How old do you have to be to be a doper? My 12-year-old son wants to sign up. ::: proud dad:::
A couple of years ago, the age limit was 14. I haven’t a clue what it is now.
Back in the days of yore (AOL board) we had at least two dopers of the twelve-year-old variety. One was an asset to the board in every sense (that would be She of the world-domination plans…), the other was not a very good fit and in most folks’ opinion lacked the maturity necessary to participate in this board. I should mention that the latter has proven true of many a person who has come here to post many decades subsequent to their 12th birthday.
I’m not in charge, but if I were I’d probably allow the signup insofar as a parent is aware and approving. The legitimate reason for the age-barrier is to protect the kid from the non-kidfare content, and if a parent says it’s not an issue, I would say “fine, then”.
By US law a minor under the age of 13 can’t sign up for any Internet membership for himself/herself. I don’t know if that’s like how minors can’t sign contracts for themselves, but they can if the parent signs off too–or if people under 13 can’t have Internet memberships at all. I did, though.
Our “official” policy is that people need to be 13 years old. It’s a question that’s asked in the registration, and those under 13 are not accepted.
Basically, we consider ourselves an adult site. We get questions and comments about a variety of topics that might not be appropriate for small children. Cecil’s columns are not intended for small children (although classically he covers why the sky is blue, he also covers things like the caloric content of semen.) Both language usage and topic content are often not appropriate for young children.
Do you really want a 12 year old to read THIS thread? I mean, I think it’s funny and all, but I don’t think that 12 year olds need to be reading that.
A 12 year old BOY child. He would laugh himself to the floor.
IMHO if dad knows, go for it.
I can’t tell if this is a whoosh or not. That thread is almost nothing but twelve year-old humor.
Lynn, assuming that wasn’t in jest: The kid isn’t your child. You really have no say in what he is exposed to. You might have a say in whether he gets to sign up here, but that is as far as it goes. Your powers stop well short of being able to question someone else’s parenting skills.
Sounded to me like Lynn was stating the rules, not trying to tell people how to raise their kids.
Derleth, please chill. Lynn wasn’t telling anyone how to raise their children. She was noting that some of the content here is not (in her opinion) proper for young children. We have threads on oral and anal sex and bondage, we have threads on extramarital sex, and we have threads that use language that many people would not want their small children exposed to (generally, small children don’t understand when some types of language are inappropriate.)
We (following gummint guidelines, IIRC) have set this at 13. Are there 12-year olds who are mature enough to handle some of this stuff? Sure, if their parents think so. Are there 16-year olds who are not? Yeah, we get bratty teens playing troll alla time.
Heck, we have bratty children of all ages here from time to time. 
Legally, it’s 13. Gotta be at least 13 to play here, that’s the law.
Got to be at least 21 to work here, too; that’s our requirement, not the govmint.
TubaDiva
Really? Even with parental consent (as coffeecat seemed to be implying he would give)?
(NOTE: I have no personal investment whether or not people 12 or younger can sign up at all, but being one of the younger folks when I signed up at 15 in '99, I’m curious)
The age rule saves the olduns from reading the youngun’s posts, but does not keep the youngun’s from reading the oldun’s posts, so with respect to content, the rule is pointless.
Where the rule makes sense is with respect to protecting youngsters from predators. If the kids can’t post, the predators can’t prey on them. One assumes that by 13, a child should be alert to net predators.
That indeed is the motivation behind the U.S. federal law, which would anyway overrun any board rule.