Minimum Age To Use The Internet?

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

I wonder, then, as the generation that grew up with the internet begins to have children, if we will begin to see a new breed of young internet users who have been taught their internet Ps and Qs along with where they were supposed to put their desert forks. I don't know many but I do know a few 12 year olds that seem reasonably mature in real life and I suspect that if I ran in the correct social circles (hanging out in front of the middle school, hanging out in the arcade, hanging out in the McDonald's ball pit) I know even more.

I think it's unreasonable for us to expect young internet users to behave in ways that they have never been taught to behave. Currently, other, older internet users are teaching younger ones how to behave and it sort of works but it's the situation we have now where there's that adaptation time that seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way. Which is why it would be nice to have parents teach internet manners while they're teaching table manners. Hell, we're teaching kids not to be friends with Suki on Myspace, why can't we teach them where the caps lock button is?

I agree that that's basically the situation we have now, but I don't agree that it works. Teenagers, lesbians my alleged age, and advertisement bots are all very much minorities on my friends list. The ones who aren't creepy older men are nonetheless dudes who are older than me, usually in their 20's, who talk like complete retards. Their writing style is completely different from what they'd put on a resume or a letter to grandma, so they know what they're doing. They're writing like morons intentionally. They must be.
Similarly, I think there's very little correlation between being taught how to use proper writing mechanics and actually putting it to use. My 14-year old sister writes totally coherent, grammatically correct essays for her english classes, but her writing style changes completely when she's sending a text message or a personal email. I've pulled her into my room once and asked her to read aloud the text message she had just sent me, and she was had trouble even saying it. The content was obvious, but the way she said it wasn't even the way she'd talk, much less the way she'd write in a paper for class. And she's generally smarter than her peers. On the other hand, I've always typed properly because that's just the way I've come to do things. It seems to me that the sort of people who would type like retards will simply do so, regardless of how well they're taught how to do things properly.

[MattKestrel]

Maybe an age limit isn't the way to go about this, for ampersand's reasons and others.

What if, when signing up to forums like these, after a certain period of time, say a week or longer, it would be up to the moderator's discretion as to whether they can stay on the community or are kicked from the site. Not like just banning someone, but an automatic initiation that members have to go through. I don't think this'd be any harder to manage than an age restriction (if we got a system of PM alerts going to admins and stuff), and it'd probably be fairer on the joiner. Especially if they're told that this is the standard process in the terms and conditions.

I mean, that would make a lot more sense to me, and it'd let you weed out the immature without being as, erm, rude about it? Probably the wrong word, but w/e.

Of course, this would only be feasible with small communities such as metanet, and the biggest problem would be that people could easily bypass the system y simply waiting a week. However, if this is by an admin's discretion, it'd probably be fairer than something rigidly based on age or other details.

[Ampersand]

It seems to me that the sort of people who would type like retards will simply do so, regardless of how well they're taught how to do things properly.

Well, to a great extent, yes. But I attribute some of my parents' lessons to how I grew up - Nature vs. Nurture is never either; it's some combination thereof. So yes, there are a good number of people who would deny or outright rebel against it, but I feel like I was brought up right, even in a sickeningly dysfunctional environment. And perhaps there's an entire half of my upbringing that I'm not attributing to nature, but should that stop us from trying? I'd say no.

By that same token, some of the most brilliant men (Whom I actually respect[ed] a lot) type like retards, and do nothing but troll. It is quite intentional, and I dunno what to do about those guys except berate them and never give them staff spots her.... Oh, wait. Shit.

There are worse things than being unintelligent, Ampersand.

What topic are we in? Last I checked, we were in a topic specifically referring to intelligence and a distinct lack thereof.

[jean-luc]

Maybe an age limit isn't the way to go about this, for ampersand's reasons and others.

What if, when signing up to forums like these, after a certain period of time, say a week or longer, it would be up to the moderator's discretion as to whether they can stay on the community or are kicked from the site. Not like just banning someone, but an automatic initiation that members have to go through. I don't think this'd be any harder to manage than an age restriction (if we got a system of PM alerts going to admins and stuff), and it'd probably be fairer on the joiner. Especially if they're told that this is the standard process in the terms and conditions.

I mean, that would make a lot more sense to me, and it'd let you weed out the immature without being as, erm, rude about it? Probably the wrong word, but w/e.

Of course, this would only be feasible with small communities such as metanet, and the biggest problem would be that people could easily bypass the system y simply waiting a week. However, if this is by an admin's discretion, it'd probably be fairer than something rigidly based on age or other details.

This seems like the best solution, because it lives it up to human discretion, which can make decidedly better decisions than any straightforward rule like a minimum age.

[Rhekatou]

Maybe an age limit isn't the way to go about this, for ampersand's reasons and others.

What if, when signing up to forums like these, after a certain period of time, say a week or longer, it would be up to the moderator's discretion as to whether they can stay on the community or are kicked from the site. Not like just banning someone, but an automatic initiation that members have to go through. I don't think this'd be any harder to manage than an age restriction (if we got a system of PM alerts going to admins and stuff), and it'd probably be fairer on the joiner. Especially if they're told that this is the standard process in the terms and conditions.

I mean, that would make a lot more sense to me, and it'd let you weed out the immature without being as, erm, rude about it? Probably the wrong word, but w/e.

Of course, this would only be feasible with small communities such as metanet, and the biggest problem would be that people could easily bypass the system y simply waiting a week. However, if this is by an admin's discretion, it'd probably be fairer than something rigidly based on age or other details.

sounds sorta like mine... :P