ola everybody

Everybody still remembers the incident with cartridge for wich he already apologized and from wich I already accepted his apologies of wich I thought was very brave of him to do that in public like him

But nontheless this incident brought up a very good idea ( by others)
I think the idea for a special youngsters forum is very good. and just as I`m trying to help and sharing knowledge in the other forums I will do that here too.
We always expect in one stupid way that everyone who is posting in the forums is more or less equal to knowledge as we all are. here we are very wrong. I`m 21 now and I remeber the days when I started. man I was an annoying little bastard those days (heard that later)
But I was asking the more experienced guy in the modelling shop about the kits the paints the tools the..... well about everything. I didn`t had internet that days so I had to do it this way.
I think for the youngsters it`s fun too. I have seen several pictures of younger people and I have heard several people speak about there kids or friends I think they would appreciate it if they had a place where they could go to with all of their questions to be answered.
Another pro is that we never get more of those incidents as what we had with cartridge because if he is posting in a youngsters forum we know he is younger and therefor possibly more inexperienced.

I really like the idea of the youngster forum and I will be glad to answer any question from any one there.

but if I`m the only one who thinks it`s a good idea then it`s probably not that usefull to start a forum. how many modelers around here have kids that are doing the same hobby???
how many youngsters do we have here???
if you have more questions to fill to the list be free to place them here

let me know if all you guys think this is a good or a bad idea but also explain why it`s easy enough to say something is good or bad

hope to hear from you guys

I have to say....that is a superb idea and I for one second the motion.
I too would be happy to contribute in any way. I think that any kids forum would need careful scrutinizing for obvious reasons. I still believe however that children should not really be posting on adult sites without adequate supervision for, again, the obvious reason.
Encouragement in the hobby is one thing...........

well I say that if I had kids I rather would see them here posting on Armorama then in such a slimy chatroom of some kind of dutch music television station

I think a "Junior Model Builder's" forum is a great idea. That way when someone posts a question, we can answer it with a more age-appropriate response. Telling a 30-something the best tank kit to build and a pre-teen is quite different. For the price of a kit+aftermarket I might buy for myself, my 13 year old son could almost get a new bike (been shopping for one with him so I know!).

I absolutely agree with Martin, I don't know the situation in your countries, but here in Italy 99% of the plastic modelers are 30+! I think that such a forum where the youngster can find their own space would get more of them in the hobby. The key for succeeding in doing that I think, isa that we all "older" guys try to "fly low" and really give an helping hand to the youngsters. When they will grow up (in terms of modeling) and move to the other forums, it will mean that we have done our part to keep the hobby alive.

I think it´s a great idea. We will know that the one who´s asking is a kid and we can help him sharing our knowledge with an appropriate answer. :-)

I too really like this idea. From what I can tell Jim has been thinking about starting a junior modeler forum for some time now.

I have!

And I will. I want to give the whole thing some thought though as to how the forum may be special or tied into a whole special content area for Jr. Modelers. You know me....

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Jim

Sounds good. My only suggestion is that yong modellers (under say age 16?) maybe not be allowed such things as access to PM, etc. This would reduce the potential for any problems that may arise. (Sorry, but there ARE some problems out there.)

I've already gotten a PM from the person who we all may be thinking about right now, and I just don't feel it's appropriate to answer it. Sorry, to me, 10 or 11 is a very little kid to be using a site unsupervised. Even if it is a modelling site. And the references I have seen to sniffing glue, etc are certainly not appropriate.

Maybe asking a persons age when they sign up (they wouldn't know that it would limit them at this point) would help steer people to the right section.

And, if it was a part of the site intended for kids and their parents, this would allow for better questions and answers. Someone who's 10 probably doesn't care about how accurate road wheels are, or using resin aftermarket parts, or even how to dry brush. They just want to glue some plastic together, maybe use some paint, and then hang the thing over their desk.

Heck, all I wanted to do was set them on fire when I was finished with them!

Steve

So true,

My son of 8 is in his gluing and playing phase, and he loves to look at the pictures in the gallery here, he is not that good in English, so any question that he want to put here would go thru me, and I think that a lot of loving parent would automatically supervise any postings junior want to make

My daughter of 15 would be able to do it herself, but she stopped modeling and took on a new hobby, shopping and boy's

Let's face it, whether or not young modelers have a dedicated forum, they are going to be online. I think that a junior forum is a wonderful idea. We know that the content allowed there would not be offensive, and on a good day, may even be educational. I am all for a forum that would allow us the "non Juniors" to lend age specific advice and taylor our tips to a skill level and budget minded answer that would not as easily scare off a potential Verlinden, Paine, or Horan. Sorry for the rambling.

