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New subforum suggestion

rjh01

Gentleman of leisure
rjh01
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In a short time in Australia and in various other countries those under 16 will no longer be allowed to use certain social media. How about make this forum suitable for those under 16? Have special sub forum for these people, such as homework help. In this forum the rules would be strictly enforced.

Before the deadline adverts will need to be placed in social media such as Facebook to attract those under 16.

Thoughts?

Link to background info https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...dit-twitch-roblox-lego-play-steam-dating-apps
 
How do you see that working? Would we need a special membership type for under-16s, that limited access to the special sub-forum? Would you prevent them from seeing the public parts of the site, which might not be deemed suitable for non-adults?
 
If I was icerat I'd be very wary about doing that. I don't think a non-engagement driven platform like this is comparable in possible harm caused by an engagement driven platform but is it the right type of platform that should be encouraged? Also I would have thought any such section would require everything to be pre-moderated, and pre-moderated by people with expertise in moderating for children?
 
zooterkin said:
How do you see that working? Would we need a special membership type for under-16s, that limited access to the special sub-forum? Would you prevent them from seeing the public parts of the site, which might not be deemed suitable for non-adults?
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They can already see the public parts of the site now. They can even join and post now without restrictions. So no need for a restricted membership type.
Of course the mods and Icerat might want to have a special type of membership who must be treated in special ways, like no attempts to contact them outside of the forum.
 
Darat said:
If I was icerat I'd be very wary about doing that. I don't think a non-engagement driven platform like this is comparable in possible harm caused by an engagement driven platform but is it the right type of platform that should be encouraged?
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I do not understand the above at all. In what way is this forum a non-engagement driven platform? And places like YouTube and Facebook are engagement driven platform
Darat said:
Also I would have thought any such section would require everything to be pre-moderated, and pre-moderated by people with expertise in moderating for children?
Click to expand...
Children already post in many places without any of these checks in place. Are there any places where children frequently post where everything is moderated, especially by people with expertise in moderating for children?
 
Posts here aren't directed at people based on what the software calculates will keep people on the forum for the most time. The nearest we have to an engagement system is the "Featured" section. (The "like" feature could be considered a very crude engagement system but not how we have it set up.)
 
rjh01 said:
They can already see the public parts of the site now. They can even join and post now without restrictions. So no need for a restricted membership type.
Click to expand...
Then what did you mean by making this forum suitable for under-16s? Adding an extra forum for homework doesn't affect how suitable the rest of the forum is.
 
zooterkin said:
Then what did you mean by making this forum suitable for under-16s? Adding an extra forum for homework doesn't affect how suitable the rest of the forum is.
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I meant having sub forums with topics that children would want to engage in. Homework help is one example. The other parts of the forum may be of interest to the older ones, but unlikely to keep them here.
 
Darat said:
Posts here aren't directed at people based on what the software calculates will keep people on the forum for the most time. The nearest we have to an engagement system is the "Featured" section. (The "like" feature could be considered a very crude engagement system but not how we have it set up.)
Click to expand...
How is this relevant to having children on the forum? Or are you saying a forum like this one is a better place than Facebook, X, etc?
 
At this stage, I think we should be grateful that we're small enough that various governments don't require us to exclude minors.

Trying to attract them may be like waving a flag at a bull. (Where government agencies are the bull, in case that's not obvious.)
 
novaphile said:
At this stage, I think we should be grateful that we're small enough that various governments don't require us to exclude minors.

Trying to attract them may be like waving a flag at a bull. (Where government agencies are the bull, in case that's not obvious.)
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We would have to be a lot bigger to attract the government. We would not need to attract too many children at first. Then it will grow by word of mouth. By the time we are big the Government would have forgotten about the issue, and we can carry on.
If the Government ignores us, then no id required.
 
Does this forum have subject matter that would actually interest most people under 20?

We are retirees and generally older here and discussing things older folks do.
My son shows little interest in most subjects on this forum at all.

I suspect it would require us to rise to start posting about the range of stuff they like.
 
Not much point- many parents are bypassing the age restrictions for their kids anyway, and I know from an 'unidentified source' lol that the local kids have already set up their own forum over on proboards
 
Get the young one here and they will start discussing topics that interest them especially if we create a sub forum for them.
As for proboards, Icerat could have saved them the trouble. But I guess it is too late now. As Dabop has said they have found their own forum.
 
rjh01 said:
Get the young one here and they will start discussing topics that interest them especially if we create a sub forum for them.
As for proboards, Icerat could have saved them the trouble. But I guess it is too late now. As Dabop has said they have found their own forum.
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ATM I seriously doubt that any teenager that has been locked out (although that number seems few and dropping quickly lol) is going to be interested in having anything to do with anything not run by themselves atm (and quite frankly, i don't blame them- it wasn't the kids that decided they were going to be cut off from all their friends- and just before christmas and during the school holidays as well...

That was the 'old farts'- and they want nothing to do with anything that THEY may suggest lol
Can't understand why....

LOL- my partners kids been looking up how to set up and use free VPNs lol
 
Dabop, exactly as my son and his crew are doing here in Mexico.
He and they learned from each other, spread the tricks of the game among themselves without consulting adults.

Fake names, VPN, fake information and any other trick so they go where they want to.

When each develops the level of maturity to stay quiet when outclassed they survive quite well on adult platforms. My son hit that at his 15th birthday.
 
rjh01 said:
We would have to be a lot bigger to attract the government. We would not need to attract too many children at first. Then it will grow by word of mouth. By the time we are big the Government would have forgotten about the issue, and we can carry on.
If the Government ignores us, then no id required.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm not really a fan of conversations about how to attract children to an online platform.
 
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