Why does Fluther require its users to be at least 13 years old?

For a few reasons. The first being that there are a lot of subjects discussed here that aren’t appropriate for anyone under 13. We also like a certain level of emotional maturity, and good writing is pretty important to us, too. Not everyone under 13 fails to meet those requirements, and not everyone over 13 meets them, but it seems like a reasonable place to start.

@augustlan So what do you do when you find out that a jelly doesn’t seem to meet your level of emotional maturity and/or doesn’t have good English? Throw him/her into the big old man’s mouth or what?

@Mimishu1995 It depends. If English is their second language, we try to cut them a little slack on the writing standards. If their emotional immaturity doesn’t cause them to break the rules we try to work with it.

But if someone uses txtspk or writes so badly they can’t be understood, or isn’t able to have a discussion without resorting to personal attacks and such, we give them a warning. If the situation doesn’t improve, we suspend or ban them, depending on the severity of the situation. Then the big man gets fed. ;)

@augustlan But you don’t know if someone speaks English as a second language unless he/she tells you, right? For example did you know I speak English as a second language before I told everyone?

I suspected that English wasn’t your native language, though your writing is good. It’s usually fairly easy to tell the difference between a non-native speaker and someone who just can’t be bothered to write well. But of course, we don’t always know.

COPPA is why.

@augustlan Cool! I can never distinguish between a non-native speaker and a lazy person. You’re superb :)

Your screen name kind of suggests English isn’t your first language @Mimishu1995. But, as Auggie said, you write very well. :)

So how can Fluther mods ensure that a member is 13 or older? I don’t see how they can, unless they “confess” and even then it’s just heresay. I mean I could say that I am 12. And boom, I’m gone?

They can’t. It is worthless like porn sites having a enter button if you promise you are 18.

Keep in mind that this is mostly geared at sites where the intended audience is under 13. Like Lego and Barbie.

@johnpowell has it right, it’s the COPPA laws. If we allow under-13s we would have to be properly regulated and obtain parental permission. We would also have to remove and ban all adult content, even the mildest swear words.

Of course we cannot guarantee that every member is over 13 but if a child younger than that breaks the Terms of Service and signs up anyway, their parents become legally liable if the child sees anything inappropriate. Requiring users to be 13 or over, and stating so in the Terms of Service, covers us legally for any such incidents.

Parents should be supervising their children online at all times anyway, if they are under 13.

Given the history here, spotting the under-13-year-olds is easy. The subject matter and the writing style are dead give-aways. (Unless you are that rare prodigy, like our own PhiNotPi)

Also, so we can say “shit, fuck, damn”.

Aaaannnnnnnd “penis.”

When I signed up – I was afraid my daughter would see what we write here and was glad for the over 13 year old rule. Now I am afraid my 13 year old granddaughter will read this…

But Ryan and Downtide are correct, of course. Coppa. Great question.

^^ You have a thirteen-year-old granddaughter? Wow

Hi darling Gail. GTSY. I don’t really – but the kids are all grown up and have left the nest. I do recall a big fight with a certain scholar who was under-age at the time – in wis.dm – pre-fluther – who shall remain nameless… he said it wasn’t fair – and accused me of ageism… we have since made up. If he feels like adding to this – welcome… I shall only hint that he is brilliant, has been here as long as me, and is a linguist…. :-)

As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “If life were fair, we’d be living in Darfur and eating garbage.”

Or sufganiot.

^^ Lost in translation.

What are those jelly filled doughnuts particular to the clan in these festive times…

In all my time of being Jewish and eating hamentashen, tsimmis, schmaltz, bialys, kreplach, latkes, kugel, knishes, blintzes, challah, cholent, and gefilte fish, no one (EVER) mentioned jelly-filled doughnuts. Why?

I dont know – you tell me? Sufganiot is the staple here for the (never ending holiday) Hannukah.

@augustlan I’ll bet you never could tell that English is my second language.

@Rarebear I never would have guessed! Are you pulling my leg?

@Ucme is only 12.

@augustlan Nope. First language was Spanish. But I’ve forgotten most of it.

because users are allowed to have avatars of a woman going down on a guy?

GA @jonsblond. How tacky.

@Rarebear..your first language was Yiddish. Just sayin’

Mine was Yiddish, too. Just saying. Now it’s Flutherish, I mean English, I mean Hebrew. I’m confusing myself, I shall shut up now.

@Dutchess_III Isn’t it?! I’m so tired of looking at it. I’d put on Cinemax if I wanted to view soft porn. I don’t want to see it here.

Me either. Why would anyone even want to DO that?

Re: the avatar of a woman going down on a guy- Is there any chance we could get the rules changed on Fluther so that “soft porn” (if that’s the right term) is not allowed on avatars? I’m guessing not, but it’s worth a try.

What if we all sent her a message asking nicely for her to change it?

If she’s a “nice” person, she might at that. Otherwise, well….

Just a heads up…the avatar in question has been changed, but there’s a glitch and it’s not appearing correctly. If you look at the profile page, you’ll see that the larger avatar image is just fine, but the smaller one (at the top of the profile page) is stuck on the inappropriate image. I’ve sent the issue on to Ben, and hope he has a minute to fix it. :)