My 14 yr old wants a forum.

[Boofo]

I agree but it is still a good idea to keep a close eye on things until they get further along, anyway. Too many undesirables out there that can and will take advantage of someone if given the opportunity. It's a good learning experience, anyway. Better to learn it now while someone is there to watch over things, than to learn it later the hard way.

[mrt12345]

well you could hand out member ship cards or referrals at the beginning to get the right kind of crowed, i think for my son it is more for there friends then it gives them a chance to get educated and just a place for them to have fun and to set up meets to do some swapping cards and post some photos up ,so it will be a closed forum. but as time goes by the word spreads around then more kids may want to joing. no rush over here but the last super man has some good points :up:

[ZERO <ibis>]

Opening up possibilities can really help a kid do things you nor they would ever imagine. When I was 12 I wanted a gaming computer but rather than get that my dad told me I could have more money if I built my own. So wanting an even better computer I built my own with no instructions other than the manuals the parts came with. As a result of that I became very confident with computers and learned more. Within 5 years I was the owner of some online gaming servers that I still run to this day. In all that time I may have spent tens of thousands of dollars on computer equipment but I have also made tens of thousands. Now I am just finishing my ba in management already having a few years of expired behind me from managing a gaming community for years. I personally hope to keep the community going for the rest of my life and one day hand it down to my kids.

[Xtrato]

well.. i would do it.. my nephew is 6 years old and im on pc and sites all the time.. so he wants one ... hes even started "recording" Videos of himself just like that show "icarley" or whatever it is...

haha.. go for it

[Roms]

Why not? Just set the ground rules and check on it.

At lease he's going something constructive....

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Wow, your a bit of a doom and gloom merchant.

Quite frequently actually .

Edit: One thing I will say is this, teach them first thing how to backup the site unless your host has that included in the service. If they come to you with a hacked site, a lost this or that you won't want to handle those tears so to avoid that be sure to train them right off the bat how to perform backups.. the rest is trial and error, with a backup you can restore... it's like Johnson & Johnson's No More Tears Shampoo for my little one .

[mrt12345]

are you trying to reach out to let us know that you had many teers dealing with backups, come over here you big lug ill give you a big hug.

[yeti1337]

Originally Posted by TheLastSuperman

This is touchy for me... my 8 year old little girl already knows how Daddy is on a PC, I've already busted her when Disney's Pirates emails me chat logs about them using words Kess instead of Kiss and other so no matter what let's not think our own children are the picture perfect image of childhood innocence because if we do then we're failing as parents imo. I would not do this, I would throw up a static html or php site with some videos and images or a slide-show and nothing more... why? Well if you introduce them to something more interactive you also open up the risk. Online predators come across a site they learn is ran by a 10 year old what do you think they're going to do pass it up saying "nah the mother/father will get us for sure" no that's not a concern in their eyes. On top of that a forum has the possibility to be hacked, dependent upon the method used your son or daughter's pc could become infected with something and then in turn you could be at risk - basically for me and I'm not bashing anyone for wanting to give their kids more however for me it's a HUGE NO.

Hate to say this, but just hope you realize your kid will never become the next "Bill Gates" or "Mark Zuckerberg". Why? Because you're limiting them. I was 2 years old when I actually "started typing" and literally was fairly fluent with a keyboard by age 5. I'm 18 now, and my parents never held me back or limited anything for me. I also happen to run well over 100 sites, several of which get 10m+ page-views, and roughly 1m+ visitors a month. So setting limitations might keep kids "safe" sure... But you could also potentially be destroying their chance at really becoming something great.

I'm not trying to insult you or anything at all, because by all means it's your kid so you get to choose how they are raised. Simply making stating an opinion that's all.


@OP: 100% yes let them, and if it doesn't cost too much money support them by any means necessary. I would also go out and buy them a book about how to program in C++ or C#. The future is in the internet, might as well prepare your kids for it.

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by yeti1337

Hate to say this, but just hope you realize your kid will never become the next "Bill Gates" or "Mark Zuckerberg". Why? Because you're limiting them. I was 2 years old when I actually "started typing" and literally was fairly fluent with a keyboard by age 5. I'm 18 now, and my parents never held me back or limited anything for me. I also happen to run well over 100 sites, several of which get 10m+ page-views, and roughly 1m+ visitors a month. So setting limitations might keep kids "safe" sure... But you could also potentially be destroying their chance at really becoming something great.

I'm not trying to insult you or anything at all, because by all means it's your kid so you get to choose how they are raised. Simply making stating an opinion that's all.


@OP: 100% yes let them, and if it doesn't cost too much money support them by any means necessary. I would also go out and buy them a book about how to program in C++ or C#. The future is in the internet, might as well prepare your kids for it.

Ohh no offense taken, I realize that others just like myself base their responses on the information they have at the time and truthfully I more than likely should have mentioned McKinley makes all straight A's and knows how to navigate the web more fluently than most and can even understand some basic html and how css works i.e. top to bottom I'm just not the type to go bragging all the time and especially not when America's education is not top of the line (Google the "Waiting for Superman" Movie). More to her than all that as well but again, I felt there was no sense coming in here early blabbering about all that until someone forgets there's more to a book then it's cover and you shouldn't judge or so the saying goes but aren't we all based solely on the OP's tidbit of information? Gosh we are all contradictions to ourselves without realizing if you think about it lol.

I'm very strict is all and read my savvy humor here and laugh with me... the title was about the OP's son wanting a forum @ age 14 not my daughter becoming the next Mark Zuckerburg or Bill Gates - with her parents help and my teaching her programming and different languages she'll be the next McKinley Miller!

Now that's how you should think as a parent imo .

--------------- Added [DATE]1298571249[/DATE] at [TIME]1298571249[/TIME] ---------------

Originally Posted by mrt12345

are you trying to reach out to let us know that you had many teers dealing with backups, come over here you big lug ill give you a big hug.

Before learning the hard way yes and sad to see others all the time speaking about a lost site due to no backup!

I'll gladly take that HUG and thanks!

[mmoore5553]

I would let it happen. Rather it happen under your supervision just make sure you are an admin also. Also backup is a good idea like superman said.

also the last superman should be lex luthor .... sorry had to take the jab .

Also remember you ultimately have the kill switch. But hey i am the type that have monitoring software on all my daughter laptop so i know what is going on. Yes I am big brother.