General Audience.
All ages admitted. This signifies that this fiction is aimed at the widest audience possible and no content is likely to be considered offensive for even the youngest children to see or hear. Nudity, sex scenes, and scenes of drug use are absent; violence is minimal; snippets of dialogue may go beyond polite conversation but do not go beyond common everyday expressions.

Parental Guidance Suggested.
Some material in this piece of fiction may not be suitable for young children. The story may contain some material that parents might not like to expose to their young children. Parents may wish to examine the material or inquire about it before young children are encouraged or allowed to read the story. Explicit sex scenes and scenes of drug use are absent; horror and violence do not exceed moderate levels.

Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
This signifies that the story may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children read it. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; one use of a harsher, more sexually derived word may be heard.

Restricted-
Accessing this story requires explicit permission from a parent or adult guardian. The story contains some adult material and parents are urged to learn more about the story before allowing their children to read it. An R may be assigned due to, among other things, a story's use of language, theme, violence, sex or its portrayal of drug use. Very few stories accepted by this web site will have this rating and they will be clearly marked.

No One 17 and Under Admitted.
This signifies that this piece of fiction is aimed toward adults and that children age 17 and under should not be admitted to it. The story may contain explicit sex scenes, an accumulation of sexually-oriented language, or scenes of excessive violence. The NC-17 designation does not, however, signify that the rated story is obscene or pornographic. It is very unlikely that any stories with this rating will be accepted by this web site, but if there should be any, they would be very clearly marked.

Pornographic.
This signifies that this piece of fiction is patently adult and that children age 17 and under should not be permitted to read it. The story may contain explicit sex scenes, an accumulation of sexually-oriented language, and/or scenes of excessive violence. An X-rating signifies that the story is obscene and/or pornographic in nature and that its primary purpose of story-telling is more designed as pornography than as a story with any depth, meaning, true artistic expression, or general entertainment value. The Southern Comfort web site will not archive any stories of this rating.