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Having operated a service similar in some ways to Skout, banning underage users is not the answer if you actually want to help them[1]. These same users will n

by kogir 14y ago

Having operated a service similar in some ways to Skout, banning underage users is not the answer if you actually want to help them[1]. These same users will now sign up again but say they're 18+. It's much better to encourage people to be honest and use that information to try and make the service safer, either through special features and app behavior or through user education. Nothing is perfect though, and no matter what you do some people will make bad decisions in spite of your best efforts to help them. [1] If you're just covering your ass though, it's perfect. "The user lied! It's not our fault!"

jknupp 14y ago
I think you're a bit confused. The issue is not teens posing as adults, but sexual predators posing as teens. Appeals to the sense of honesty of perpetrators of sex crimes are likely misguided.
- dangrossman 14y ago
  He's not confused at all. He's saying that by forcing teens to pose as adults to continue using the app, they can no longer help educate teens about how to avoid predators, nor offer them specific features to help them, because they won't know who they are. It's not the sex predators those features are for, it doesn't matter that they'd ignore them.
  - jknupp 14y ago
    Perhaps in theory, but realistically this makes no sense. This is not a pornography site, where there is some taboo prize for lying about one's age. It's a social network, only as useful as the number of connections a user has on it. What is the likelyhood that a teen, and enough of their friends, will sign up again under a false name and somehow work out a system for determining the false names of all their friends? The benefit to the staggering minority of teens that would have been receptive to a sexual predator awareness message from an _iPhone app not at all sexual in nature_ is far outweighed by the overt protection of all teens using the service. How popular do you think it will likely be amongst pedophilies without potential victims?
    - kogir 14y ago
      I'm pretty sure Skout is for meeting new people. So they'll just sign up with the same names and a different email, and start fresh. In fact, we had to start blocking problem users by unique device ID. Nothing else would deter them. Pedophiles will target them using largely the same methods as before: mainly scrolling through pictures. Sure, search won't help as much, but it's hardly a deterrent.
thesteamboat 14y ago
From my naive perspectice it seems that you can apply different age-verification techniques if your target audience is older. From the article: > Kremen believes credit cards might be a potential avenue to online identity verification. But Wiklund says, “Teens don’t generally have credit cards.” If you are targeting an older audience, maybe age verification through Credit cards is a viable tactic?
- mistercow 14y ago
  I had a credit card when I was a teenager. A check card, actually, but I don't think any website would have known the difference.
  - thesteamboat 14y ago
    But the bank presumably knew your real age, address, and personal details? I was interpreting the bank to act as an age-verifier in some way rather than the mere possession of a card. Upon reflection there are privacy concerns that would make me leery of seeing this implemented in practice, but that has rarely stopped people before.

by kogir 14y ago

jknupp 14y ago

I think you're a bit confused. The issue is not teens posing as adults, but sexual predators posing as teens. Appeals to the sense of honesty of perpetrators of sex crimes are likely misguided.

dangrossman 14y ago
He's not confused at all. He's saying that by forcing teens to pose as adults to continue using the app, they can no longer help educate teens about how to avoid predators, nor offer them specific features to help them, because they won't know who they are. It's not the sex predators those features are for, it doesn't matter that they'd ignore them.
- jknupp 14y ago
  Perhaps in theory, but realistically this makes no sense. This is not a pornography site, where there is some taboo prize for lying about one's age. It's a social network, only as useful as the number of connections a user has on it. What is the likelyhood that a teen, and enough of their friends, will sign up again under a false name and somehow work out a system for determining the false names of all their friends? The benefit to the staggering minority of teens that would have been receptive to a sexual predator awareness message from an _iPhone app not at all sexual in nature_ is far outweighed by the overt protection of all teens using the service. How popular do you think it will likely be amongst pedophilies without potential victims?
  - kogir 14y ago
    I'm pretty sure Skout is for meeting new people. So they'll just sign up with the same names and a different email, and start fresh. In fact, we had to start blocking problem users by unique device ID. Nothing else would deter them. Pedophiles will target them using largely the same methods as before: mainly scrolling through pictures. Sure, search won't help as much, but it's hardly a deterrent.

thesteamboat 14y ago

From my naive perspectice it seems that you can apply different age-verification techniques if your target audience is older. From the article: > Kremen believes credit cards might be a potential avenue to online identity verification. But Wiklund says, “Teens don’t generally have credit cards.” If you are targeting an older audience, maybe age verification through Credit cards is a viable tactic?

mistercow 14y ago
I had a credit card when I was a teenager. A check card, actually, but I don't think any website would have known the difference.
- thesteamboat 14y ago
  But the bank presumably knew your real age, address, and personal details? I was interpreting the bank to act as an age-verifier in some way rather than the mere possession of a card. Upon reflection there are privacy concerns that would make me leery of seeing this implemented in practice, but that has rarely stopped people before.