Under 18? Please Read

[Terry57]

First, I'd like to say how happy we are to have teens as a part of the PF family.
You are the next generation of bird lovers, and we are so glad that you found us and decided to stay.

We also want to make this as safe a place as we can for our teens. With that in mind, there is a rule that has been put in place.

**If you are under 18 please don't put your age anywhere on the forum. This includes your profile, signature, birth year and posting.
We will remove any ages that are posted.
(Age 17 will be allowed on a case by case basis)

The following are things we strongly recommend:

1. Don't share any personal info with anyone, on the open forum or privately.
This would include your email, your address, your phone number - anything that would identify you.
People are not always who they say they are, and it's always better to be safe than sorry.

2. If anyone makes you feel uncomfortable by something they have said to you, please let one of the Mods know what's going on. We are all here for you, so please don't hesitate to tell one of us via PM.

@Terry57 @saxguy64 @Cottonoid @wrench13

 

[Cottonoid]

I've been blabbing on the internet since the 90s and I don't think I've previously been part of a forum that works so hard to make sure ALL members are welcome - and definitely not one as diverse as we are. Well done

 

[clark_conure]

I'm just gonna devils advocate here....not a hill am going to die on, but sometimes we get a 15 yo thats like I wanna get a maccaw that...literally might out live them and they are going to college and the bird is rehomed time and time again.....

I'd be more the rule...to not try to contact other than the bulletin board OR maybe ban private messages... to younger members.... but we all know we get the 13 yo or 16 yo that wants a rainbow macaw or a cockatoo and we need to say um.......here are some facts....

As I said I'd block PMs, but allow them to say how old they are so, we can say um....no your not the right person OR at least have the MODS be able to say um...that.

Just a thought.

 

[Cottonoid]

I think there are ways for a poster to convey their life stage without disclosing their age, though. Like (common is US at least) still in school; living with parents; don't yet have solo income; etc etc

 

[clark_conure]

I think there are ways for a poster to convey their life stage without disclosing their age, though. Like (common is US at least) still in school; living with parents; don't yet have solo income; etc etc

THIS is also fine....I just want to look out for the parrot, that's what the site is about. Good thinking Cottonoid!

 

[clark_conure]

So if they (a minor) don't read the disclaimer and come on "hi everybody I'm 15 and I'm looking at a rainbow macaw and I'm checking it out Friday" do the mods delete the post or do they contact the new person and say hey um don't say your age....don't say where you live....you can say your still in high school; no that doesn't work does it... um I don't know; I think this will be hard to enforce on any new kid that gets excited about a parrot. If there is a way to block or read/censor private messages then that might be more effective. And if a creep is on the board; easy to ban. It's like saying parrot forums is 18+ only. It really is saying that.

I'm just thinking about it, and we had the kid got birthday-ed a parrot like a few days ago and we all were like wtf?... these situations will happen. Blocking PMs I think is a better way to go about it, if it's possible.

I didn't think it was this much of a problem, I've seen spam but never grooming on the board.

I don't know I'm sure you no more than I do about it, but it just seems weird. I'd look block pm's first.

 

[clark_conure]

not ban but EDIT their post....................that I'm ok with Mods take out age .....totally ok with editing post.

 

[LaManuka]

This particular thread was written with the online safety of minors on the Forums at front of mind. Naturally we are all concerned about the welfare of parrots, but that's a given on any thread regardless of the age of the owner. What we are saying here is that younger members should refrain from mentioning their age in profiles or in their posts, and that the post or profile itself may have to be edited to remove that information if it appears, in the interests of their online safety. Posts won't be deleted or younger members banned simply because of the their age. To the best of our knowledge we have not had anything untoward happen on the Forums as yet, we just want to do what we can to help safeguard younger members, and indeed all of our members, from anything like that happening here.

