Birthdays in profiles REQUIRED

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 9:29 pm

I'm probably going to sound like an ass when I say this, therefore I apologize in advance, and hopefully you can see why I'm going to sound that way. As many of you are well aware, in late April through mid-May I froze the creation of new accounts to add in various new code, the most important one causing the freeze to be the entering of a user's birthday. Now, I did not add all that code just to have a pretty calendar with various users to enter their birthday to have a big SMU forums birthday calendar. While it is a very nice perk, that was not my intent. There is a topic in here labeled "Enforcing COPPA laws" where it's explained why no one under the age of 13 is allowed in here, however, even after that announcement, various users who shall remain nameless felt the need to still lie about their age to get in the forums. Therefore, to help enforce this rule, I said I was stopping new account creation to add in new code for ALL users to enter their birthday's for proof of age, and in the reg agreement it states for ALL new users to do so after account activation. THERE IS NO CHOICE. I did not stop account creation for weeks and spend hours adding in new code for people to have the "option" of inputting their birthday, I put it there for proof of age since that was the purpose. For anyone who says people could lie, yes, they can, and then those people slip up and get caught, where consequences have already been announced.

Therefore, any new user who fails to input their birthday 48 hours after account activation (note the word activation, not creation) will be banned until they e-mail me with their birthday so I can input it and lift the ban. For current users, this will be more tricky. Since I'm sure most people will see the announcements forum and be able to figure out its importance and check into it, and that I can see when the last time each user logged into the forums, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to let a week go by for people to get the message and put in their birthdates. After a week, I'll mark that date on my calendar, and any user who logs onto the forums after that date (June 28th) and has not inputted their birthday into their profile, just like what's mentioned above they will be banned until they e-mail me their birthdate for me to input it and lift the ban.

I'm sorry I have to be such a dick about this, I really am, this is much more of a pain in the ass to me than any of you. However, people feel the need to take advantage of various little holes in how things work here and ruin stuff for everyone else. But in counterpoint, I don't think it's too difficult to input a birthdate or that a birthdate is such personal info to not enter. If that is, I don't know how anyone can take part in a good part of the discussion here.

So please, everyone, just input your birthday, and make my life easier.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 9:41 pm

You don't sound like an ass at all--it's prefectly reasonable. Ass-hood would be making people scan and send pictures of their driver's licences.

Also, I'm sure you must have thought of this, but why can't the birthdate question be a part of the registration form so that new members can't create accounts without providing it? Is it that the code for registering is set in stone and can't be changed?

Sailor Sapphire · Post by **Sailor Sapphire** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:02 pm

I can think of something even worse: Mother's maiden name, iris scans (you know, scanning the colored part of your eyes), and hair samples.

Since we have a b-day requirement, do we still get a little something when our b-days roll around? (i.e. an e-card or something like that?)

Post by **Tiff** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:52 pm

Sailor Sapphire wrote:
Since we have a b-day requirement, do we still get a little something when our b-days roll around? (i.e. an e-card or something like that?)

No.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 11:34 pm

Sorry MarioKnight. I just double checked after reading this and discovered that I didn't put my birthday in after all. I could have sworn I did, but I guess not. I did now and it appears to be on the calendar, so I hope it works.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 5:16 am

Tiff wrote:
Sailor Sapphire wrote:Since we have a b-day requirement, do we still get a little something when our b-days roll around? (i.e. an e-card or something like that?)
No.

But is it OK to send Happy Birthday PMs to people you know/like?

Tempest · Post by **Tempest** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 6:33 am

Sailorasteroid wrote:You don't sound like an ass at all--it's prefectly reasonable. Ass-hood would be making people scan and send pictures of their driver's licences.

(that cracked me up)
Yeah, that would be major ass-hoodery.

Sailorasteroid wrote:But is it OK to send Happy Birthday PMs to people you know/like?

I don't think anyone has the power to tell that wishing someone a 'Happy Birthday' via PM is a bad thing. ^^; I think Tiff was just trying to quash any notion that we (as in the staf of the forums) are responsable for sending birthday E-cards.

Post by **Tiff** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:24 pm

Tempest wrote:
Sailorasteroid wrote:But is it OK to send Happy Birthday PMs to people you know/like?
I don't think anyone has the power to tell that wishing someone a 'Happy Birthday' via PM is a bad thing. ^^; I think Tiff was just trying to quash any notion that we (as in the staf of the forums) are responsable for sending birthday E-cards.

