First of all, I don’t mean this post as a complaint, maybe more of a warning?
There is teenagers on the fediverse. Most of them don’t share their age, for hopefully obvious reasons. I’d say that a lot of the accounts which do a lot of posting/commenting are run by teenagers — because most adults probably wouldn’t have the time for that much posting.
While the young people of this generation are generally useless when it comes to something more complicated than microsoft word, the people who are good at technology, usually are very good at it.
most of my friends (most of which don’t know the difference between a laptop and a desktop) could understand the fediverse as a concept perfectly when I explained it to them irl.
So, if you’re in a really stupid argument with someone, try to remember that there is a small chance they are 14.
Teenagers now get banned if they tell their age anyway: [email protected]
To any teens who come across this post, do NOT admit you’re underage or were underage at time of account creation anywhere, anytime for any reason
It’s like Rule 1 of the internet.
Sincerely, The kids who grew alongside the internet since the 90s
I was totally above 13 or had parental consent when I went to forums in the early 2000s. I totally wasn’t actually 9.
It’s wild to me this concept disappeared? It’s literally never been a good idea to reveal you’re a minor online. The laws are against you. Companies don’t want to deal with a curated minor experience, even less so in the current times. If they do, you get the crappier version of things.
The worst thing to happen to the Internet is when Facebook normalized using your real name and real info online.
I agree. The main thing is teenagers wanting to discuss stuff about them, like on r/teenagers on reddit.
If it’s anything like Reddit, it would devolve into being mostly creepy adults.
Duh, I was born in 1901, why do you ask?
A/S/L
14/f/under your floorboards
Even if the instance doesn’t have any rules about it?
That is not Fediverse specific. That’s general internet behaviour.
And what’s the problem with that?
Laws don’t currently make a concession for federated social media. If the law in an instance’s jurisdiction says that users on a platform must be of a certain age, then for practical/enforcement purposes it makes no difference if they’re local or federated.
FWIW, I also ban people under age 18 on my instance (local and federated). Obviously I can’t know everyone’s age, but if someone offers it and I become aware, and it’s below the minimum age set in our policy, then they’re banned until they’re of age - simple as that.
I’m in the US, so 13 is the minimum age by law for most services (COPPA), and there’s various grumblings to increase the age specifically for social media, so I’m playing it safe with 18 which is the age you’re legally considered an adult.
Considering some of the stuff that gets posted here (legitimately and via bad actors), then my legal liabilities are less as I’m going out of my way to only serve adults on the platform. Mind you, I’m running this as a hobby / volunteer and do not have a team of lawyers on hand.
Meh. At least pretending to be an adult feels like a pretty low bar.
Nobody should pretend and nobody should have to li
Also, nobody should volunteer age info for no reason… Esp under age crowd. Fucking pedos everywhere