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I do not fully agree with you, Greg. If you do not wish anyone to send things, messages to poeple under 18, why would they be members then? The thing with divebuddy.com is to exchange messages and get friends!
If we are not supposed to contact anyone under 18, then they will just have a profile hanging here without a point, because noone will ever be in contact with them.
Magdalena
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Greg - 7/08/2008 11:05 PM 
Other members under 18 years old can contact them. Or the friends they have that are scuba divers also may join and they can use divebuddy to chat about diving. It’s never a good idea for an adult to start chatting with a minor online. That’s my official opinion as the owner of this web site.
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Okey, I can understand that, but just to make this clear for me another question.
I have at least one buddy here at divebuddy.com that is a minor. He sent me a buddy requerst and I accepted it. Dont know who it is, really.
So you think that I should delete him, and let him have friends in his own age instead? No poijnt having him as a buddy anyway, id I want be able to chat with him.
And by the way, how do you do with the chat? Will you prevent minors from entering the chat? If not, how will we know who is a minor at the chat? If we want be aloud to send message to minors, chatting with then in the chatroom must be ever worse?
Magdalena
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And what about the forum? Are we ok to answer questions from minors, or will the be banned from the forum til they turn 18? What happens there? Do I have to check the age before I answer questions?
I think you are taking it a bit to far, Greg. I think it should be ok to talk to minors at divebuddy.com as long as you do it in the right way.
Maggie
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Eve - 7/09/2008 8:16 AM
I understand your concerns and questions and even though some are valid it is hard to monitor if it is "done right" as you stated. The young divers can learn alot from the experienced older ones and they learn thru communication. I just feel that it is very hard for a web site as divebuddy to monitor everything to insure that it is "done right" and the under age divers are protected from harm. if you have a better way then by all means suggest the better way. Keep in mind that the goal I think is to keep the young ones safe from internet predators. Just my thoughts.
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I completely agree with Greg on this topic. There are proper ways to contact a minor such as Greg said if they have been diving with them, however there have been people on this website that are not divers and send messages to random members.(Greg has been GREAT at deleting the profiles as soon as they are identified.) Not only that, but there are people out there that join these sites to prey on minors. It all comes down to protecting these minors.
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Eve - 7/09/2008 9:58 AM
I completely agree with Greg on this topic. There are proper ways to contact a minor such as Greg said if they have been diving with them, however there have been people on this website that are not divers and send messages to random members.(Greg has been GREAT at deleting the profiles as soon as they are identified.) Not only that, but there are people out there that join these sites to prey on minors. It all comes down to protecting these minors.
You are correct, thank you for your insight.
Eve
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I have to agree with Greg on this. Although minor divers can learn a lot from older and experienced divers, I think minor portection must come first. I applaud Greg for taking these steps as to ensure the safety for all who choose to use this community.
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Greg - 7/09/2008 12:15 PM
Regarding Chat or Forum posts. You can always click to view the member’s profile before you reply or chat with them. But of course that member could be lying about their age. So it’s really just a matter of personal judgement. I just need to do all I can as the website owner to let you all know the steps I’m taking to help with this issue. It goes without saying that if you do chat with a minor, or anyone else for that matter, keep the content of your communication to a very safe level. Untill you REALLY know the person (and who does if you’ve only met online), do not put yourself in a situation where you’re talking about inappropriate stuff with someone you think is over 18, but could turn out to be a minor OR worse, an FBI agent posing as a minor!
Just keep it clean, play nice and respect everyone on the site. I think scuba divers in general are pretty good about that so I don’t expect too many problems down the road.
Thanks! Greg.
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I think this i s about culture. I grew up in Sweden, and think that the parents have the gratest responsibility here. It is there job to protect their children, and managing a site it is impossible to take the role.
But yes, you are right Greg, I will not put myself in that situation.
Thanks.
Maggie
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hello everyone...i apologize for not having read the fine print regarding members under 18 yrs old and have accepted a request from one as you can see on my profile page. our communication has been limited to comments on my pics and vids and nothing else. my correct age is posted on my profile and i dont really chat with anyone. i understand your concerns regarding interaction between adults and minors but feel that as long as it is limited to diving related activities then there should really be no problem. my page is purely for sharing my pics and videos and to promote the diving here in my country...the philippines. take care and have a nice day...cheers...
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Greg,
Please do not flag me as under 18 years old! I just look young for my age.
I have kids that will probably take courses the next year or two, and I would encourage them to sign up at this site. So far, from what I’ve seen, the site remains focused, and members that participate seem to be enthusiastic about the sport.
I understand the need to protect the website, but my initial thought is “Do I want the entire world to see (via a red flag) that my kid is a minor?” I bet the predators appreciate this red flag as it makes it easy for them!
How about something like requiring minors to keep their profile private for only their buddys to see?
It’s a shame that this is even a topic, but that’s the reality of today’s world.
Don
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Greg - 7/11/2008 10:14 AM
How about something like requiring minors to keep their profile private for only their buddys to see?
This is something I may also do. If I flag the account as a minor, I guess the next thing for me to do would be to make the profile private and to limit communication between that member with only their approved buddies. Then it’s in the hands of their parents to monitor who is on their buddy list and what communcation they have.
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