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IMPORTANT: Regarding under-13s and COPPA.

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kuzronk

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Why did COPPA just get used from now and not from the start though and will this forum be a bit more mature?
 

Sydian

fake your death.
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I don't recommend running around with your age set to 9, by the way. Someone will probably report you and if a staff member that doesn't know you're not 9 sees that report, they'll ban you and then that'd just lead to unnecessary complications.
 

kuzronk

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I thought that would be the case.
Just changed my age then but I'm likely not the only one who will change their age as a joke.
 

Sydian

fake your death.
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Well, then the joke will be on them if they get banned. lol I don't recommend it. It's one thing if you're an older well known member, like Logiedan, and you have the wrong age set. We know Logie isn't really 2, even if he wants to be. But someone we're not accustomed to seeing everyday or who is/has been on staff where staff would actually know their age, it'd be wise to just use your real (hopefully above 12) age.
 

Progressive House

Macgyver Trainer
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Is this per result of the new internet privacy doctrines that have recently been accepted.
Things like SOPA etc.?
 
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Is this per result of the new internet privacy doctrines that have recently been accepted.
Things like SOPA etc.?

As far as I know, SOPA, as the name suggests, refers strictly to online piracy and assorted activities, our policy shift pertains more to COPPA. Different legal jargon for different areas of concern. So no. But I'm not an Administrator, I could be mistaken.
 

Kevin

kevin del rey
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Lol at how I joined this forum when I was 11.

/14 years young

I honestly don't know the point (it's a POKEMON forum) but oh well.
 
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I joined when I was under 13 but I'm in my mid teens now so I'm okay. btw this is a ****ing stupid law that only stops perfectly fine people from interacting with the interact with the web.
 

Griffinbane

I hate Smeargle.
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The original point was to prevent nasty grown-ups from getting friendly with younglings like you in order to steal information/meet up in RL to mug or kidnap or (insert other crime here)/use you as fodder against your family/etc. You guys realize that 10 years ago (when this was enacted) that the internet was a very different place, right?
 
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Lol at how I joined this forum when I was 11.

/14 years young

I honestly don't know the point (it's a POKEMON forum) but oh well.

This being a Pokemon site is a perfect reason for us to enforce it. Its a target site for adults with more questionable desires. They have internet prowlers that join sites like these just to entice the younger members. It may not be as common as the media usually blows it up to be, but it does exist.

The reason we are doing this is to protect members as well as the site as a whole. If we were not following the law, the site would be shut down if anything were ever questioned. Then what? You'd lose your community because the law wasn't enforced. They'd then move to all sites similar and shut them down as well.

Would you really like to lose the site or have your friends who are underage help us keep the site by following proper procedures. Its not that taxing to fill out the form, though the parents may or may not want to do it if they are also unfamiliar with COPPA law.

It seems like an unfair safety net, but really its one of those everyday choices where you have to make a sacrifice to keep yourself or others happy. I would definitely be upset if I lost a site I frequented, made a large number of friends on that site, and found out it was permanently closed down because someone didn't want to play by the rules and force a punishment on everyone else.

Then think about those who sunk money into here. You just wasted all of that money attaining a certain level of donorship and lost it because the rules weren't followed and some random child made you lose your investment. I know growing up I had friends that did this on purpose. I mean trolls exist to cause these kinds of troubles.
 

Sydian

fake your death.
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I also want to point out that complaining about this law, calling it stupid, trying to call us out on just now enforcing it, and all this other stuff isn't gonna help the case. We're just going to roll our eyes. We know it's annoying. We know we're late. We get it. We've heard it. Just understand why it's being enforced and move on.
 

Echidna

i don't care what's in your hair
2,077
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I personally see COPPA as a pretty reasonable law. A lot of stuff could happen that, aside from simply wanting to protect our site, would be horrible in terms of society/morality... etc.

I also pretty much support enforcing COPPA, despite being late on doing so, because protecting PC is the staff's main concern.
This being a Pokemon site is a perfect reason for us to enforce it. Its a target site for adults with more questionable desires. They have internet prowlers that join sites like these just to entice the younger members.
This is sorta funny because I'm used to hearing adults complaining about some kids "doing something here and there". Now it's like "we the kids/teens/tweens will protect ourselves from the terrible adults", however specific we may be.

I'm going to hell.
 
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Cosmic Fury

[color=red][I][css-div="font-size: 12px; font-vari
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So, I personally think that we've discussed the enforcing of this law pretty exhaustively. The matter at hand that demands attention though, is the matter of actually getting people under 13 to be able to actually stay and/or register here.

There needs to be a solid way to get proof of parental consent. If you haven't got any and you're under 13, NEVER reveal your age, your identity, nor any other sensitive information! That law (as stupid as we see it to be) protects you from identity theft, among other things that I will not mention.

So far, a good method is simply getting your parents to write a brief letter, sign it, and then scan it onto the computer. Send it to an admin and then wait for the green light to go through. Until then, sit tight and don't panic.

There may be other ways, but this in my opinion has been the best one so far. In the meantime, do not reveal sensitive information. This is a Pokemon forum anyway, so you shouldn't be showing off to the whole world that you're a kid. It's rather pointless and it only drags things down on all sides -- not to mention that there ARE people who seek to take advantage of you because of it.

So, just hang tight, and if you're able to get consent from your parents, do so. It's the best route to take, unless your 13th birthday is around the corner and you've not been ratted out yet.

This rule has been put in place for everyone's protection. Government fines aren't a joke. They're extremely expensive, and if Steve got fined, he would not be able to hold this site up after that -- especially since it's run in great part by donations from people like us.

I've also mentioned how under-13 people are protected from a mess by this. Get your parents to consent, as they likely will. Just take a screenshot of the letter and send it straight to an admin, as they're the ones who are sorting this out.

I'm just as upset by this as anyone else is, but unfortunately there isn't really an option but to play along, and do so with a level head.
 
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This doesn't really concern me, but still, if it's required by the government then what else can you say. Plus, internet isn't exactly the safest place to be, especially for those younger than 13.
 
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