your pages.

If your profile’s X-rated, you must revert to R-rated before the option to revert to G is offered.  Please select the option for “show only non-adult favorites to everyone” in your preferences if you do not plan to remove adult content from your profile. Please note that excessive nudity and/or profanity may result in an X rating for your profile.

If your rating remains unchanged after 48 hours, you can reasonably assume that the request has been unsuccessful, and you should revisit your content.

Note the third step in the process requires you send a request to StumbleUpon for recategorization.

Now I am a fan of StumbleUpon, but they have never been ‘quick’ about responding to support requests. It has been over a year since I started the above process to get my profile back to a non-adult rating and still have yet to receive any assistance.

Hopefully some of you will read this before making the same mistake so many of us have already made.

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