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In Are there red light districts in St. Petersburg or Moscow? OP is asking about prostitution in Russia. At first I thought the reason OP was interested in the red light district was because he thought it might be dangerous and wanted to avoid it.

But then I saw that people in the comments started advising OP to look for prostitutes online and OP asking if that was safe.

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Is that really what went on here, or did I miss something?

Prostitution is illegal in Russia. The authorities in Moscow have made a serious attempt to eliminate it.

I know the crime OP appears to be considering isn't all that horrible, and I don't really judge OP. But it's a crime nonetheless. Isn't this question against the rules in some way? I would assume that there's a rule against encouraging illegal activity.

The answers in Are questions about “controversial” practices allowed? seem clearly to indicate that questions about prostitution are risky, even if it's legal in the country in question. In this case it's not even legal.

I guess the answers seem fine, as they discourage OP from trying it (some also mention that it's illegal.)

However, should the question be closed, or the comments encouraging and asking about illegal activity be removed?

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  • See also related discussion on meta SO and travel meta. I get the idea, but I'm not really sure I get what exactly you are asking in this question.
    – mts
    Jun 28, 2016 at 19:39
  • @mts Thanks. To clarify: Is it allowed to ask for/give advice on how to break the law? (In non trivial ways, such as prostitution.)
    – Fiksdal
    Jun 28, 2016 at 19:45
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    Well I'm not the expert nor in a position to decide but see the first answer to the first link I posted from SO people: "When in doubt, err on the side of helping people"
    – mts
    Jun 28, 2016 at 19:50
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    @mts OK... I guess I just feel prostitution is different because of the social stigma... Taking a water bottle onto a plane is kinda different I guess.
    – Fiksdal
    Jun 28, 2016 at 19:54
  • I'm not saying you are wrong about asking this here and I think of prostitution as bad irregardless of the law, but I think you should define this Q a bit more and differentiate with respect to the other posts, eg as in your last comment that this is surely different from bringing a water bottle through security.
    – mts
    Jun 28, 2016 at 19:59
  • @mts OK. BTW, this has actually been partly discussed before. I meant to add this link.
    – Fiksdal
    Jun 28, 2016 at 20:11
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    The advice is "err on the side of helping people." Help doesn't mean you have to say "here's the number for my favorite prostitute in Moscow; tell her I sent you." You can help people by saying "don't do this because here are the bad things that have a non-trivial likelihood of happening to you." Closing the question doesn't help anybody.
    – Zach Lipton
    Jun 28, 2016 at 21:14
  • @ZachLipton Haha, I like your example. :)
    – Fiksdal
    Jun 28, 2016 at 21:18
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    Is it illegal to sell sex, to buy sex (the Nordic model), or both?
    – Andrew Grimm
    Jul 3, 2016 at 3:01
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    @AndrewGrimm Not sure.
    – Fiksdal
    Jul 3, 2016 at 4:15

1 Answer 1

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The question is fine, the guy was asking if there's a "red light district", the way he asked implied that he is after a legal place, such as the one in Amsterdam.

The answer also is fine, it made it clear that there is no such a place in Russia and it's illegal. If there's a misunderstanding from the OP, it was cleared, it's actually good not only for the OP, but for everyone else who is either visiting TSE, or searching Google.

Anyway, the part about the online prostitution is not fine, IMO. As it's an advice for an illegal activity. I agree with you on that but after all I am personally against prostitution whether it's legal or illegal.

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  • 1
    Yes, I agree with this.
    – Fiksdal
    Jun 29, 2016 at 4:35
  • 4
    Flag the comments you don't like so that the mods can handle them.
    – JoErNanO Mod
    Jun 29, 2016 at 12:47

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