 

[StormyPica]

So if they (a minor) don't read the disclaimer and come on "hi everybody I'm 15 and I'm looking at a rainbow macaw and I'm checking it out Friday" do the mods delete the post or do they contact the new person and say hey um don't say your age....don't say where you live....you can say your still in high school; no that doesn't work does it... um I don't know; I think this will be hard to enforce on any new kid that gets excited about a parrot. If there is a way to block or read/censor private messages then that might be more effective. And if a creep is on the board; easy to ban. It's like saying parrot forums is 18+ only. It really is saying that.

I'm just thinking about it, and we had the kid got birthday-ed a parrot like a few days ago and we all were like wtf?... these situations will happen. Blocking PMs I think is a better way to go about it, if it's possible.

I didn't think it was this much of a problem, I've seen spam but never grooming on the board.

I don't know I'm sure you no more than I do about it, but it just seems weird. I'd look block pm's first.

Private messages should stay private. I have a PM with some other younger members, and we sometimes talk about more personal stuff (mental health issues, etc.) that we wouldn't want the whole mod team viewing 24/7. And PF is pretty much the only place we can all, chat, as we are all from different parts of the world and have different online resources available. Blocking PMs wouldn't give us that ability to chat and connect with one another.

I honestly don't even know why ANYONE would give all their info to someone who just PM'd them out of the blue. My friends and I trust each other a lot, but we still don't share super-private info outside of age (and that's still only once we trust each other). It just doesn't seem like anything a sane person would do. And I personally wouldn't like our PM's monitored or banned.

We trust the mods fully, and would come to them with any issues we have, and I can say the same for a lot of people on here. It's just a thing of trusting the mods, and having some common sense.

Edit: And restricting PM's for kids just sounds kind of...odd? Like, a 15 or 25 year old can be even more "predator blind" than a 13 year old. Maybe the mods should have to approve who we PM, but it should still be an option to us.

 

[StormyPica]

Just my two cents

 

[clark_conure]

This particular thread was written with the online safety of minors on the Forums at front of mind. Naturally we are all concerned about the welfare of parrots, but that's a given on any thread regardless of the age of the owner. What we are saying here is that younger members should refrain from mentioning their age in profiles or in their posts, and that the post or profile itself may have to be edited to remove that information if it appears, in the interests of their online safety. Posts won't be deleted or younger members banned simply because of the their age. To the best of our knowledge we have not had anything untoward happen on the Forums as yet, we just want to do what we can to help safeguard younger members, and indeed all of our members, from anything like that happening here.

I agree with the premise I just don't know how you stop the kids.....I'd look more to stop any predators. The kids are gonna love the idea of parrots and there is no stopping them posting kid nonsense. But you don't want to discourage that. You want to be able to engage in parrot related things. I'd look after more monitoring things.

Not my hill to die on, but I'm thinking lets not put the onus on the kids, and moderated them........ maybe guide them, maybe edit them....but lets look at how we can protect them by just being vigilant. I don't think the boards are a hot spot but if they were I and everyone on here would be posting to mods immediately.

 

[clark_conure]

Anyways I have to open my business tomorrow so I'm out; but I hope you all discuss it some more, you don't want parrot forums to be an 18+ website, also I agree we must protect kids, and fids.......I think you and us need to maybe come up with a more open and yet secure Idea for younger members.

 

[saxguy64]

It seems that there's a lot of reading more into this thread than just the intended bit of information and guidance. In the interest of safety, obviously vigilance is key, and part of that is avoiding the advertising of young members' age. We do monitor the goings on across the forum to the best of our ability, and hope it's enough. The harsh reality is that there ARE predator types all over the internet, trolling for potential young, naive victims, so something as simple as not disclosing their age vastly decreases the chances of being noticed and targeted by them. Then, of course, the recommendation to never reveal personally identifying or contact information is another layer of protection. Honestly, it's good practice for everyone on the internet, not just young people.

