Questionable Content

One thing I would like to start looking at more in depth is who should (ethically) give advice to others based on their own experiences. However, when I started exploring this topic I noticed another thing that caused me concern. There are instances where content is edgy in nature and mature for the audience. LiveWire, a board that attracts many teens, only shows an "explicit" warning next to the topic's title.

I decided to create a different account just to see if these topics disappeared if I was under 18. They did not. Why would these warnings be here in the first place? The only answer I can think of is to warn users. It's not going to deter minors or prevent them from accessing all the internet offers. You do have to be 13 to sign up on the website, but there is no way to confirm this. I would think some child protection groups would be against having 13-year-olds post or see
photos like this:

Or view content like this from a group on LiveWire:

Loving boobs!!! - OPEN
Where girls who love their own boobs or guys who love girls boobs talk and share pics about boobs but only cleavagey ones (:

There were no differences between adult registrations and minor registrations. Both groups received an internet safety warning when they joined the site. In addition, both groups face the same regulation rules. Comments can be removed by moderators if deemed inappropriate.

List of removed comments (in yellow)

Having this resource open to youth can be both a problem and a great thing. Teens can vent, share their day, or seek help as needed. This may just be the resource they need to be able to share their concerns and find help for a serious problem. It would be almost hypocritical for a community intended to support to regulate what content users can see. If a problem is there, another person probably has it, regardless of a user's age.

In my next post I will be looking at the results of a question I posed to my communities: Why do you use this website? I already have four posts on the topic on LiveWire and I posted it only three minutes ago. More on this later.