Proposal for a minumum age limit

mr dave · 06-09-2012, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanilla

How can you police something like that though? I mean we have no idea for sure what everyone's age is and it's really not up to us to keep youngin's off the site, it's the parents responsibility.

This is really the big issue with public discussion on the internet, regardless of location, topic, or even security measures in a lot of cases. Names and ages are simple to fake, credit card information can be stolen or forged, user accounts can be hacked.

Then again I sadly have some relatives who now have young children who will try to 'watch' what they do on the internet but get upset when 'the hackers put porn' on the websites. Nevermind that the kid has surfed onto some adult biker site because they like motorcycles. There are a lot of parents who really need to learn how the internet actually operates, and these aren't old people, they're all in their 30s, they all have smartphones and laptops, they just don't quite get it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

No, I just think that if we allow "underage" people to join and participate, then perhaps we should be a lot more careful what we say, as a jokey, off-the-cuff remark, particularly a sexual one (or one that could be interpreted as such) could end up getting us into trouble.

Very much agreed. The only hassle with that is that discussion becomes stale when all comments are written for broad general consumption. I've gotten complaints for replying to a thread with a tone that seems condescending because an individual expected a personal response and I wrote in a general style for the site.

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Ultimately the internet is one of those places where age can truly be irrelevant. On a site like this where the predominant focus is a safe topic, if a 12 year old starts posting about their favourite bands and / or instruments and can maintain a decent level of discussion then their age shouldn't really ever come into play (didn't Alfred lie about his age - did anyone notice until he fessed up?). It's only when things crossover from the broad general topics to the personal social topics that potential issues arise.