 

[StormyPica]

It seems that there's a lot of reading more into this thread than just the intended bit of information and guidance. In the interest of safety, obviously vigilance is key, and part of that is avoiding the advertising of young members' age. We do monitor the goings on across the forum to the best of our ability, and hope it's enough. The harsh reality is that there ARE predator types all over the internet, trolling for potential young, naive victims, so something as simple as not disclosing their age vastly decreases the chances of being noticed and targeted by them. Then, of course, the recommendation to never reveal personally identifying or contact information is another layer of protection. Honestly, it's good practice for everyone on the internet, not just young people.

Yeah, sorry about that! Although, reading more into things than intended is in our instincts as parronts. Parrots are not to be trusted under any circumstances, not matter how good they appear to be!

 

[texsize]

It's a difficult problem.
we don't want young kinds lured by " help me find my puppy" type scams where puppy is changed to "parrot".

 

[Rozalka]

To be honest I'm not sure why age is as so private information. I understand all other personal data - somebody may use somewhere your surname, phone number, email etc.... but age? IMO it's a bit like to forbid sharing your irl name. Sure, some people don't even want to share it, I respect it.
It's just my opinion, I respect your rules. Recently we have definitely more children than when I joined, so some extra rules for them are understandable

 

[StormyPica]

To be honest I'm not sure why age is as so private information. I understand all other personal data - somebody may use somewhere your surname, phone number, email etc.... but age? IMO it's a bit like to forbid sharing your irl name. Sure, some people don't even want to share it, I respect it.
It's just my opinion, I respect your rules. Recently we have definitely more children than when I joined, so some extra rules for them are understandable

It is much more important that you not share location, phone number, email (unless you REALLY trust that person), etc.

I think age is just a concern because it can "motivate" predators? If you say you're a 21 year old man or even a 13 year old boy, they you are less likely to have that stuff happening to you, but if you are a 13 year old girl, or are AFAB, then it is more likely that a predator will choose you to "prey" on. And, since we already share our genders openly on here, keeping age private is perfectly reasonable.

 

[saxguy64]

It is much more important that you not share location, phone number, email (unless you REALLY trust that person), etc.

I think age is just a concern because it can "motivate" predators? If you say you're a 21 year old man or even a 13 year old boy, they you are less likely to have that stuff happening to you, but if you are a 13 year old girl, or are AFAB, then it is more likely that a predator will choose you to "prey" on. And, since we already share our genders openly on here, keeping age private is perfectly reasonable.

Exactly. While we haven't seen any issues with it so far, and hope we never do, why not do everything we can to reduce the chances?

 

[Rozalka]

It is much more important that you not share location, phone number, email (unless you REALLY trust that person), etc.

I think age is just a concern because it can "motivate" predators? If you say you're a 21 year old man or even a 13 year old boy, they you are less likely to have that stuff happening to you, but if you are a 13 year old girl, or are AFAB, then it is more likely that a predator will choose you to "prey" on. And, since we already share our genders openly on here, keeping age private is perfectly reasonable.

I think in this case hiding our gender would be more effective to prevent it. Maybe there's a big risk difference between 13 and 16 y/o but you still can write "I am at primary/high school" and it may reveal if you are more or less before being an adult. If you are 14 or 15 y/o it shouldn't make a bigger difference for such "predator".

If I understand correctly what you mean by "predator", I've already been "attacked" by such person on another site and I don't see it as a big problem - he was immediately banned after writing these things to me. Another thing is when you decide to meet somebody irl... but without sharing other personal data it's impossible, so all people here are just online friends who you can report to supermoderators to ban somebody who decides to attack.

Just my opinion, I have nothing against this rule (especially nothing because I'm over 18)

Edit: Sure, different people react to such massages in different ways. Especially the young children may feel more hurt.

 

[texsize]

Your Date of birth can open up lots of things.
Prescription drugs waiting for pickup.
Lots of Dr offices use DOB as a key identifier.

Of course this issue isn’t limited to under 18.