In my not at all humble opinion, a great many of the over-18’s do not contribute much quality material to the board.
I don’t buy the “notable exceptions” bit, either, I’m afraid. When this MB was still much smaller on AOL and it was easier to note the relative ages of most of the posters, it was pretty obvious that a good number of the teens were among the better posters. There were some teeny boppers that were real twits, but there were some really dumb old fogeys around.
I would be really surprised if the ratios have changed just because the MB has gotten huge. It’s entirely possible that some of the “respected” posters around here really are teens who simply don’t make an issue of their age. One of the recurring moments of humor back on AOL was to see some newbie adult express shock that the person who had just taken apart their arguments, point by point with facts, still had a year or two left to go in high school–and the kid wasn’t always taking AP classes, either.
I’m am not impressed with the teen angst of puppy love that shows up so often in MPSIMS, but MPSIMS encourages similar behavior from all ages.
I am not arguing that Biggirl should change her mind regarding her decision for her son. That is a separate issue. I am simply noting that painting an age group with a broad brush is not fighting ignorance.
In the last couple of months, there has been an influx of teens on this board who have arrived here not through an interest in Cecil’s columns or a general intellectual curiosity, but through a link on bored.com.
And are they hanging out in GQ, Comments on Cecil’s Columns, Comments on Staff Reports, and GD? Or are they clustered on MPSIMS and IMHO? In my totally biased view, the four former columns are at the heart of this MB. I enjoy the more frivolous Fora and the Pit, but that is not where I go to evaluate the quality of posters.
I say you made the right decision. The SDMB is an adult arena, for adults.
I think that to ask ‘What would be the harm \ benefit \ cost…’ is to get bogged down in all sorts of endless debates. I think a more productive way to look at it is that as a good and responsible parent you obvously accept a lot of responsibility for what your son does, and does not, see and read. If you let him register for himself, part of that responsibility is gone and you can never get it back. You will know when your instincts tell you he’s old enough to register.
What I would be most concerned about is users picking on him, his grammar, ideas, etc, without mercy. Eventually people are going to either not know how old he is or forget & then some of his unformed ideas are going to be ripe for attack BG.
This is not just because I am 18, and first registered on the board when I was 17. I realize I don’t know a lot, but I am fighting ignorance: my own. I don’t post a whole lot, but just by reading the columns, I know more of what is going on in the world and learn more than I do in most of my classes.
And every once in a while when I do have something to contribute, it’s a great honour. Being able to (hopefully) educate someone else like I have been educated.
