Would fluther be any better if it had an adult page and a junior page.

a collective is a collective is a collective.

Fluther is what it is because it’s not exclusive.

I see “silly” answers from all sorts – usually if a question is of a certain gravity, useful replies will show up.

I feel like this has been discussed before…perhaps some kind soul will find a link, and share it…

(I want to add that I’m not at all criticizing you for asking the question, whether it’s been asked before or not. It is a valid question, and it stands in its own right, I’m just saying it’s always interesting to see what people have said before, (and that I’m too lazy to figure out what exactly was said before)).

No, we are Borg

Fluther would probably be less friendly and more laborious to navigate through if there were different sections for different age groups. Having a little humor injected into questions is part of the nature of things around here and it keeps the general mood of the community light and appealing from what I’ve seen. And like you said in your questions details, there is good input from both the older and younger generation alike. Why mess with that?

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” spells it out nicely, in my humble opinion.

Fluther IS Fluther because of the amazing collection and diversity of the people. Cutting it up would be like, murder.

It has been discussed at least two times in the past. You might want to read these threads.

One.

Two.

Thank you Augustlan! You are a kind soul! I gave you a great answer, but I’m afraid I’ve run out of lurve I’m allowed to give.

Someone should give Augustlan lurve for being a kind soul from me.

What are you, a spy from Askville? You’re trying to divide and conquer Fluther!

A valuable part of growing up is interactions with someone not related to you. the whole it takes a village thing…I’m in the third hut on the right in the cul de sac I usually read the question, then hit not interested, and move on.

Age does not an adult make.

You know that if Fluther was segmented into an adults and kids section, there would be cross segment Fluthering anyways, so it really wouldn’t be any different.

Around most parts of the world, children, young adults, learn by example. Being around adults is a form of communal socialization. I believe a lot of problems in this society can be attributed to children being constently segregated at all levels of society.

Suppose you segmented Fluther so that “children’s questions” (by which I take it you mean advice to the lovelorn and high school homework questions) were in a separate section.

How long do you think it would take before some teenager thought, “My question is important, so I’m going to ask it twice!”?

And how much nastier do you think the response would be to that question in the “adults’” section?

I think interacting between generations is important both ways. I like to know what and how the young are thinking.

Also, there are as many good questions from young people as there are silly ones. There are also plenty of silly ones from adults.

I had a “conversation” with another jelly a couple of nights ago regarding children being on this site. It’s almost like TV; there are some really appropriate places for kids to tune in and others…not so appropriate. It would be easy to tell people to keep it PG; keep their language in check and avoid heading down the quasi-porn trail. The problem with that dicta is you then take away the freedom of discussion and open dialog that makes Fluther so great.

I sometimes enjoy reading younger peoples perspectives on things, it can be eye opening. Sure there are the immature questions (and responses), but they can be avoided with relative ease. I absolutely don’t buy into the statements I’ve read here that “Kids are exposed to everything anyway – why should it be different here”. My children are not sheltered, but coming here would be a real eye opener to say the least.

My 14 year old son is a brilliant writer and loves to debate & discuss; he would enjoy it here. But, a few links to porn, some very objectifying comments, some really vulgar language and constant glorification of excessive drinking and drug use precludes me from inviting him to join in. It’s not wrong of jellies to talk freely; but my son is not mature enough yet to disseminate online how someone arrived at the conclusions they are espousing or the life-choices they are making. These are conversation for us to have as a family or for him to deal with in real time.

There is no easy answer, so each jelly will write what they want to, and go down whichever path they choose. Mods can only do so much and there’s no accounting for taste.

I’d love to think that the kids that are here would avoid the Q’s that pertain to topics beyond their scope; but then I’d be living in fantasy land! :)

@bythebay – I agree. I always feel bad when I see little AstroChuckie on the more “adult” questions. I feel we may have permanently warped his young mind.

@fireside No, constant exposure to AstroChuck has permanently warped our minds.

lol

@fireside & @Marina: I fear little AC may have been warped before he arrived here, and yes…we have been absorbed into the warp as well!

<—-Warbling: “Oh, what a warp-ed web he weaves . . .”

@Marina: You warble so beautifully…

What a wonderfully wacky warble. Weally.

Some, nay MOST of the silliest off topic answers I see are not brought by children.

To answer the question: No

I think there is value in adults interacting with kids/teens and vice versa. It gets you out of your silo, fosters maturity, helps you gain perspective.

