Kid's Section ?

[Muskrat]

Ok, so I am about to take my 10 yr old daughter out on her first backpacking trip on the Foothills Trail (SC). She's very excited about the trip and even more excited to earn her trail name. Then she asks me if she we will be able to post messages on the Hammock Forums like I do. So I explain to her that the forum is mainly for adults but sometimes I do see "younger hangers" posting messages. She then asks me "Why don't they have a "Kid's Section"?

Well, I don't know how to really answer that question. Is this something that may be feasible? We read several trip reports with kids hanging and the response is overwhelming excitement from the HF readers. Why not have a section where kids can post about trips, gear, tips, etc.:confused: Might even be enjoyable for us to read and may even learn a thing or two from creative young minds.

[angrysparrow]

Hey Muskrat..we welcome your daughter to post on HF, just like we do. The mods do a lot to keep this place family friendly for just this sort of reason. Hammocks are good for the whole family. And we invite anyone to let us know if we miss something.

I don't know how many 'youngsters' we have on the forum...but there sure are a lot of 'young at heart' members.

[Hawk-eye]

Of course you do understand you run the risk of her telling the "true version" of your personal trail reports! ;)

:lol:

[gargoyle]

I thought this whole forum was the kid's sections.

[Hawk-eye]

I thought this whole forum was the kid's sections.

Absolutely ... it's just some of us are a little ... errr ... long in the tooth! ;)

[Hangin' Burrito]

Your right about learning from the "young 'uns", my 6 yr. old has taught me some things about common sense, and life in general that still amaze me!:eek::laugh:

I think a "kid's section" is a great idea. I believe the rest of us would be pretty entertained, and oft-times find ourselves laughing.

We as parents would have to monitor what they are about to post though.;)

[Ramblinrev]

We've had kiddos post before... Pawfoot comes to my mind. Haven't seen her post much recently but she was fun to read.

[Muskrat]

Well, I plan to allow her to post her trip reports and pics as she would like but I was envisioning an area where kids could specifically go and post messages about their trips and experiences and share these with other kids. I would think it would be easier for kids to share messages with other kids if they knew they were targeting kids their age.

. . . but if we are all kids at heart . . . I pick Shug to be on my team ! :D

[NCPatrick]

Hoping to not throw cold water on the idea, but I just want to express that normal precautions should apply. No personal information given out, maybe use trailnames/usernames/initials(?) only. Pictures should be done carefully and with an eye out that no real personal info could be gleaned from it.

Just the usual fearmonger stuff / kid protecting stuff that parents do anyway. Ya never know who lurks around in the intertubes...

Having said all that, I think it would be great to hear about the trips from the kid's point of view.

[KerMegan]

I thought Pawfoot was in High school?
+1 on the kids posting to the general forum; good experience for them to interact with adults on a topic of shared interest.
KM ( who was one of those kids, back in the day..)

[poker88]

I thought this whole forum was the kid's sections.


I agree. Instead of setting one section aside for kids I'd rather leave as much of the forum as possible open to the kids.

[Poppabear]

I think the Mods do a great job policing the forums. My kids are long since grown and out on their own. However I do have grandkids now. I would not have any qualms about letting them post of the forums. It is my belief that parents / grandparents should as a matter of routine. Should keep themselves informed and abreast of any internet activity of their young ones.

[beep]

One problem with kids on forums is the legal one. See the following:



The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
The primary goal of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule is to give parents control over what information is collected from their children online and how such information may be used.

The Rule applies to:

Operators of commercial Web sites and online services directed to children under 13 that collect personal information from them;

Operators of general audience sites that knowingly collect personal information from children under 13; and

Operators of general audience sites that have a separate children’s area and that collect personal information from children under 13.
The Rule requires operators to:
Post a privacy policy on the homepage of the Web site and link to the privacy policy on every page where personal information is collected.

Provide notice about the site’s information collection practices to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children.

Give parents a choice as to whether their child’s personal information will be disclosed to third parties.

Provide parents access to their child’s personal information and the opportunity to delete the child’s personal information and opt-out of future collection or use of the information.

Not condition a child’s participation in a game, contest or other activity on the child’s disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that activity.

Maintain the confidentiality, security and integrity of personal information collected from children.
In order to encourage active industry self-regulation, COPPA also includes a safe harbor provision allowing industry groups and others to request Commission approval of self-regulatory guidelines to govern participating Web sites’ compliance with the Rule.

While I am not an attorney, any young'un under 13 who registers with HF using personal information would seem to bring COPPA into the picture.