Very Young Edugeekers

[witch]

I know this has been discussed before but I am concerned about the number of very young people joining Edugeek. I know that you allow old members to stay on, and obviously some of the Techs are very young, but I for one do not really like the 15 and 16 year olds who are not techs joining. This surely means that anyone with an interest in IT can join, and surely that was not really the point of Edugeek?
I'm not sure how you can stop them but I think they should be taken off, or at the very least identified.
I have enought interaction with teenage boys at home without it happening on Edugeek - a place I run to when I want to surround myself with people who understand and a place where I feel safe!!

Sarah

[richard]

I know this has been discussed before but I am concerned about the number of very young people joining Edugeek. I know that you allow old members to stay on, and obviously some of the Techs are very young, but I for one do not really like the 15 and 16 year olds who are not techs joining. This surely means that anyone with an interest in IT can join, and surely that was not really the point of Edugeek?
I'm not sure how you can stop them but I think they should be taken off, or at the very least identified.
I have enought interaction with teenage boys at home without it happening on Edugeek - a place I run to when I want to surround myself with people who understand and a place where I feel safe!!

Sarah

I agree with you totally. Also I would like to point out that some of the subjects are "technically sensitive" and could in theory allow a student to bypass his schools network security.

[gwendes]

Hear, hear!

[Netman]

Sorry guys but I have to disagree - surely those who are interested enough in IT to join here have a right to? They will find it an invaluable reference like many of us already do.
I know there may be some information on here about security and for that reason we have to be careful what we post, but to say we should ban youngsters is a bit extreme. Good luck to them I say - if they are genuine and are looking towards a career in IT then fine. If, on the other hand, they are just here to troll or flame then get rid of them by all means - but that applies whatever the age.
Some of us may have come to IT later in life, but I started in 1983 at the age of 16 and would have loved Edugeek back then, even though I was still in education and not working in a school.

[mattx]

I get told that I act like a 12 year old - does that count ? ;-)

[russdev]

Problem is no way of doing this bar pre-approving every member and sorry that won't work been tried on too many sites the site just dies.

Even if did that how do you tell so and so works as a tech well they have school email adress that ends sch.uk great but so do most students. Right so we have to phone the school up to get confirmation. Again adds another step we havn't got man/women power for.

The fact is this is community most non tech staff joining are very disappointed when they join anyway and leave after while. This nature of online communities.

The facts is this community works on the fact it is open amd your boss could read it it keeps us all honest


Russell

[Geoff]

Welcome to the internet, by it's very nature, a public network. Trying to restrict information available on it is an exercise in futility. No doubt you've come across this problem in another disguise, namely web filtering.

Also, out of interest, how do you propose we enforce an age restriction?

[PEO]

Sorry guys but I have to disagree - surely those who are interested enough in IT to join here have a right to? They will find it an invaluable reference like many of us already do.
I know there may be some information on here about security and for that reason we have to be careful what we post, but to say we should ban youngsters is a bit extreme. Good luck to them I say - if they are genuine and are looking towards a career in IT then fine. If, on the other hand, they are just here to troll or flame then get rid of them by all means - but that applies whatever the age.
Some of us may have come to IT later in life, but I started in 1983 at the age of 16 and would have loved Edugeek back then, even though I was still in education and not working in a school.

I totally agree with you Netman.

There are plenty of websites out there that have information on how to bypass network security.

sarah - This surely means that anyone with an interest in IT can join, and surely that was not really the point of Edugeek?

And what would you say about the people who constantly put up random threads that have noting to do with either computing or education?

I have a 14 year old brother who is well in to php, css, etc and he uses forums all the time for help and information. Because he is 14 does this mean he has no right to accessing public information?

Sorry i have a lot of respect for you Sarah but i think you have started something that makes no sense

[gaz350]

could in theory allow a student to bypass his schools network security.

if its not sensitive enough to appear here, then there is nothing stopping them from finding the info needed from other places on the net.
also even if they are not registered they can still read stuff so what is the problem? as long as topics remain on topic surely any input to a topic is useful no matter how old they are.

[witch]

And what would you say about the people who constantly put up random threads that have noting to do with either computing or education?

And if that is aimed at me then you know exactly where you can go.
I don't need to know that you 'have a lot of respect for me'. I don't need respect from you thank you very much

My point is only that this is SUPPOSED to be for people working in IT in education and if it is just an IT info forum then it should be identified as such.
Talk about confrontational

Sorry, but I think that there has been enough trouble from students in the past to ban them. Obviously identification is difficult, but as soon as they are identified they should be labelled as such and if there is any trouble they are out, with no second chances.

[SYNACK]

I have to agree that it should remain open, I probably would not have been allowed admittance if such a procedure was in place given that I am located in a different country.

The network security argument is valid in the fact that you may be able to bypass security using the information on this forum. The flip side is that the information is already available on other sites and at least here they are not being exposed to the destructive influences present on some other sites.

Juvenile content and comments are a fact of life, the only way to combat the offensive ones is for the community itself to maintain its high standards and call people on bad behavior. So long as it is in balance it actually helps prevent the site from becoming like a textbook and loosing a lot of what make it interesting and good.

[tech_guy]

I get told that I act like a 12 year old - does that count ? ;-)

My wife says the same about me......

[dhicks]

> I have enought interaction with teenage boys at home without it
> happening on Edugeek - a place I run to when I want to surround
> myself with people who understand and a place where I feel safe!!

The young people who have posted here (e.g. Lambert, originofsymmetry) have been polite, mature and sensible. I figure that's really about the only criterion that really matters. If you mean that you don't feel free to post "Gah! Teachers/children! They're all *#!*!#!*#!'s" items, then you should bear in mind that this forum gets indexed by Google (and often features high up its search results, too) and that everything you say is permanently available for review (by teachers, pupils, spouses, potential employers...).

[Richard wrote:]
> Also I would like to point out that some of the subjects are "technically
> sensitive" and could in theory allow a student to bypass his schools
> network security.

These are public forums - if something is that sensitive, it shouldn't be said here. Often, searching for a school IT-related subject on Google turns up this site as the first search result. Besides, security-through-obscurity doesn't work. You should encourage pupils to try and break in to your network and be rewarded when they report a security hole.

--
David Hicks

[mattx]

Can I just say Happy Xmas ?

[Geoff]

Sorry, but I think that there has been enough trouble from students in the past to ban them. Obviously identification is difficult, but as soon as they are identified they should be labelled as such and if there is any trouble they are out, with no second chances.

Please elaborate. You have not provided enough information to successfully implement your idea. How should we identify them? How should they be labeled? How should we ban them?