As a kid, I preferred being with adults. I learned so much and saw the world differently than some of my more sheltered peers.

As an adult, I hope I always value the opinions and perspective of folks younger than me.

Wisdom comes in all ages.

Even if it were advisable, it would be impossible to enforce. You might ask everyone to send a copy of a birth certificate, but even if they did, the administrative costs would be enormous, and you’d never really know if it was a real or fake birth certificate. Once information is on the internet, it is impossible to enforce separation of information into child appropriate and adult. People can get internet nannies, but it is so easy to get around those, it isn’t funny. If the nanny were tight enough to be effective, you’d probably have only three sites you could go to: Disney, Sesame Street, and… well, I can’t think of another.

PBSKids.org is awesome!

IMHO, kids don’t really belong on fluther because of some of the content that has been discussed. I don’t want to have to censor myself because a twelve or thirteen year old might read it; I’m an adult, and I think I’ve earned the right to conduct myself like an adult, speak like an adult, and discuss adult topics. I’m not going to deny “kids” the right to fluther away, because they do add something valuable to the discussion some of the time, but other times, they don’t even have the life experience necessary to answer certain questions (this could be said of anyone, I suppose, but you see my point.) I’m not suggesting, by any means, that younger fluthers shouldn’t be here; I think the best way would be for them, or their parents, to be cautious of which questions they jump to and pay attention to, plain and simple.

@TitsMcGhee -
Except for me, of course.

@AstroChuck: Oh nooooo, you most of all!

Why does everyone feel a need to police everything and monitor every.last.friggin.detail. of a person’s activities online?

you know what: if your kid goes down the wrong aisle at barnes and noble, he might see some boobies. or the F word. or a book about gays. let’s put some thought police at the door to barnes and friggin noble too. and keep the kids outta the starbucks there, too, they might get overstimulated and flip out.

geez, parents your kids people, and don’t expect someone else to do it. yeah, i know it’ll be hard, because then only you can be blamed for them being f’d up, but i guess you’ll have to deal with it.

@eponymoushipster: You missed the point.

how so?

I’m not in the mood to rehash it; just read my diatribe above.

No, I think @eponymoushipster got the point right on.

You don’t want your kids exposed to things you don’t approve of. So you don’t allow your son on Fluther because you think he’s not ready. This is good parenting.

The idea of dividing Fluther into “adults’” and “children’s” Fluther is, in essence, placing the responsibility for parenting not on the parents but on the moderators. This is bad parenting.

Actually, that’s what bythebay was saying.

@fireside: LOL – thanks! And to clarify, it’s not that I think it’s bad parenting; that’s a completely individual decision that each parent has to make for their children (assuming they know they’re here). I’m sure there are some kids here that are not reading anything they’re not already familiar with. What I mean is that WE know they’re here, so I personally feel the need to monitor myself. Everyone else has to make their own choices.

But I agree that we cannot separate into different groups – that would ruin the ambiance of the Fluther.

@bythebay: I feel sorry that you feel you have to monitor yourself. I’d rather know what you truely think and to hear you say it in the words you think would express it best. As others have pointed out, we can’t protect the kids. We can only educate them to handle what is in the world.

@daloon: I do express myself in most cases, and as you know, I’m not one to hold my tongue. However, there are many threads I won’t even entertain posting on. Maybe it’s the Mom in me – who knows?

Well I certainly got a great response. Yes some of you are long time fluthers so us new arrivals may hit on things discussed in the past.
Overall I’m happy with fluther and as some respondents quite rightly say we have the right to monitor questions and any responses we may make for ourselves.
Some of you were a wee bit touchy, ok so I still respect your right to have an opinion even if I don’t always agree with it.
And don’t worry the kids, or young adults or whatever are no problem for me, and yes a bit of humour is good for the soul…
Thanks to you all for responding, elephant stamps for everyone!

Is AstroChuck really that bad? I think he just needs a wee hug…

Oh, he’s sooo bad. I can’t begin to tell you just how bad he is.

bad, bad chuckie

Why, once he…..

I better not tell you that story. Some things are better left in the deep, dank, dungeons of doom.

Some AC got what he deserved. Others say the wrong person served.

But he is extremely cute. Which, I suppose is why he gets away with so much.

@mij – I’m sure he’d let you hug his wee.