Patrick

Sniper has the right idea in my opinion. Limit uses to age specific groups. EVERYBODY is safer that way.

Having taught kids between the ages of 10 and 14 as a substitute teacher a little while and being heavily involved with youth programs at church, I can understand where all the concern is coming from.

One thing that speaks for the youth though, is that it will only be the very interested ones who will ever venture here. That's great, lets help them out all we can I think!!

The "evil" of the net is here to stay wheather we like it or not and unsupervised kids will be kids... If we can keep that area as G as possible, it will be great. There have been a few pornographic figures shown here on Armorama - all in jest I know, but yet unappropriate for younger viewers. Maybe I am wrong, but any normal parent (sticking out my neck here) will be interested in knowing about the sites their children want to join, I am anyway. Maybe there needs to be some parental permission needing to be dealt with???

Those youth it will work for, it will work great for, but as I have stated before the net isn't the best medium for a "hands-on" hobby as modelbuilding is, in a youth teaching sense that is...

I'll have to agree with Sniper here. While this is a great site, there could still be a few problems.
Imagine a scenario:
A young person posts a message that he's lost instructions for a certain kit. He then gets a PM from a 'guy' who 'has' the instructions and wants the kids address so he can mail the instructions to him.
A week later something shows up at the kid house and... I think you know where I'm going with this.

I'm not an insane kidnapper - but you guys don't know that for sure. (BTW - for the record, I'm not a criminal. )

I'm not against a section for younger modelers, I just think it's a good idea that there's a few more precautions.

YodaMan

More food for thought - one other option is to have a user enter thier birthdate and based on that you would have a select set of avatars or use a 'medal' to indicate age or indicate a younger modeler so we could visually see what age group were are dealing with.

Just my 2 cents

Oh - wings are gone! Points are in!!!!!!

i think 16's not really a little kid anymore, though compared to most other people it may seem that way

i think junior modelers forum is a great idea and i am sure we will meet some really hard questions and perfect ideas there. I can support this forum in any way I will be ordered.

It should be made impossible to find out a kids age from the outset. As soon as a kid signs up, he/she is automatically assigned certain areas in which they can visit and others they cannot. There should be NO access to PM, for the VERY good reasons expalined above. As a Police officer, I would question why anybody would want to PM a child....Addresses...freaky chat...you know the kind of sick people out there as well as I do. I have dealt with paedophiles and know what they are capable of. I think protection of the innocent is ultimate in importance even if it does stifle their attempts to get into the hobby somewhat. There are other ways to gain knowledge. The internet wasn't around when I was young. I'm still modelling.........In the UK, you have to be vetted by the police before you can work with children.
I know everyone I have chatted to here so far is ok, but what of the future? If kids come here, so will the worst of people. I like to help, but not to the detriment of the site.
Allow kids....but limit access....BE WARNED!

To recap....allow a kids forum but limit their user capability. Everything must be in the open and quantifiable and traceable. This is a hotcake that needs careful planning.
Protection for the adults too might I add!

hi guys (Iam 15)
i think there should be an youngster forum with an agelimit i think 15 would be could and havinge some way of indicating that the person is under 15 eg tag or medal.

All good input. Thanks.

I am concerned too about the potential for problems with private messages. When Damien PMed me about the recent issues I had a hard time switching over to language that was age-specific. I tend to be a little errr...."wordy"?

I don't think there is an easy fix for this issue. The reality is that no matter what age checking system were put in place it would be very easy for younger users to simply put the wrong birth-date info. Also to do such a change would require a massive overhaul of the entire site. Not something I really think is time best spent. Legally the sign-up process is very clear. Children under 13 need parental constent. The staff and myself will attempt to maintain an environment that is PG in most respects (PG-13) at worst. Any parent that would give their child (under 13) access to an un-monitored email account (as that is a must to sign-up) and full access to the Internet is not doing their kids any favors anyways.

I will continue to give this more thought so further input is certainly appriciated.

Cheers,
Jim

I know this is all in good favor but what about serious modelers under 15 ( like me) I'm not gonna sit around here if i have to stick in one forum section listening to little kids asking "what color should a tank be?"( sorry cartridge it made for a good example ) it would just make going to this site incredibly boring.

Having an Armorama Jr. forum in no way is an attempt to "box" younger users into one particular area. So you are more than happy to keep posting elsewhere.

Cheers,
Jim

I think the reason for a Junior forum is so that we answer question's like cartridge's as we would a child instead of wise acre comments to an adult.

I have young children and would answer their questions regarding a model differently than that of an older sibling.