Age Policy

[Hulk's iconHulk]

Some people have some sort of birthdate requirement field where if you're younger than a certain age you either get taken back to the index page, or an error page.

Some people have rules on their forum stating people must be a certain age.

And some people frankly don't care.

What category are you in? If there is a minimum age what age is it?

 

[Darth-Apple]

If your website is owned or hosted in the United States, you are legally required to enforce the 13+ age requirement.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Anyone can input any birth date they want so why bother?

 

[Sinon]

Anyone can input any birth date they want so why bother?

It covers your own ass, basically. If a child sees something offensive on your site and you've taken no measures to stop something like that, wave goodbye to your money because you'll get sued, and you'll lose. It's why a lot of older sites (not sure why newer ones don't use it anymore) used COPPA.

 

[Dee]

Anyone can input any birth date they want so why bother?

This is how I feel, but one can get into trouble if the policy on certain hosts isn't followed.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I see, so it's kind of a legal loophole.

 

[Enter Username Here]

I can't stop them from coming online, but if I find out they are 11 or 12...They're getting banned.

 

[Hulk's iconHulk]

I see, so it's kind of a legal loophole.

That's why I made a blog instead. It doesn't matter how old they are as there's no birthday field they have to fill in.

 

[Enter Username Here]

But then they are blogging kiddish lives.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Anyone can input any birth date they want so why bother?

It covers your own ass, basically. If a child sees something offensive on your site and you've taken no measures to stop something like that, wave goodbye to your money because you'll get sued, and you'll lose. It's why a lot of older sites (not sure why newer ones don't use it anymore) used COPPA.

Anyone can input any birth date they want so why bother?

This is how I feel, but one can get into trouble if the policy on certain hosts isn't followed.

Makes sense, I have enabled it here.

 

[EvanP]

I was around on a bunch of forums when I was 11/12 which used COPPA. Aside from having to make myself two years younger in the birthdate field, nobody cared about my age on the sites and nobody batted an eyelid. Admittedly the specific sites were "kids" sites as such anyways, but still.

 

[Bluezone777]

I can't stop them from coming online, but if I find out they are 11 or 12...They're getting banned.

Actually you are supposed to delete them from the site. Banning them doesn't remove their personal info which is the whole point behind COPPA. An e-mail address is considered personal information and every forum including this one demands it hence why COPPA applies to a forum. It sounds more like a CYA law then an actual law that helps children.

 

[Felly]

Kids can lie about there age, so I really feel like it's something that genuinely can't be enforced. .-. If a kid wants to do get on a site, they'll probably lie about their age to do it. Happens all the time.

I can understand why COPPA exists, but at the same time, I really feel like it's not the internet as a whole's responsibility to babysit other people's children. If Suzie Brown's son joins a website he's not supposed to while she's not looking and sees inappropriate content, I can't really control that; that was her son's choice, not mine. I didn't tell him to join, he voluntarily did it.

That said, if I saw private information posted publicly, I'd probably remove it from public view & tell that person that it needs to be sent privately to the appropriate party & if necessary, they need to get parental consent first; that would apply to anyone, regardless of age. Little things like state or country I wouldn't bother with since those are broad things that don't pinpoint a person to the very specific location they're at, but if it was a phone number or street address, I'd probably delete it. I'd likely let cities slide too since those are still kinda broad, and I feel like if the person is comfortable enough to post that in the public eye, then so be it.