5 ms·
What really bothers me is that most of time when the date of birth is asked it is done as a way to determine some age criteria. The same could be achieved simpl
by silveira 4y ago
What really bothers me is that most of time when the date of birth is asked it is done as a way to determine some age criteria. The same could be achieved simply asking "are you older than N years old? [Yes] or [No]".
For example, I want to buy Quake on the Nintendo eShop. The website wants to know my age in order to show me a age restricted game. So it will always ask me the age same question even if I have already answered hundred of times. So does Steam and many other websites. Is this a by-product of some compliance or self-regulatory requirement like ESRB?
If not, it would make much more sense to just ask a yes/no question for the age criteria. Usually this argument is answered with "what about fraud?". Well, asking the birthday is no guarantee at all that the birthday is correct. It only adds friction.
As a small revenge I always use an absurdly old birth date on these forms. This way if they are collecting this data, my input will be discarded or pollute their datasets.
- BFay 4y agoI also enter an absurdly old date, and usually I'll try setting an impossible day/month combo like February 31st... sometimes it actually works!
- thescriptkiddie 4y agoI always go for January 1st, 1970. It is (nearly) always accepted on the form because it is a perfectly valid date to be born, but I like to imagine that some analyst is pulling their hair out thinking they have a null coalescing bug.
- Tepix 4y ago1970-01-01 is the way to go! The more, the merrier...
- function_seven 4y agoMy favorite irritating date is "1969-12-31" because now I know I have 2 problems: the coalescing bug and a timezone issue. :)
- evanb 4y agoIn Sweden in 1712 there was a February 30th. But never a 31st. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-standard_dates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-standard_dates
- 33degrees 4y ago> Is this a by-product of some compliance or self-regulatory requirement like ESRB? Yes, Steam addressed this an announcement a few years ago: > Q: Why do you KEEP asking my damn age throughout the store? > A: We're with you on this. Unfortunately, many rating agencies have rules that stipulate that we cannot save your age for longer than a single browsing session. It's frustrating, but know we're filling out those age gates too. https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1708442022337025126 https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail...
- Tepix 4y agoIt's surprising that they are not even allowed to remember that you are older than, say, 21.
- cowsup 4y agoI can understand the “better safe than sorry” mindset. If I have a 15 year old son who wants to play Resident Evil, I’d be willing to let him play it, despite the “M” rating. But I wouldn’t then want a service to set it so that he’s allowed to view M-rated games in perpetuity, since M-rated games can vary greatly.
- Geonode 4y agoSteam always remembers my date of birth: Jan. 1 1900, just like half their users.
- unsafecast 4y agoFor me it's always 1990-01-01
- zhfliz 4y agowhy isn't 1970-01-01 more common?
- tyrfing 4y ago> The same could be achieved simply asking "are you older than N years old? [Yes] or [No]". The term of art seems to be "neutral age gate", and something like a checkbox to indicate you're under 13 is explicitly not OK according to FTC guidance. So where it's to comply with government regulations, this is not enough. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions#:~:text=simply%20including%20a%20check%20box%20stating https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-co...
- jfoster 4y ago> As a small revenge I always use an absurdly old birth date on these forms. This way if they are collecting this data, my input will be discarded or pollute their datasets. Or the micro-frauds get detected, linked to your credit card & email address, your identity, and credit rating. Before you know it, your transactions are failing fraud checks, you can't get loans, and BigTechs unilaterally cancel your accounts. I exaggerate, but I fear we may be heading in that direction.
- vinaypai 4y agoLiterally no part of this makes sense. You can fear anything you want, but this scenario only exists in your imagination.
- lfpeb8b45ez 4y agoAnd China.
- jfoster 4y agoYou don't think online businesses will treat a customer who enters a different date of birth each time as less trustworthy? You don't think BigTech ever cancel accounts being used by regular people? You don't think companies ever share data with each other to make decisions about whether a transaction might be fraudulent?
- 0xcafecafe 4y agoI remember some liquor site in the US (totalwine IIRC) used to ask are you born after <date> to ascertain age and it worked pretty well.
- throwaway378037 4y agoAh, a fellow 1/1/1900 kid!