----

shop deals on amazon
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Peartree said:
Nope.

Some years ago when I was first asked to be a moderator, the new owner (at that time) was guided by the philosophy that TRF needed to be family friendly. And one of the reasons for that was that many of the members here were involved with youth either through their local rocket clubs, or through their involvement with Boys & Girls clubs, foster parenting, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, FFA, Junior Fair boards, and many others. He felt that TRF needed to be a place where any one of us could recommend to any of these youth, or their parents, without worrying that the language or subject matter were too adult, or inappropriate. Other forums exist that are less family friendly. This, of course. eventually led to TRF being referred to as the "Care Bear" forum, and successive owners have loosened the reigns somewhat, but in general, that guiding principle hasn't changed much.

If we want to attract youth to our hobby, we have to invite them, and if we are going to invite them, we have to have a place where they feel welcome. TRF is, and should be, a place where young people can come when their RTF rocket they got for their birthday doesn't do what they thought it would do, or when they decide that RTF isn't challenging enough and want some help to move on to the next level. There needs to be a place where junior high or high schoolers can ask questions to do science fair projects or fair projects.

As it is, below a certain age, (I don't recall what it is, maybe 14?) registration requires parental permission. I think that's good enough.

TRF is what it is for a reason. It isn't an accident.
Click to expand...

Three cheers for our heroic moderator ! Well said John. The IGNORE feature is really very easy to use.
 
samb said:
Three cheers for our heroic moderator ! Well said John. The IGNORE feature is really very easy to use.
Click to expand...

It would be nice to have an "ignore thread" function as well, so threads like this one do not keep popping up in the "new posts" or "today's posts" search results. I would actually find this more useful than the "ignore user" function.
 
andrewlathrop87 said:
Generally, Motors cant be purchased unless or 21 or 18, am I right? yea. So lets say someone 15 is on here. Yea they can ask all the questions they want but at that age you cannot buy rocket motors. You have to have an adult get them for you. Even estes motors you have to be 18 years old. So for the minimum age I do have a point. Just like the restricted research on here you have to ask to be on that. So what if they put a min age on certain sections of the forum like if you want to look at the high power section or mid power section you have to either have permission from the moderators or be of the age 18 when you can buy those motors.

For example all the competition rocketry for kids they are not ordering the motors online or going to the hobby store to buy them, an adult is. All I am saying is to have some responsibility. You should be 16 min to be a member here. Thats my opinion.

At 16 you can do alot more in rocketry than a 12. You can drive yourself to launch rockets. Parents may have more confidence in the kids to launch rockets alone at 16.
Click to expand...

Why don't you just start your own forum with your own rules and regulations and you won't ever have to read a post by anyone you don't approve of?
 
No need to start one. It already exists and is filled with people who were banned from this forum. They do an excellent job of scaring away most new people who attempt to use that forum, which is why it has almost no traffic.

Larry Curcio said:
The fastest way I know to kill a hobby is to exclude young people.
If you really want a forum for old men, You can always start one.
Click to expand...
 
For want of not beating a dead horse, I agree with what is already been said.

andrewlathrop87, LPR ("D" or lower) rocket motors can be bought by parties under 18 *I think*(I have not extensively dug through all related documents).
I agree on your issue with not enough respect, but that is EXACTLY why they should come here. If interested enough, they would adapt and adopt the way things are done here. Instead of pushing them away, take them in and teach them respect.

Also, lets keep this civil.
 
andrewlathrop87 said:
Generally, Motors cant be purchased unless or 21 or 18, am I right? yea. So lets say someone 15 is on here. Yea they can ask all the questions they want but at that age you cannot buy rocket motors. You have to have an adult get them for you. Even estes motors you have to be 18 years old. So for the minimum age I do have a point. Just like the restricted research on here you have to ask to be on that. So what if they put a min age on certain sections of the forum like if you want to look at the high power section or mid power section you have to either have permission from the moderators or be of the age 18 when you can buy those motors.

For example all the competition rocketry for kids they are not ordering the motors online or going to the hobby store to buy them, an adult is. All I am saying is to have some responsibility. You should be 16 min to be a member here. Thats my opinion.

At 16 you can do alot more in rocketry than a 12. You can drive yourself to launch rockets. Parents may have more confidence in the kids to launch rockets alone at 16.
Click to expand...

If your kid asks, "Daddy, where do babies come from?" what will you say? Will you tell him or her "Ask me when you're older" or tell them that such information is restricted? As for a merchant selling rocket motors (or engines if you prefer) to an under aged purchaser, that merchant risks his entire business in so doing. Sorry Andrew, but the genie is already out of the bottle and it ain't going back in.
 
Geez. I think of when I got started in this hobby for real, at age 12. It would have been FANTASTIC to have had access to an online rocketry forum like this. Of course no such thing existed, and would not for decades. So I read Stine's Handbook over and over, and read about all sorts of neat stuff in Model Rocketry Magazine. All very useful. Even if it was stuff I knew I would "never" get into, like R/C Rocket Boosted Gliders, or winning scale models, or make up rocket electronics. Actually while at the time a lot of what I read about was so beyond any level I expected to get into, it was intriguing to read about and showed there was more stuff that could be done in the hobby.

But that information was very one-sided, top-down. Nobody around where I lived to learn about rockets from, or discuss ideas. Other than some friends who also got into it when I did, but we didn't have anyone else to go to. Nearest club was in Atlanta, 160 miles away, not an option. Letters were possible, but then very awkward to out of the blue send a letter to someone you'd read about, to ask questions. A few years later I did do that after having met some people in the hobby like Terry Lee, and being older, but nobody in that first critical year (most who get into this hobby are long gone by one year).

Just absolutely ludicrous to say that this forum ought not to let anyone under 16 participate in it.
 
Last edited:
neil_w said:
It would be nice to have an "ignore thread" function as well, so threads like this one do not keep popping up in the "new posts" or "today's posts" search results. I would actually find this more useful than the "ignore user" function.
Click to expand...

In all the years I've been on TRF, I've rarely ever used the "new posts" or "today's posts" buttons. I tend to read the threads I'm interested in and watch to see if they appear in regular print (which means nothing new has been posted) or in bold print (which means there is new stuff I haven't read yet). Using the "new posts" button tends to return a lot of thread from forums that I don't usually read.
 
I think the forum should be restricted to only people who know how to use the multi-quote function.
 
andrewlathrop87 said:
I have child and at any point he may ask that, but I will not tell him the real answer. I believe you should be married when you have children. By the time your married you should know where babies come from and how they are made. By the time a person becomes in high school they should all ready know. But they should not exercise there gifts until they are married. There is no reason to tell that type of information to anyone younger then 16. They will learn it when they are ready. I hope I answered your question.

What genie are you referring to?
Click to expand...

I should have said "genies" as in plural. The Internet is the bottle and the entire knowledge of man is contained therein. Those genies. Does your school have a rocket program for the kids? Maybe you should start one?
 
It's not entirely unheard of. A long time ago in Germany there was a Rocketry outfit that was pretty selective about who they let in.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Marc_G
The rise of the nitroplasts?
Replies
0
Views
97
Marc_G
Marc_G
Tractionengines
Recommendation fir dehumidifier? ? ?
Replies
2
Views
87
SolarYellow
SolarYellow
Mugs914
So long Dickey, thanks for all the music...
Replies
12
Views
296
cerving
cerving
brockrwood
A-380 Spotted in the Wild at Madrid Airport
Replies
5
Views
221
Peartree
Peartree
Bravo52
Fallout - No spoilers
Replies
16
Views
340
jd2cylman
jd2cylman

Latest posts

Back
Top