Two things

[angelqueen04]

Yesterday, I was stopped at a traffic light on my way home from work. When the left turn signals turned green on both sides of the road, one of the cars that was making a left hand turn on the opposite side of the road turned out to be a van that had been designed to look exactly like 'The Mystery Machine' of Scooby Doo fame. I even saw a huge

Comments

[jelazakazone]

OMG, I had exactly that same question. I have people following stories that are marked complete. I don't get it. At all. I mean, I can see that people would want more story, but I am done with that particular story. If it were AO3, I would feel more comfortable encouraging people to go ahead and write more of that story for themselves.

[angelqueen04]

Oh, I hear you. AO3 is much better regulated, with the 'works inspired' option and whatnot. ff.net... no. Just, no. That place can be far too scary.

[jelazakazone]

Eh. I don't even care about "inspired by". I am still freaking out that 11 year olds (who lets their 11 year old on the computer unsupervised anyway?), 11 year olds! are reading fanfic that I am writing.

[nyxelestia]

I think the more important question is why aren't those 11-year-olds lying about their age?

I've been into fanfic since I was 12, so I have zero delusions about kids getting into parts of the Internet they really shouldn't be in (4chan at 14 made me somewhat behind the times in my social circle, in fact). This has made me rather blase about kids reading mature material.

My only problem is that so many of them are being honest about it. Seriously, actual Adult Fear dangers of young kids online aside, don't they know revealing their real age will get them banned, and - more importantly to them - block them from reading certain fics over a certain rating?

I say if you see someone you know is "too" young online, just report them if the website has rules about ages (I think on FFN you have to be at least 13? Or do they not have an official age limit?). It won't stop them one bit, but it'll at least make them wise-up about the realities of age issues on the Internet and make the rest of our lives easier.

[jelazakazone]

Hm, interesting point. This particular kid had an age range listed on her profile, so I really don't know how old she was.

[nyxelestia]

...age range? Like she said she's "somewhere between 10 and 20"? Or her official age said one thing but something in her profile says another?

Sorry, I've just never seen "age range" so I'm not entirely sure what that means. I've seen some strange things done with ages - and done some myself - but I've never seen a range given. o.O

[jelazakazone]

Where can you find someone's official age? I didn't have to put my birthdate in when I signed up. I just said I was over 18. And yeah, she said she was between 11-15. It made me go 0.o.

[nyxelestia]

That...is very strange. Both things are actually because I have yet to see a website where you didn't have to give yiur age in some fashion. On FFN the birthdate should be found at the top of the profile under the icon I think. That said you have the option of hiding birthdates I think (I know LJ does does for sure) so you may not see it. But if I am simply remembering things incorrectly and you really only have to confirm you are over 18 that would make a lot of sense, too.

My suggestion? PM her and tell her she needs to take that age range out for legal reasons. And that you will report her to the FFN mods if she doesn't.

[jelazakazone]

http://www.fanfiction.net/~jelazakazone is my ff.net account profile. I don't see any birthdays there. You can't even tell I'm over 18.

At this point, I'm not sure who it was and I don't feel like chasing her down. I don't feel threatened by her. Should I? Maybe I should just delete everything I've posted at ff.net and move on.

[nyxelestia]

Huh. It really has been a long time since I've hung out on FFN, mine isn't showing my birthday, either. I must've gotten it mixed up with something else. My bad. *hides under rock*

But, don't bother deleting your fic. I guarantee that no matter where you go, there WILL be little kids there. The only difference is that in some places, they are smart enough to not reveal their true age. If you don't feel threatened by her, don't bother. I'm just saying that if you think you could get into legal trouble because she read your fic, then it's not a bad idea to try that.