# Age and children on WR



## suzzzenn

Hi everybody, 

As a mother, it bothered me recently to see an 11-year-old child on our site asking complete strangers if they want to be on her "buddy" list. I like the age feature because it helps me evaluate the information I am getting and makes me feel like I know the person who is writing. But, the internet is not really the best place for children to be giving out information, like their location, name, or age. 

Does anyone else share my concern? Ultimately it is up to parents to monitor their children while on-line and screen their children's e-mail and private messaging. I really hope that the children who occasionally pop up here are being supervised. But the truth is that they may not be and I want to know if there is anything we can do as a community to make things a bit safer.  I recommend having a feature which restricts children under a certain age (say..under 15?) from giving age or location information or perhaps we can restrict private messaging. 

Susan


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## lauranazario

As a WR moderator, I (because I cannot speak for my colleagues) tend to "supervise" the content of as many threads as I humanly can. Oftentimes that means editing to replace certain letters for asterisks when I see objectionable/swear words... always thinking of the minors that use our forums.
I have also intervened in some threads that deal with "sensitive material" (translation of sexual-content or sexual-innuendo phrases) with a gentle reminder for all foreros to 'keep things clean"... and in doing so, I try to encourage everyone to remember:


			
				WR rules said:
			
		

> 16. Discussion of offensive words and phrases is permitted, but the conversation must remain respectful and serious. Moderators may choose to close or delete threads that they consider to be objectionable. Do not place offensive words in the title of the thread


Now that being said, we cannot control minors' usage of our PM feature and what they may wish to disclose on their private conversations with XYZ forero. Moderators cannot edit/supervise PM exchanges. Only the Administrator (as the full owner of WR) may choose (emphasis on _choose_) to supervise PM contents... and may choose to rarely do so.

I hope that what I've written here gives you at least a little peace of mind. 

Saludos,
LN


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## alc112

suzzzenn said:
			
		

> Does anyone else share my concern? Ultimately it is up to parents to monitor their children while on-line and screen their children's e-mail and private messaging. I really hope that the children who occasionally pop up here are being supervised. But the truth is that they may not be and I want to know if there is anything we can do as a community to make things a bit safer. I recommend having a feature which restricts children under a certain age (say..under 15?) from giving age or location information or perhaps we can restrict private messaging.
> 
> Susan


 
Hi Suzzenn!!
I really don't like what you say.
We teenagers don't need our parents to take car of us when we are surfing the internet. You can say that we are very intelligent and intelligence indicates "independency". That's what I think.
I personally don't like to not be able to sand PM, how cani know others forer@s. if I ask them in the forum, i'll be doing off-topic.
And, when you register, you say
I'm over 13 years all and I accept the rules.


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## suzzzenn

I thought about you alc, and a few other teenagers who frequent the site, when I wrote that post.  You contribute a lot to the site. I respect the quality of your posts and have always appreciated the help you've given me.  I wouldn't want to restrict your access in any way. I just think that 11-year-olds are in a different category than you are. One of my ideas was to not display the age of younger teenagers and children. The other was to restrict PMs.  Perhaps you have other ideas. I'm not worried about  children being exposed to swear words or sexual terms. I think that most kids know most of those words anyway and these forums are very tame. It is more of a safety issue.


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## GenJen54

I cannot be for certain, but it seems to me that the vast majority of the pre-teen (11 & 12 year old) forer@s are those who visit us for one or two "Help, I need to finish my homework" type of posts, and then seldom return.  In the forums where I post most frequently (EO, FR-EN and Cultural Issues), I rarely encounter pre-teen or younger forer@s _on a regular basis_. 

Only Mike and the Mods would be able give us a reasonable accounting of the age of individual forer@s and whether it correlates to the number of posts they make. 

I understand your concern regarding safety, especially as younger adolescents do not necessarily have the ability yet to judge who they should be giving their personal information.  However, I would also agree that in my short experience here that it seems the mods keep a pretty tight lid on the appropriateness of discussion around here.  

PMs are a different story.  I don't know if "age restrictions" on PMs would be appropriate or not.  That's certainly subjective.

As you stated, parents are ultimately responsible for the behavior of their children on the internet.  Sadly, it is more easily said than done.


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## Jana337

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> Only Mike and the Mods would be able give us a reasonable accounting of the age of individual forer@s and whether it correlates to the number of posts they make.


We know as much as you do. People who register here are not required to disclose their age. 

Jana


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## Whodunit

Don't you think even young people have a right to study languages as we do? When I signed in here first, I was astonished that there're much more adults around here than adolescents. I can't remember more than Jorge (18), Alexis (15), and me (16) as most active users here who are still "children" in your eyes. Of course, there're a few more teens around here, but they don't post as much as we. Why do you want to prohibit preteens from writing PMs or asking questions? I don't see the point. 

Furthermore, I want to agree with Gen that there're especially many preteens who want us to solve their assignment problems. That's not our homework, but thiers. 

I'd suggest that all threads that don't follow those rules are closed or trashed, but if those teens create reasonable posts, why not helping them?


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## Benjy

to you and all other potentially offended teens:

this isn't about whether you can study. ok? suzen has asked a question that almost any parent with a brain will ask themselves when their children go online. who are my children talking to? and what are they saying?

did you know that 1 in 5 children sexually abused in the states last year was solicited online (i dont know about other countries)? thats enough to scare the living daylights out of any parent.



			
				Whodunit said:
			
		

> Don't you think even young people have a right to study languages as we do? When I signed in here first, I was astonished that there're much more adults around here than adolescents. I can't remember more than Jorge (18), Alexis (15), and me (16) as most active users here who are still "children" in your eyes. Of course, there're a few more teens around here, but they don't post as much as we. Why do you want to prohibit preteens from writing PMs or asking questions? I don't see the point.
> 
> Furthermore, I want to agree with Gen that there're especially many preteens who want us to solve their assignment problems. That's not our homework, but thiers.
> 
> I'd suggest that all threads that don't follow those rules are closed or trashed, but if those teens create reasonable posts, why not helping them?


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## Rayines

I absolutely agree with Benjy. And even without reaching such a degree of abuse, there're other ways that could be specially dangerous with minors. Of course it's supposed that minors like Ale or Daniel Whod... have enough maturity since they take part in a Language Forum, and in such a way as they do. But this is not the point, I think in a sense, after their parents, there is some responsibility towards them in adults who take part in this forum (I included, of course).


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## Kelly B

Whodunit, and others, we are delighted to have you here; it's just that youth, especially in those we've come to like and care about, brings out our protective-parent instincts. Unfortunately it brings out much nastier feelings in a few people. Many minors simply have not developed that sense of healthy suspicion that is necessary for internet safety. There really are evil people trolling the net for trusting young souls, and a description that includes your age makes you a potential target. We worry! It's in the genes.


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