Specific Identification for Minors

[Kassiani]

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a moderator for a different online forum community. It is a vastly different topic than birds. If any of the Staff here (staff only, please) would like the details, please do not hesitate to send me a private message, and I will be happy to discuss it with you

That said, for this other community, new members are asked their birthdates upon registration. If the new member is a minor, their user name appears as a slightly different color than that of a regular, adult member. We have found that this alerts the other members that they should not have the same expectations of this member as they would an adult. It alerts the administrative volunteers to keep an eye out on the young person, and the regular members tend to treat the young person with more kindness, compassion, and understanding.

I do not know what sort of IT support is available for this site, but thought I would at least make this suggestion.

 

[Karen]

I would think that if an identification was publically done you would also have to close down private messages to them to provide safety for them.

 

[Arin]

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a moderator for a different online forum community. It is a vastly different topic than birds. If any of the Staff here (staff only, please) would like the details, please do not hesitate to send me a private message, and I will be happy to discuss it with you

That said, for this other community, new members are asked their birthdates upon registration. If the new member is a minor, their user name appears as a slightly different color than that of a regular, adult member. We have found that this alerts the other members that they should not have the same expectations of this member as they would an adult. It alerts the administrative volunteers to keep an eye out on the young person, and the regular members tend to treat the young person with more kindness, compassion, and understanding.

I do not know what sort of IT support is available for this site, but thought I would at least make this suggestion.

Wow I totally agree! I get bashed quite a lot for the small mistakes and this idea is so good. People just assume quickly that I am 30 years old

 

[Kassiani]

I would think that if an identification was publically done you would also have to close down private messages to them to provide safety for them.

Yes, we do something similar. The only people who can communicate with minors via PM are the administrative staff.

 

[Karen]

Yes, we do something similar. The only people who can communicate with minors via PM are the administrative staff.

I like that protection.

 

[Kassiani]

Wow I totally agree! I get bashed quite a lot for the small mistakes and this idea is so good. People just assume quickly that I am 30 years old

I'm so sorry you had to experience that on a forum about birds. Please know that you can Ignore members if you would like to for your own protection and peace of mind. Please do take good care!

 

[Arin]

I'm so sorry you had to experience that on a forum about birds. Please know that you can Ignore members if you would like to for your own protection and peace of mind. Please do take good care!

Aww, thanks! Yeah it was mentally draining but I just need to ignore them. Again thanks for the kind words!

 

[itzmered]

We will not be designating who minors are. It opens up to much risk for people to target them. In fact we do not allow minors to state their age either and we edit any posts with their age in it.
The issue we seem to be having lately is long term members totally forgetting what it is like to be a new bird owner. It doesn’t matter if the individual is a minor or not things have been getting out of hand with way some members are treating others.