[Shaun @ Tru6]

To complement , our eZine launching next week, and truly building a national dialogue with, and within, girls in the U.S., we are considering a bulletin board on. Here's a quick set-up of basic the shell: [

Unfortunately, A LOT can go wrong with predators being the worst case scenario. Below is an outline of precautions and safeguards we will take to ensure safety as well a healthy environment for our posters.

Request: please let me know if you think it will work, if there is something we have overlooked, if you just think there's no way it will work at all. That is a very real option.

1. We will follow all the rules as outlined in COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. For a bulletin board, this means that if you are under 13, your parent or guardian has to fax their signature saying it is OK for their child to participate in our BBS.

2. While not stipulated in COPPA, we were thinking of also placing a personal phone call to a parent AFTER getting the signed authoriation. or having them place a toll free call to us.

3. Posting: no posts will ever be automatically posted. A series of full-time BBS monitors will read each and every post and then allow only those that are "OK" to go up.

4. Therefore, the BBS will be open from 9AM EST to 9PM PST.

5. Personal information: we will pull all personal contact information from each post/thread.

This will be an entirely closed circuit.

Question: Will this kill the "community" aspect?

Could we get parents involved? Too cumbersome?

is there a way we can get teachers involved? Incenting them to help isn't a problem.

Moderators will be able to call a poster via supplied contact info if they see "safe" but suspicious posts.

OK, what can go wrong?

We think there's a very real chance this won't work at all, but thought I would throw it out there.