Making the adult forum accessible to everyone?

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After viewing one particular sex-related thread posted in the Random Discussion forum by an under-18 year old, I was wondering if it would be possible to edit the adult forum. I know there's already an adolescent forum, but if the topic is sex-related, then some adolescents might not feel comfortable discussing it there.

I propose we change the name of the Adult Autism Discussion forum to something like the Sex and Sexuality Discussion forum and make it accessible to everybody (or at least accessible for those of pubescent age and older).

I counter-propose that we keep things the way that they are, and do a better job of policing the other forums for inappropriate posts.

Won't that just produce more young members lying about their age in their profiles so that they can access the adult forum?

I was pondering a similar issue earlier when I moved a thread by someone about "morning wood" from Random to Adult. The question was appropriate (relevant at least) for an adolescent boy/man but the thread didn't seem to fit either forum.

I think there are some legal issues too regarding the content of the Adult forum and younger members that could leave the site exposed to legal problems if younger members are not (superficially at least) protected from some of the more explicit sexual discussions.

That would be their choice, and not that of the mods. With the current way, the law is likely to recognize the "Good Faith" effort to keep adult topics in a section that is ostensibly "For Adults Only", and not prosecute the website owner if a minor fraudulently gains access to the adult section.

And now the member who started that thread will no longer be able to see it since the forum it has been relocated to is inaccessible to him.



Then I suppose we have several options. Similar to the fact that there's a Women's Discussion forum which I'm sure benefits both grown women and adolescent girls, we could create a Men's Discussion forum which would benefit grown men and adolescent boys. Or, we could start allowing puberty-related discussion in the Adolescent Discussion forum. Or, we could amend the adult forum to allow pubescent members access, but I see what you're saying about the legal repercussions of such an undertaking.

I guess the best option, then, would be to add a Men's Discussion forum, if the mods would be willing.

I think that was tried, and then it failed.

How did it fail?

It isn't a case of whether the mods are willing or not. We'll moderate whatever forums are here but we have no ability to create new forums, only Alex can do that and for whatever reason he's reluctant to do so. I gather it was tried once in the past (before my time) and that it didn't work out for various reasons.

Having kids myself, and having thought a lot about this while i was a mod, I'll share some thoughts. First, I feel that the borderline topics by an adolescent should get a little leeway in being left where they've been started simply because the adolescent cannot access adult. Sometimes it is something important for them to discuss even if its touchy. Other times ... Not (and those can go). There are good reasons kids can't go on adult. Teens still need to be sheltered from much of that type of discussion and, ideally, they should be talking to a responsible adult in real life who can provide context to the answers. They aren't ready for the casual joking adults do on these topics because they don't have that context; they don't know what is a joke and what is actually what people do. They should be talking to someone who knows them well enough to give some guidance on what they as unique people might be ready for. Forums just aren't it, when it comes to the big stuff. But, not all teens have an adult they can talk to and some issues are unique to AS - a discussion a few years ago about the body smells in puberty comes to mind. The little stuff, that maybe some nuanced language can be a shield - that can be left on the public forums. It may need a little clean up to keep the terminology nuanced, but most of those can be made to work, and that seems like the best compromise for meeting all the competing needs. IMHO.