Question for the Administration

About This Message Board
1

Just for the record, is there a rule that says a member has to be an adult?

I dont ant to cause trouble, I really dont, but I just flamed an 8th grader, and used the f word! I didnt realize how old the poster was till after I did it.

I am very uncomfortable with the idea of children reading some of the stuff we talk about, and honestly, if I was this kids parent, and I saw what we talk about/what he has read I would make such a stink that they would either shut us down, or heavily censor the content.

This makes me really really uneasy.

Could anyone clear up what would happen in such an eventuality?

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We’ve not had any age limit, except for people working on the site.

When we were on AOL, the site was not open to anybody with a kids only or otherwise restricted account, and we thought that was more than appropriate for what we cover here.

I can’t speak for the powers that be around here – and I am forwarding this question up to them, as they make the call – but imho any parent that lets a child surf the net without supervision, well, that’s just wrong.

We cannot be responsible for what parents DON’T do.

Also just my two cents worth, but if you come here and play in our sandbox, what happens to you is what happens to you, regardless of your age. One of my favorite people from the AOL days turned out to be 12 years old, but he was smart, sweet, very mature. I’d have no problems with him here today. There’s some adults I can’t say that about.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope

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If it makes you feel any better Keli, I could make a salior blush with my language in 8th grade. If the kid has the marbles to be here, the profanity will slide off, doing no damage. If his mental state is such that he can’t get past a few explitives, he will wander off on his own.

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Kelli,

I had posted in the BBQ Pit about this very thing. I agree with TubaDiva, it is solely up to the parents to ensure their kids are accessing sites and topics that are age appropriate. In addition to that, the SDMB should be a place that allows free thought and be open to all with an opinion or question about something.

Don’t worry about flaming the kid. If he can’t handle it (sorry but if his parents aren’t taking measures) that’s not an issue you should take up with yourself.

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Hmmmm…I wonder how many of the people who are listed in the “Poster I’d Most Like To Date” thread are underage…

Probably none. But could we get into trouble if we propositioned someone, jokingly or not, only to discover later that the person is 14 instead of mid-20’s or mid-30’s as we assumed?

-David

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Really not sure what to tell you, David . . . we’re not adult-oriented enough to use one of the “adult check” services to keep kids out of our site (although, on consideration, that might bring us more traffic than we’re getting already :slight_smile: . . .) and while there’s lots of ways to get in trouble in this world, we’re not (yet) at the place where the Thought Police are out to get you.

We would hope that everybody here would be honest about all things, including their ages.

It’s probably not a problem unless you’re emailing child pornography between the two of you and/or making plans to visit them at home real soon when their parents aren’t around.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope

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Kels… I’m 16 and I swear like a coked-up sociopath on the day his dog got hit by a car. You didn’t tell Mrunner anything he hadn’t heard.

–John

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John-sweetie, check your yahoo mail.

And dont forget, when you arrived, you didnt beat us over the head with your age either. There is a world of diference between 14 and 16.

I just read that we have a 9 year old registered here, who has posted. I know this is degenerating to a big pissing match, but I truly have a moral problem with very young individuals reading/posting here.

Gosh, I am 30 years old, and I have read stuff here that made my hair curl. Looking at the pit insults for example, Phadreaus is talking about pressing sexual harrasment charge for a flame there. OK, so he is probably full of it, but suppose, just suppose…someone lets loose a ripe nasty flame at some 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 year old, and they show their folks? Isnt it possible that these folks go after the Chigago reader, straight dope, moderators, or someone for talking like that to their little angel?

There has been alot of talk since the gloworm thing about what could be prosecuted.

How much pressure would it really take for the reader to pull their ads? A child getting flamed in a MB such as this would make news, its juicy gossipy, and its an issue of the day: Internet access, supervision of children on the net, etc.

Think for a moment what a non lurker would think if you printed our a page from the pit and handed it to them. Comments taken out of context can look pretty damning.

I cant be the only one who wonders about this.

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We don’t have a minimum-age requirement and there’s no way to enforce one if we did. We’re not in the same league as the XXX sites that use adult-check and such. I agree that a lot of the content on the SDMB isn’t suitable for kids; the same is true of some of Cecil’s columns. (“Why is shit brown?” and gerbil stuffing come to mind–and remember, the column appears in newspapers available for free for anyone who cares to pick one up.) Unless we impose drastic censorship, which I sure don’t want to do, I think we have to leave it to parents to monitor what their kids are reading. With that in mind, I suppose we could put up a warning saying “Contains material unsuitable for minors,” but personally I think that would just make matters worse. Besides, what goes on here that’s so bad? People cuss a lot. You hear that on street corners. We don’t have anything you could really consider pornographic–and lest some 14-year-old who just learned HTML takes that as a challenge, we’d better not.

