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I know who you're talking about. However, I would think it should be 14 at most. (Not to mention, 14 is min age for Tripoli TMP certification)

If 16 was min age requirement, several of us young'uns on here wouldn't have been able to join.
To give you an idea of what would have changed:
1. No conman13 (assembler of all things Eggtimer related)
2. No me (and I know you guys love me :p)
3. The Our Children's Future project would never have occurred.
4. Littlemisterbig, firesalto, Rahagen, codysmith, and many other bright talented youth.
5. This one deserves one all to herself. Sabrina the Wildchild.

Plenty of youth who have joined here have been extremely successful. There's 2 I can think of in the last 4 years that have been on the more extreme side of immature. Three if you include former me. There's 8 or 9 youth that I have KNOWN of.

I understand it can be annoying to have to deal with younger members. But I was one of them at one point. If I hadn't been allowed to join initially, I would still be trying to cluster an E18 and D12's to get a horribly built rocket to even leave the pad. Due to me being a member here, I soon learned that it was unsafe, and learned to make better, more advanced rockets. If someone had told you that 13 year old blackbrandt would be building his Level 3 project, you'd probably have shaken your head and been like "yeah right". But thanks to TRF, I've advanced so far in rocketry.

Just my opinions.

TL;DR, no min age. If there ABSOLUTELY has to be one, make it 14.
 
Disagree on the OP.. all people should be able to join regardless of their age. Think of forum users like Sabrina the wildchild who is a great rocketeer, but under 16 (I think?). Even if you think someone is younger than 16 and likely to be "immature".. how else are they going to gain maturity and become part of the larger community?

Either way, if people are smart enough to figure out the forum, they're smart enough to figure out a way around age requirements. I vote NO! for any forum ID requirements.

As far as immature and acting ridiculous- I'm 40, and I'm probably at the top of this list :)
 
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.
 
I completely disagree with the opening contention. I go to lots of launches (BALLS, AIRFEST) annually, plus local regional launches and have for many years. I see a lot of old, graying, and mostly out of shape folks (disclaimer, I R One). We really need the youth!!!! Forget the age limit. I was passionate about rocketry in my youth (age 8 onward) and still am at age 58....We need young men and women to join our ranks and move the hobby forward......to infinity and beyond!!!!!
 
A minimum I.Q. requirement would do a lot more to improve discourse on this site....
 
I think it is great to have the young people here. The young people are our future. What I am saying is for people to be respectful. My favorite quote is "There is no such thing as a dumb questions. Asking a question is the first sign of wisdom." I just think there should be a age requirement.
Well, with your age limit suggestion, none of the above members that I listed would have been able to join when they did.
 
[video=youtube;yPhMDIVapyg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPhMDIVapyg[/video]
 
There is a youth forum here I believe a young person can join. That's a place to start. I don't know how popular it is or how often it's used as I'm a proverbial
"old fart" and not allowed. I'm ok with that too. Ahhhh, Remember, anyone can scan the messages here without being a member (except the restricted sides)
they just can't post. It's not that the young people are not allowed to "look at" anything. They can read all the open groups they want.

I'd be fearful if someone posted something like an elementary inquiry or something far-fetched, they get flamed royally for by the peanut gallery of
do-gooders that live here. Kurt
 
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Seems like something a close minded individual would say, just remember you were young and dumb once as well so simply shutting people out based on age is not the best idea. So someone annoys you and this is how you respond? Yikes.
 
There just aren't...

Enough laws...

You should run...

For congress...
 
Andrew, if the youngsters really offend you, you know you can put them on your Ignore list!
 
Andrew, if the youngsters really offend you, you know you can put them on your Ignore list!

Ding ding ding ding ding!

I thought you were a conservative, Mr Lathrop. We don't tell people that they can't be offensive or have their own opinions. We can just choose to ignore them, eh?
 
Then we should also set a maximum age limit. Most old farts have transcended to a place in life where they just don't care if their opinions or thoughts offend anyone. And I find that offensive.

PS- That was all sarcasm, in case you were wondering. In fact, we should ban the sarcasm-challenged, too.
 
No age requirement. Just moderation if posts get out of control.

Besides, wouldn't we rather have youngsters posting here and receiving sound advice rather than trying to learn from Youtube and end up blowing a hand off?
 
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.
 
Ridiculous and pathetic!

I agree.

Totally missing the boat for the CORE purpose for a rocket forum

Also, there are too many irresponsible "adults", even in their 60's, and 70's!

Glass houses, you know? ;)

One of the most irresponsible people I've ever seen post on a rocket forum goes by a nickname, nobody knows who he is, but he's almost surely old enough to qualify for AARP.
 
One of the most irresponsible people I've ever seen post on a rocket forum goes by a nickname, nobody knows who he is, but he's almost surely old enough to qualify for AARP.

Hmm, I thought "George Gassaway" was your real name. :wink:
 
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