Certain portions of the forum have been know to get a little..... "Risque" think that's teh classy way of saying we're pervs....

I saw a post by Jacks that did make me think... anyone can come to the forums and read what's there... should we move the more "adult" oriented comments and threads to an age restricted part of the forum so as to not "corrupt" any minors that may stumble across the site? Not limit the entire site but make the more adult conversations that spring up harder for the younger set to get to. Either that or place a disclaimer in threads or sub forums that adult conversations are in place and warn newcomers to the fact that hey we're people and we talk like regular people so they don't get the wrong impression. I mean if I stumbled across this site not knowing any of you, I would be taken aback a bit by some of our conversations being so frank until I got settled in, but I'd get over it... I know others that would turn off their PC and run screaming from the room...

I never thought about age limits.

As far as newcomers - I think they need to see what we're made of. If they run screaming, they run. If they stick around, like BamaMan and Redwing030, they're in for the long haul! It takes a special type to stick around here and face what's inside of (most) all of us.

We don't want to sugarcoat it. Humanity is ugly. Here we are free to discuss the ugliness of humanity in an enjoyable manner. Some places don't allow that. Those who may run from here are welcome to post in more stringent environments.

Perhaps we should give some thought to age limits. How would we enforce it, though?

Enforcement Not sure... there is an age portion of the member info we might be able to do a tag on that.

We could always do a discalimer on threads or sub forums that go a little blue...

I'm almost almost certain the Admin can do this. We did this when I was SuperMod on another InvisionFree board.

I'm in clayharryman's camp: I'd hate to see hidden forums here for the reasons he's noted and also so that adult guests won't think we're hiding worse from them: you know, gossiping about what goes on at other boards.

I think disclaimers are an excellent idea, though!




oh, yeah...can someone direct me to our blue threads, please? :eyebrows:

I think age restrictions aren't so good, simply because I don't think these conversations "corrupt" kids. Anything they're not ready to hear will go over their heads, and anything else, well, frankly I don't think extra information is bad.
Okay, it might freak some kids out, and then they don't come by the boards anymore. That's what I would have done about...two and a half years ago...

I can see that many teenaged members of another Christian board to which I belong are more likely to be made to feel like second-class members than to benefit from age restrictions, and I don't care for that a bit. In our society, teenagers are so rarely treated with the respect due to them that I think it's better to give them the same option we oldsters have: to leave if we don't care to read about or discuss a subject.
Plus, the most exciting and immediate benefit I derived from struggling to learn to use my PC and to reach a good message board was having all these great young people to learn from (many of them are brighter than I) and to just hang out with.
My internet MB boss is eighteen or nineteen now, and I've been working for her on one board or another since she was fifteen. I've always looked up to, respected her, and have been very fond of her, and just the thought of restricting her from reading certain materials is ludicrous!
I wouldn't want to see FHL lose members like her because we adopted condescending, ageist policies, even with the best motivation.
I think disclaimers would work out the best, and for members of all ages.
We could use the film rating system, since everyone is familiar with it?

It sounds like you're the one with the more recent personal experience of being young , though, Mandy...
Does what I've posted make sense to you?

Makes perfect sense, and I agree :D

Coolness! Now I know I'm on the right track. :)

Just reading this now, but I didn't want you to feel like some ole fuddy duddy. I agree w/ your assement,and that's all I'll say!