Did I Sin?

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Hello everyone,
I’m not sure if this is the right section of the forums for this, but here it goes.
Months ago I was on Yahoo to check my email and saw in the “news” section of the site an article that contained a video from their own miniseries. This video contained sexual/pornographic material. I clicked on it on purpose, but before I went any further I pressed the back button and checked my email. When I clicked on it it counted as a “view.” And therefore supported this type of “article”. Was this a sin? I would argue that yes it was because any direct support of something like that is wrong, but than I would also argue the opposite way. That it was not a sin because in the end my one “view” couldn’t make any difference either way and had I not clicked on it the same amount of articles like this would be made as have been made since I clicked on it. Also, would this be a sin of grave matter if it is a sin? I did not confess this in my last confession because I was unsure of whether or not it was a sin, but if it was grave matter I would like to include it in my next confession.

Thanks for your time and answers,

Hman
 
I don’t know. I have had the same problem. I have a Yahoo e-mail account, and when I exit, it automatically takes me to the Yahoo home page or the news. One sees the stories and gets curious only to find that this “news” is quite explicit, graphic, and pornographic.

I’ve had my e-mail, I think, for decades and hate to change it at this point. However, I would like to try to find another e-mail where they don’t force pornography on me. Surely one would exist.

Does anyone on the forum know of any they can recommend?

Further, could anyone recommend accurate, complete world news one can go to without having to go to confession afterwards?!
 
A possible solution to future instances of the problem:

If you use firefox, Adblock plus is your friend. A couple news sites I go to occasionally have a similar problem (stupid celebrity articles, mostly), but adblocker can be told to disallow pictures from those sources, which kills that temptation.

If you don’t use firefox, what are you thinking?

(And if you are seeking another email, I highly recommend Gmail. It has one text only ad in a pretty out of the way place (which adblock plus can block, by the way), and you can even set it up to receive emails addressed to and even send emails from your other addresses - so you can still use your yahoo address. For example, I have a personal gmail account and a .edu univeristy email, they both go to the same inbox, and from gmail I can send emails using either address.)

But to try to address the OP:
First, take this with a grain of salt, I’m just a guy on the internet. It is generally best to discuss such things with a priest if at all in doubt. But I don’t think you can be said to have committed a sin by supporting such stuff unless you actually intended to support it with your click. If you just clicked it, backed out, then later said “oh no, that gave them a little support”, then that was a bad thing that you should try to avoid in the future, but not a sin (sins are not accidental).

(There is such thing as negligence, of course, but if it applies here (which I doubt but cannot know, not being you) it would seem to almost certainly be venial at most, because the level of support is tiny. If, by a failure to take reasonable care that you knew you should have taken, you had caused a billion dollars to be donated to the porn industry, and if you knew this was a likely-ish consequence of failing to take care, then this might be a big deal. Here not so much. I just mention it for completion.)
 
I’m sorry but pornographic? On Yahoo news? Is it possible you’re mistaking distasteful material for pornography? I highly doubt you viewed pornographic material on Yahoo news. However, and this is just my impression, it sounds like you might be a bit scrupulous. Worrying about supporting in such an indirect instance seems very scrupulous to me.
 
Hman said:
Hello everyone,
I’m not sure if this is the right section of the forums for this, but here it goes.
Months ago I was on Yahoo to check my email and saw in the “news” section of the site an article that contained a video from their own miniseries. This video contained sexual/pornographic material. I clicked on it on purpose, but before I went any further I pressed the back button and checked my email. When I clicked on it it counted as a “view.” And therefore supported this type of “article”. Was this a sin? I would argue that yes it was because any direct support of something like that is wrong, but than I would also argue the opposite way. That it was not a sin because in the end my one “view” couldn’t make any difference either way and had I not clicked on it the same amount of articles like this would be made as have been made since I clicked on it. Also, would this be a sin of grave matter if it is a sin? I did not confess this in my last confession because I was unsure of whether or not it was a sin, but if it was grave matter I would like to include it in my next confession.

Thanks for your time and answers,

Hman
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Whenever in doubt, always confess. Be careful, however, with scrupulosity. When you start worrying about split seconds and technicalities, it can be a sign you are being over-scrupulous. If you suffer from a habitual attraction to lustful images, frequent confession and faithful reception of Holy Communion can be an incredible remedy over time. I speak from experience. It seems to me a good sign, however, that you quickly reversed yourself when acting on the temptation. I’d confess it, but you should feel good about your instincts to avoid sin.
 
Thanks for all, your answers, they helped a lot.
I think that I will put this behind me as not a sin due to it being involuntary and move on with my life.
SteveGC,
I do occasionally suffer from some pretty strong sexual temptations, and had quite a bit of problems in the past, but I have moved passed that and I’m trying to get to confession more often to keep myself away from the temptations

Thanks again for all your help,

Hman
 
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