Quote:
Originally posted by Tshabet
My gut reaction is that a BBS which is operated by a business and lends itself to juvenile girls is a huge liability. I wouldn't do it.
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Grant - there are dozens of BBS off the top of my head who lend themselves to juveniles - not necessarily girls - but juveniles nonetheless. Coming from the comic book/animation arena, many of the posters on these sites are under 18.
I think Shaun's concern is very legitimate: the idea here is to police while not killing the community. My thought is that G9Girl should abide by COPPA and at the same time police the site themselves. Yes, parental approval is a nice selling point - and reassuring, but here again, parental approval or too much intervention for safety's sake in fact could compromise the community feel.
I like what Z-Man does with the OT Thread. In the event that someone misbehaves, they are banned - usually temporarily, and are asked to speak with Z-Man via email, where I'm certain the misbehavior is discussed. Up to that point, Z-man seems to monitor each thread with the idea it could be lascivious in some manner, yet using, as I see it, common sense toward what is and what is not offensive.
I think the thing to do is "learn" the audience, and get used to styles, vernacular, themes, etc., of what the girls will discuss, and as Joel says, self-police accordingly. Secondly: stipulate or give warnings to the girls - up front on the BBS - about personal information and the dangers of giving that out. Third: to cover G9 Girl's ass, G9 Girl should not ask for personal information in order for a girl to register. Other than a sign-in name (like dd74, lendaddy or Shaun 84 Targa), city and state of origin and a personal quote, and some other very general information, no other personal information should be used on the BBS. It is done like this for the Pelican BBS, and I think it could work for the G9 Girl BBS.
The hope is that the less information that the G9 Girl BBS asks for, the less ammunition (I would hope) a predator has at his/her disposal.