Age Limit

[martanewbie]

Wow !!! You are wise well beyond your years young man
You have taught me a thing or two and i am old enough to be your nan !! xxxx

 

[j.w]

I'm not putting my age up so if this becomes a new rule, I'm gonna lie

 

[Sunshine]

I'm not putting my age up so if this becomes a new rule, I'm gonna lie

I'm right there with ya

 

[martanewbie]

I am 29 plus vat !!!

 

[AlyssaFish]

As a personal opinion, I do not feel that it is fair to ask anyone to put their age on display in public like that. Anyone who comes online seeking advice should be aware that the person they're getting it from might not be an expert (even if they sound knowledgeable and articulate). Additionally, it's not logical to assume that someone is less knowledgeable about a topic simply because they're young. Obtaining knowledge is about study, something a person of any age can do. That's why you get adults who struggle to help their grade school kids on math homework. How much knowledge a person has is about their proximity to it--how much they pursue it--not about their age. You might be inviting people to ignore good advice from the Fish Guy simply because they see his age.

Finally, and most importantly, it can be dangerous for a kid to publicly advertise their age online. This is a friendly forum full of great people, but there is no guarantee that less savory types might make their way onto this forum. I personally feel like is unnecessarily risky to ask the Fish Guy to display his age, and I do not think the concern that other people might unwittingly take advice from a kid is a big enough concern to justify potentially putting him at risk. Especially as he has already proven that he has an honest, trusting nature.

The laws about children not being on forums is there to protect the children, not to protect people from following potentially ignorant advice--or to protect experts from being annoyed at non-experts for providing bad advice.

I say let him stay on the good faith that he's been honest and that his parents know he's online, but don't ask him to share his age with everyone. It just seems wrong to me.

 

[TheFishGuy]

As a personal opinion, I do not feel that it is fair to ask anyone to put their age on display in public like that. Anyone who comes online seeking advice should be aware that the person they're getting it from might not be an expert (even if they sound knowledgeable and articulate). Additionally, it's not logical to assume that someone is less knowledgeable about a topic simply because they're young. Obtaining knowledge is about study, something a person of any age can do. That's why you get adults who struggle to help their grade school kids on math homework. How much knowledge a person has is about their proximity to it--how much they pursue it--not about their age. You might be inviting people to ignore good advice from the Fish Guy simply because they see his age.

Finally, and most importantly, it can be dangerous for a kid to publicly advertise their age online. This is a friendly forum full of great people, but there is no guarantee that less savory types might make their way onto this forum. I personally feel like is unnecessarily risky to ask the Fish Guy to display his age, and I do not think the concern that other people might unwittingly take advice from a kid is a big enough concern to justify potentially putting him at risk. Especially as he has already proven that he has an honest, trusting nature.

The laws about children not being on forums is there to protect the children, not to protect people from following potentially ignorant advice--or to protect experts from being annoyed at non-experts for providing bad advice.

I say let him stay on the good faith that he's been honest and that his parents know he's online, but don't ask him to share his age with everyone. It just seems wrong to me.

I have to agree with this, although I do not want to cause any controversy among this great community, so I would rather just do as people have suggested.

 

[GBBUDD]

Some how i think it would be the scammer with this young man who would need the help. I don't think he could fall for any of the bs. In todays world NO ONE is safe not even if your made out of brass or marble.

 

[TheFishGuy]

I have decided to keep the age, and just embed it in with a bunch of info about my ponds, so if someone really cares who they are getting the info from, they can know, but it they dont then they dont need to know,

and honestly if I were a catfish ( no pun intended ) online, the last place I would look to find susceptible little kids would be on a garden pond fourm.

 

[addy1]

the last place I would look to find susceptible little kids would be on a garden pond fourm.

From the way you talk, type, share info, I doubt you are a susceptible little kid.

 

[TheFishGuy]

From the way you talk, type, share info, I doubt you are a susceptible little kid.

probaby not so susceptible, but I deffinitly let my gaurd down more on a freindly site like this vs the youtube comments section

 

[addy1]

You should be fine, but one off comment, just let me or Ian know. Send a report.

Ponders are different people, love nature, calm, outdoorsy. lol Well most are calm

 

[Ian]

I'm going to lock this thread now as I think we've solved it and don't think we need to make a big issue of it, but I've disabled sending and receiving PMs on your account @TheFishGuy - but we can remove that limitation when you're 13. I think it's a sensible precaution so that all interactions on the site are public. When you're 13, you can use the "contact" link on the site to let me know and I can remove the restriction easily .