Proposal for a minumum age limit

Trollheart · 06-08-2012, 01:34 PM

This might seem a little draconian, but I just today offered to mentor a newbie, and then found out she was 13 years old. Now, that's of course not a problem per se, but does open up a whole lot of potential hazards, both for me and for her. In the first place, socialising (hanging around, I guess you'd say) with a 13 year old when you're a year shy of fifty is dubious behaviour at best, and could lead to accusations of "grooming" at worst.

There's also the matter of how we treat these first-timers. I'm referring specifically to the advice given by a member to a newbie about posting a picture of their genitalia to a certain member, and saying this was mandatory practice. Now, I KNOW this was said TOTALLY in jest, and no-one expects anyone to do any such thing BUT should it have been taken up the wrong way --- either by the newb or by anyone else reading that thread: anyone can read them, after all --- and worse, should that newb be considered underage, well, you can see the problem it could create.

Without a mandatory age limit here it would look as if we should be VERY careful about what we say, especially in a sexual context, or anything that could be considered sexual, particularly to those who don't know, and definitely to newbies.

I certainly don't want to restrict membership to a certain age, and yet there are some serious pitfalls that we need to think about. If just one incident --- real or imagined --- gets reported we could all be in some major trouble. What, they'll say, these guardians of decency and morals, has sending a questionable picture got to do with a forum that purports to only be interested in music? Are they trading porn too? Kiddy porn? Shut them down!

You can see how it would go.

So I'd just like to sound a note of concern, and see if anyone has any suggestions or solutions. Perhaps newbs should always be asked their age in the introductions? Perhaps we need to watch our potty mouths more? I'm really not sure. But this is a problem that ain't gonna go away, so we should really start thinking now about how to be proactive, before we find ourselves in deep doo-doo...

06-08-2012, 01:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Proposal for a minumum age limit This might seem a little draconian, but I just today offered to mentor a newbie, and then found out she was 13 years old. Now, that's of course not a problem per se, but does open up a whole lot of potential hazards, both for me and for her. In the first place, socialising (hanging around, I guess you'd say) with a 13 year old when you're a year shy of fifty is dubious behaviour at best, and could lead to accusations of "grooming" at worst. There's also the matter of how we treat these first-timers. I'm referring specifically to the advice given by a member to a newbie about posting a picture of their genitalia to a certain member, and saying this was mandatory practice. Now, I KNOW this was said TOTALLY in jest, and no-one expects anyone to do any such thing BUT should it have been taken up the wrong way --- either by the newb or by anyone else reading that thread: anyone can read them, after all --- and worse, should that newb be considered underage, well, you can see the problem it could create. Without a mandatory age limit here it would look as if we should be VERY careful about what we say, especially in a sexual context, or anything that could be considered sexual, particularly to those who don't know, and definitely to newbies. I certainly don't want to restrict membership to a certain age, and yet there are some serious pitfalls that we need to think about. If just one incident --- real or imagined --- gets reported we could all be in some major trouble. What, they'll say, these guardians of decency and morals, has sending a questionable picture got to do with a forum that purports to only be interested in music? Are they trading porn too? Kiddy porn? Shut them down! You can see how it would go. So I'd just like to sound a note of concern, and see if anyone has any suggestions or solutions. Perhaps newbs should always be asked their age in the introductions? Perhaps we need to watch our potty mouths more? I'm really not sure. But this is a problem that ain't gonna go away, so we should really start thinking now about how to be proactive, before we find ourselves in deep doo-doo... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018