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Thank you Ed.

(Ed replied to me!!)

If you arent worried, then I wont concern myself with the matter any further. You know what you are doing, and I defer to you on this matter.

Thank you,
Kelli

(ed replied to me!!!)

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What about just including a space for age and sex on the profile. That way, if Kelli gets ready to go off on someone, she can check the profile to find out if it is a kid. I’m sure most wouldn’t fill it out, but then that would make them fair game. Then she wouldn’t have to feel bad, if they had intentionally withheld the info.

Just a thought. And Kelli, I wasn’t trying to say anything against you, just an example.

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no offense taken Jim, maybe we could include a question like:

What grade are you in?

to go with interests, location, icq etc.

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Or, maybe:

Does your Mom know you are reading this stuff?

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Or why not just take the possibility of underage readers and posters into consideration before posting.

Some of the gratuitous profanity and name calling here could easily be replaced by more imaginative and cleverly veiled assaults that could be appreciated by the adults and more or less incomprehensibe to the children.

As for the “Which posters do you want to…” threads: GET A (chat) ROOM!

Just a thought.

Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.

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There already is one. :wink:

…and remember, duct tape fixes all your problems, big and small.

Fun with HTML (tutoral) : The True Sequal

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I still don’t believe anyone here has any say in what is and what is not suitable for minors. If their parents want to keep them from certain things, they should take interest in what they’re looking at on the net. And if they don’t want them reading that sort of thing, they should find a way to prevent it instead of finding a scapegoat in the board. I’m not saying that’s how the world works, but that’s how I think it should be. The way it is now just promotes lazy parenting and irresponsibility. People today are too sue happy.

When are you going to realize being normal isn’t necessarily a good thing?

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New question: why do we need flood control? When you just posted and you missed a word or two, you have to sit there 60 seconds, before it will take another posting.

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kellibelli
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dont ant to cause trouble, I really dont, but I just flamed an 8th grader, and used the
f word! I didnt realize how old the poster was till after I did it.
if I was this kids parent, and I saw what we talk about/what he
has read I would make such a stink that they would either shut us down, or heavily
censor the content.
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The concern seems to be about getting shut down rather than monitoring your
own language so problems don’t arise. Kids will always be tripping into SD
regardless of policy.

TubaDiv
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if you come here and play in our sandbox, what
happens to you is what happens to you, regardless of your age.
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We reserve the right to be irresponsible, thoughtless, careless…

EvilGhandi
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If it makes you feel any better Keli, I could make a salior blush with my language in 8th
grade. If the kid has the marbles to be here, the profanity will slide off, doing no
damage. If his mental state is such that he can’t get past a few explitives, he will
wander off on his own
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Don’t worry about it. Everyone knows swearing in front of kids is fine and has no effect.
His problem. His parents problem. Fire away. Smut RULES.

techchick68
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it is solely up to the parents
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Not my job mun to be responsible about anything I do in public. Kids should know
better anyway.

Yue Han
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You didn’t tell Mrunner anything he hadn’t heard.
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The kid was basically evil to start with so any further negative influence is
impossible and certainly not your fault.

kelllibelli
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Isnt it possible that these folks go after the Chigago reader, straight dope,
moderators, or someone for talking like that to their little angel?
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If not then we can be extreamly nasty, right? Its just not our job to be
careful?

Ed Zotti
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Unless we impose drastic censorship, which I sure don’t want to do, I think we
have to leave it to parents to monitor what their kids are reading.
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Posting requests for posters to not use offensive and disgusting
language is way over the line. Swearing is good enough for me besides half
the people here would not be able to express themselves.

Elmer J. Fudd
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Or why not just take the possibility of underage readers and posters into consideration
before posting.
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Ah, a sign of life on the horizon. Oh no, hold the phone. This guys a troll trying to
start trouble.

TaleraRis
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The way it is now just promotes lazy parenting and irresponsibility.
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If we swear more it would encourage parents to be more responsible.

Humm, get a thesaurus and find some alternatives. Certainly not a big deal.

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::sigh::
Here we go again …

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And today’s SDMB tip:

** Don’t bitch about everyone in an entire thread in your very first (or second) post. It makes people despise you. **

–John