Exactly. You can send whatever PMs you want (so long as they are harrassing). It's simply that the staff won't be doing anything special, save for maybe the three of us (Bob, Dan, and Tiff) like we've always done (with the logo on the main page).

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 7:53 pm

Sailorasteroid wrote:Also, I'm sure you must have thought of this, but why can't the birthdate question be a part of the registration form so that new members can't create accounts without providing it? Is it that the code for registering is set in stone and can't be changed?

It's more along the lines of me not feeling like moving that around to the main registration page and figuring out excatly how to manipulate the code. It's not that I can't, it's that I feel I have better use for my time then to set aside time to do that. If there's a moment sometime where I'm bored doing nothing and don't have any plans for a while, hell, I'll do it. But until then, I'd rather be writing my own code for various projects instead of learning and manipulating someone else's code on my own (if there was a mod written out for something like this, it would be done already, but there's not so I have to figure stuff out on my own).

Slrjoecool · Post by **Slrjoecool** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 7:57 pm

Tiff wrote:Exactly. You can send whatever PMs you want (so long as they are harrassing)...

I think you meant NOT harrassing... ^__~

Post by **Tiff** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 10:05 pm

Slrjoecool wrote:
Tiff wrote:Exactly. You can send whatever PMs you want (so long as they are harrassing)...
I think you meant NOT harrassing... ^__~

....Yeah..^^;;;;;

crazydiamond · Post by **crazydiamond** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 10:58 pm

There! Now you all know my birthday! I expect many presents. Or cash. That's always nice.

And I think it's perfectly okay to require birthday proof...stuff. *can't think of the right word.* Tho I suppose it wouldn't matter if I *didn't,* eh?

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 11:54 pm

that's a great idea. I don't mean to sound like I own the place or something, but it did annoy me a lot when I opened a new topic and found a childish message there that made it completely obvious that the user is under the age of 13. That's because I expected to find something more meaningful.

Post by **AnimeGuru0** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 9:27 am

REMINDER

ALL MEMBERS NEED TO HAVE THEIR BIRTHDAY IN THEIR PROFILE.

I'm tired of hunting members down and telling them to put it in. ALL MEMBERS. YOU NEED TO PUT YOUR BIRTHDAY IN YOUR PROFILE. If you do not have it in your profile, you have 48 hours to do so. After this, all members we see without a profile will IMMEDIATELY BE BANNED without warning. This ban will remain in effect until you email dan your birthday, at which time the ban will be lifted. PLEASE, put your birthdays in your profile.

Post by **AnimeGuru0** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 8:15 pm

*ahem*

PLEASE PUT YOUR BIRTHDAYS IN YOUR PROFILE

If you aren't sure your birthday is in your profile, please check and make sure. Thank you.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 9:51 pm

*nods* Yes, please, we've been pretty lenient, don't take advantage of it. I can code some cool stuff here, but making code to prevent people from posting until they've inputted their birthdays (and double checking age in the process) isn't something I want to do, please don't make me. ;_;

Post by **AnimeGuru0** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:22 pm

>_< *bump*

fukufreak34 · Post by **fukufreak34** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:10 am

nobody blames u 4 doing things like that. there r some things out there that people under the age of 13 dont need to see. I was thirteen and am now 14 but i didnt lie just to get into the website.

*PS* Tiff you r so hot

*PSS* thanks for letting us see our b-days on the calendar that is recognition enuogh for me.

Post by **Tiff** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:44 pm

fukufreak34 wrote: nobody blames u 4 doing things like that. there r some things out there that people under the age of 13 dont need to see. I was thirteen and am now 14 but i didnt lie just to get into the website.

*PS* Tiff you r so hot

*PSS* thanks for letting us see our b-days on the calendar that is recognition enuogh for me.

1) It's not so much something WE'RE doing, it's an actual law, the COPPA laws. ^_^ But thanks, it's nice to know that you agree with us.

2) ..Uh..thanks? >_>;;

3) You're welcome.

Akarui Kibuno · Post by **Akarui Kibuno** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:57 pm

First, sorry about not coming back here earlier. It's been quite long!

I have a question that I think could belong here. I'm an admin on a French forum for Ojamajo Doremi. We put up an "international" section cause we noticed we had international members.

One of the latest members seems to be a nine years old from New Jersey (from the IP). What should I do, in your opinion ? In France, no laws prevent children to post on forums (as far as I know) , but since I know of the rules in the US thanks to you, I'm wondering if I have to ban this little girl or do something else ^^;;;;