Wrt Discord, if we're going with the American movie ratings analogy, we're currently at PG-13. Porn is NC-17. There's a nice, happy medium of R in there, which is what I imagine we'll aim for.
The world online is a scary, scary place. Sex trafficking is huge. I dont like having to restrict anything- but I do want to minimize anyones ability to hurt a kid
One further question: What is there to guarantee this age requirement doesn't keep getting changed? Will we be revisiting this topic again if it's decided content is only appropriate for 21yo+ or when people decide it's no longer appropriate for 40yo+s hanging out with 18yos?
since the age requirement is changing, I thought it might be a good place to talk about the language used to talk about the community, specifically the use of the term/phrase "family friendly." Instead of being inclusionary, "family-friendly" is often used to promote a very particular, 'traditional' heteronormative, cis-gendered, opposite-sex spouses with children kind of family; i.e., it is exclusionary. Said another way, family-friendly is code for members of the Queer/LGBTQ+ Community need not apply. I'm not saying that the community supports it, as it clearly does not, but that the language used to describe expectations is unintentionally coded.
I understand the desire to have some shorthand for no swearing, etc., but there are ways of stating that requirement that don't have a history of exclusion. In fact, it could be easier to explicitly state what kind of language is and isn't allowed.
Instead of American movie ratings, perhaps using video game ratings would be easier. Or simply a two-letter system such as "C" and "M" where "C" is for community, as in all members' posts have to be respectful of certain limits like no swearing. And "M," where mature content is allowed, and anyone using that forum/thread implicitly agrees to that condition by entering said thread/forum.
+1Yeah, uhm, this whole discussion is very confusing to some of us, and a very foreign concept, just saying
Whatever is decided on regarding ratings and language and whatever, please try to keep it easy to understand. I for one have almost stopped posting in the general areas and the Tower discord (considering my activity level I don't post often). This is highly due to me being sick of censoring myself and second guessing if a joke or a topic is okay or not. I would definitely feel more included and welcome if I could talk more freely, and I'm probably not the only one 🤷♀️
So yeah, please make it easy to understand for everyone at the very least. Preferably loosen up the rules a bit
And yay for the age requirement change. It's a good call.
I feel like this question is based in the assumption that the age requirement change was arbitrary. However, it wasn't arbitrary, to my knowledge: It very specifically restricted site membership to the age of legal adulthood in the United States, where the group is incorporated, or required parental consent for someone under that age to join the site. That's a specific remedy to a specific set of issues (e.g., liability, exposure of minors to certain content). So I'm not sure why it would seem likely that it would form the basis to any arbitrary change.
People have no reason to be uncomfortable talking to people above the age of 18 because they are not children, though. That's the difference.
“When are you really an adult?”
It is a question that has possessed both poets and lawmakers.
But there is not much clarity in state laws. In Alaska, teenagers as young as 14 can get married with a court order. Only a handful of states allow drinking under 21 and that is under strict circumstances, like when a parent or legal guardian is present.
Eighteen-year-old adults can run for office, go to strip clubs, be sentenced to life in prison, and volunteer to go to war or be drafted, but as of last December, they cannot vape or smoke tobacco products.
And since 1984, when states began raising the legal age of drinking to 21 from 18 in exchange for federal highway funds — in some cases barely a decade after lowering it — they have not been able to buy a beer at a bar in most of the United States, a restriction that has infuriated college students ever since.
“If 18-year-olds are burdened with the responsibility of adulthood, they should be afforded some of its privileges,” said Charlotte Lawson, a 21-year-old fourth-year student at the University of Virginia who wrote an opinion piece in the campus paper in 2018 calling for the drinking age to be lowered from 21.
“It’s interesting these are people who work full-time jobs, pay their own rent, pay taxes and are eligible to vote,” she said. “Yet none of this constitutes adequate proof that a person is responsible enough to drink.”
===
The scientific consensus that most brains do not fully develop until age 25 has led to a host of reforms in the criminal justice system and reexaminations about how society should punish young adults. But it has also fed the confusion over what young adults should be allowed to do when scientists know that they use less restraint and discipline than older people, said Warren Binford, a law professor at Willamette University and founder of the school’s Child and Family Advocacy Clinic.
“We’re constantly trying to balance the rights to protection and the rights to participation,” said Ms. Binford. “We are a society that loves its liberty, but we’re also a society that recognizes that children are unique and special and deserving of protection.”
-When Do You Become An Adult, NYT,
By Nicole Daniels
Feb. 6, 2020
If you're going based on the idea that the required age to join the site is directly related to the average age of the existing membership, that absolutely holds true. I get what you're saying.My question is based on that our average membership age is around 34. As the average age grows, so too does the difference between it and 18yo. If the age requirement to join is changed to 18 then it can be changed to any age deemed appropriate to make the entire community comfortable.
It would not surprise me at all if, somewhere down the road, someone brought up how much drinking tends to go on at Anni parties and the Spring Fling and claimed that no 18 year old should be exposed to it given the current political climate here in the States and the pushback we're seeing with regards to normal adult behavior and autonomy. ...I would however, be quite disappointed at the caving to outside pressures.
I was literally typing this post when you posted, and hit where I was aiming. It's not an unfounded concern, at least for in-person events.
However, for membership on the site itself, I don't see the masses trying to raise the minimum age to 21 because it's not like we're going to be drinking in a virtual setting.