Boonex site age limit

Hi folks,

I'm gonna sound like this topic is a BIG deal, it really isn't and overall I don't really care but I think we should re-think the age limit requirement for joining the Boonex site. (This site)

The current age limit for signup to Boonex.com is 18 years and all though I can understand why the age limit is what it is however I feel that myself and generally anyone else who shares the passion that I do towards coding is at a disadvantage by not allowing young minds into the community.

I know maybe the more mature adults and staff might dislike the concept of "minors" from taking part in the community but I feel that most coders in my age group are generally nice and mature people, there will always be immature brats among us. :P But I know for sure that their are even bigger brats that are older then I am.

I don't think I've fully introduced myself to everyone when I signed up to Boonex so I'll be quick to tell you I'm currently 17 however I was 16 when I joined Boonex community and that I've been doing web based coding since I was 10 so I do know my stuff. :)

And my reason for saying this is because I think a lot of Boonex users might be considered geeks? web-junkies? Lol I don't mean to stereotype or put anyone down, but I think we all would at least be familiar with basic webhosting and functions at the LEAST!

But regardless of our age here, we share the same passion, the same passion that drives Boonex Team. The passion to create communities and contribute to a community that supports us. And my point is that regardless of age or sex we are here to contribute to the internet.

I think there wouldn't be much need to continue further debating. I myself was forced to set my age back a few years so I could join but I think there shouldn't of been any need for it.

I think the cut for acceptable ages should be from 15??? at least!

Why?

Because that way you keep the kiddies out but let mature and knowledgeable coders in!

Which is a good idea, since a lot of young coders don't work and have a lot of time on their hands to code meaning that there would be more contribution to the Boonex Community.

I'll repeat, this isn't a big deal but it's just my 2 cents on the topic.

Thanks, feel free to share your thoughts!

Prince, I've seen your posts around the forums and I'm living proof that older members can be more immature than the younger ones.  I don't think it's so much a maturity issue, if it was I'd of been banned long ago, as it is on different areas.

1.  Many members of Unity own Adult oriented sites and we often toss the links around when help is needed, it would create a world of donkey excrement for anyone who unintentionally passed one to a minor.  At least with minors lieing about their age, we can claim ignorance to a point.  With you, I can not. 

2.  Minors are not eligible/capable of entering into legal contracts, only those who have reached the age of majority in their respective country can enter into a legal contract.  Now, in the US that age is 18, I don't know about the other countries but to many companies defer to the US limits as it keeps them safe since the US is often one of the hardest/strictest countries on enforcing laws.

We can continue on this, but I believe that is UnoBoonex's reason for setting the age at 18.  Of course, it could just be a default thing that has never been thought about. 

Here's a very clever way around that issue, that many people have discovered:

Lie about your age.

Ordinarily, I would charge a hefty consulting fee for that information, but since you're new here, I'll waive that fee.

Haha thanks houstonlively, I know lying works its just however something I don't feel that I should HAVE to in this case.

And thank you for waiving the fee. :P

Mydatery I agree with you with 100% of what you just said I understand about protecting minors and by doing so in order to protect minors the age limit is what it is.

However, I still think that a community that makes communities can be a community of all ages, I strongly feel that yes, maybe there should be mature forums isolated from the community for legal adults. So my proposal is that members over 18+ can view certain forums that discuss social networking sites that are deemed for persons over 18?

Coming from a coder's prospective I can think of a few ways that we can keep the site clean but yet open to minors. :)

Here's a few off the top of my head.

-Forum access determined by age to certain forums.

-Boonex runs a URL masking service (eg: tinyurl) where all links posted are masked by boonex system which are then checked for age before redirecting.

Another way to do it is by the license page where you set a category which your community fits under (such as adult, porn) and when the link is posted on the forum it's invisible to minors. :)