Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback
Since there are a number of users under 18, I thought we should have a separate website for them and one for users 18 and over so that there is no hostility from what the older ones write on here. Also, parents of the minor users may take offense to what the older ones say so having two separate websites would require les filtering. The adults would be freer to express their ideas without jepardizing the younger ones.
Two separate sites wouldn't work because seventeen year olds wouldn't want to go hanging around on a site with thirteen year olds, and you would still end up with a situation where seventeen year olds use language and terminology which is still unsuitable for the thirteen year olds.
I do have my own views on such young children being able to come on here, certainly I don't think that much of the content here is appropriate for anyone under the age of sixteen, but fact is that under sixteens are allowed here and that isn't likely to change any time soon.
"Also, parents of the minor users may take offense to what the older ones say" I think that any parent that monitors their child's internet use (and many do) wouldn't be allowing their children on here in the first place so it wouldn't be an issue tbh.
i personally think if the under 18's don't like what's being discussed, they can turn the pubblic messages off.
like clare said, i don't think an individual website would work
people have a right to choose what they see as appropriate, and if they don't like something then there are ways to ignore it
Actually I disagree that it should always be down to those that don't like something to be the ones that ignore it. I also think that you can't necessarily apply the same principle of "If they don't like what's being discussed they can turn publics off" to all under eighteens since there is a massive gap between thirteen and eighteen.
The site is what it is and the age limit is never likely to change, however I don't think that it's wrong to hope users will sometimes take into account that some of the other users here are very young and possibly naive as to what is and is not appropriate.
I do subscribe to the belief that parents should monitor their teens' internet use more closely, and no thirteen year old of mine would be allowed to sign up here, however I would equally take a very dim view of anyone who was, for instance, engaging in inappropriate sexual discussion with a user they knew to only be thirteen.
Just because users are allowed to be here from the age of thirteen, doesn't mean that anything goes regardless of age..
What about the perverts on here? Aren't they most likely not going to get at the younger users if the site for the younger ones is monitored more frequently? On the other site could there be a possibly of less perversion? If there was more monitoring of activity on the site for everyone under 18, there wouldn't be kids feeling so helpless for those who aren't capable of defending themselves and therefore give out too much personal information.
Are there really more perverts on here than on any other site? And besides, I've seen some pretty sexually explicit language coming from the under eighteen population on here and have been pretty surprised by the ages of some of the most inappropriate people on here.
This is why we have 18 and older conferences, and an 18 and older channel on TT. Of course the explicit subject matter certainly isn't going to be restricted to those, but it is kind of the place for adults to go, and for adult matters to be discussed. Perhaps there should be an 18 and older board category as well? Other than that, I agree with others here. There really is no way to shelter the kids from this type of subject matter. Parents should really be teaching their kids what to look out for, and how to steer clear of the trouble as much as possible.
Another thought I had after my previous post was what if a website just for kids was developed and perverts looking for young boys and girls came on anyway. All they'd have to do is say they are 18 or younger and who would know whether it was true or not. A 40-year -old man with a thing for 13-year-old girls, or 13-year-old boys for that matter, could sign up saying he was 15 or 16 in the hopes of getting a young kid to trust him enough to meet in person. This kind of thing goes on all the time. People can pretend to be anything or anyone on the internet.
That's where the monitoring would come into play Libra.
My problem is so many people bitch and complain about the subject matter when there are younger users here.
Also while it's true that the younger users do use harsh language and sexually explicit language, were the ones that catch hell when we do it cuz a kid is on here.
Dracula has a point. We should not be held accountable for what the younger ones read. They are reading at their own risk.
yeah. As has been said before, I really think it's up to the parents to moderate where their kids visit, to a certain extent.
I completely agree with the idea of separate sites. The Zone is supposed to be a place for us to relax, hang out and not have to worry about offending younger users or less open-minded people.
Obviously it's technically unfeasible to hold someone accountable for what another person has read.
However, in the name of common human decency, we should consider what discussions we start in the presence of minors. Not that minors don't discuss these things, one would hope in fact that they would. However, as society, we understand that underage people are for the most part not capable of having some types of conversations with strangers over age.
Like Claire, I question someone under 16 or so coming on here, depending on the child and their understanding or wants for use of the site. Certainly any parent can go on and look for themselves, maybe set a couple ground rules (which, yes, we all know, do get broken, but that doesn't mean they don't get set).
A bit of a stereotype here, but I have read that the level of violence in topics, conversations and movies that most Americans will tolerate for minors is greater than that tolerated for Europeans. The opposite is true in matters of sex. I don't know how true or what the threshold is there, but it's certainly possible. And not difficult to remain mindful as adults. Especially now that one can look at a user's profile and see the age range, there is less excuse for uncivil behavior. So before one goes writing privately to another perhaps a good idea to have looked at the profile and note the age range.
Mistakes will happen, In quicknotes the topic came up and we were talking knives, and carrying, for combat and noncombat reasons. Apparently in the UK the length one can carry is considerably shorter than many parts of the U.S. So a recommendation I made (often carried noncombatively in the U.S.) was technically illegal in someone's jurisdiction. I don't know if there are jurisdictions that would find a topic like that offensive to minors: the anatomy and usage of a knife, with the same openness as many find genitalia offensive. I guess with all things in life, it's "know your audience".
The one thing I don't get on here is the ludicrous nature of user reactions to the Ignore feature. Its use does not make a baby or weakling out of somebody, in fact it's the best thing a minor could do as a first line of defense. Ignore is just a tool, and it's pretty boorish the way users will rag on other users for using that tool. Block features are one evasive maneuver most parents - sensible ones anyway, - teach their kids to use. And yes, for those who haven't lived "real-life" for more than a quarter century yet, people use evasive maneuvers in real life all the time: women cross streets to avoid someone they think is following them or otherwise find creepy, people avoid using establishments for any number of reasons, etc. I think that childish reaction to use of the Ignore feature is as garish and barbaric as the man who insists on following the woman across the street when she is obviously trying to avoid him.
Every male has been treated that way by a woman when walking alone, and most of us are grown-up enough to not throw a fit when we see a woman do that. Good goal for some users on here to aspire to, when they see someone put another on ignore. That childish attitude towards ignore has got to be causing headaches for the CLs and staff.
just to address a couple of points:
wrt perverts, I think in some ways users on here are luckier than elsewhere because there are staff around they can talk to if someone is being holey inappropriate wrt their conduct towards them if they are a minor. Many other sites aren't as close and if you don't have someone to tell you that maybe you should put someone on ignore and/or to have a word with an individual who is being inappropriate then it can be easy to get dragged into something before you realize what's happening.
Beckie is right in that anyone can be anyone they want to be on the internet. But while it would be possible for someone to sign up pretending they were a thirteen year old I think people need to also consider that it is equally possible the other way around. It is not unheard of, for instance, for the police to join websites, pretending to be under age in order to catch out people who go online to groom under age children (and at thirteen/fourteen they are still children). And it is equally worth bearing in mind that if you are engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct with an under age (in terms of consent) person on the internet that is considered grooming in legal terms and you could be held legally accountable for it in your country of residence.
Also, at least in the U.S., if someone goes on a site posing as overage and yet they are a minor, you will be held responsible if you engage in any sexually inappropriate conduct with them. Their initial deception is not a factor in U.S. courts, and you will end up with a sex offender's record. Rule I tend to follow online is treat people how they act.
As I said, I don't know about other jurisdictions, but in the U.S., should a parent press charges against you, you will lose, even if the child said their age was 25, if they are in fact 15. That's not the staff's problem: that's one for the legal system and the individual adult.