Feature request (age)

My feature request is that one can easily see the age of other persons in the thread.

Originally posted by TrappedSoul
My feature request is that one can easily see the age of other persons in the thread.

I think the age thing would be a good idea, but it should be voluntary, only having it if you want to have it.

As for the ages of the members, a few months ago I remember seeing a poll which showed that the majority of members was in there late twenties-early thirties.
Of course there are alot of members alot younger and alot older.

Oh, and just so no one is curious about my age, I'm 18.

Nope, I don't like this at all. It would take away the extreme surprise(and joy) of having a younger member blowing me away. We've got some damn smart kids(for a lack of a better word) here.

There's a spot for your birth date in your profile, whether you (or any member) choose to enter a date, and whether that date is true are another thing. This is the internet after all.

I think reading a given post, and judging it on it's own merits, and not the age of the posting member, the number of posts they have, or if their avatar is cool or not is the best way to go.

I'm 19 btw.
I just think it would be nice, because sometimes I see the most stupid replys and if I knew it was just written by a "kiddy" then I can relax.

Well voluntarily revieling age would be ok I think, but it should not be something that anyone should have to do.

Not sure about the cell phone thing, I dont own a cell phone, and view them as electronic leashes. The last thing I want is work trying to call me in. My last cell phone is sitting at the bottom of Thomas Bay in Alaska, where it probibly got swallowed by a halibut.

But just for the record, I am 35.

IMO, the whole point in ATS is the quality and validity of the post in question. Age has little or no effect on a good post.

The only point I think would make younger users more obvious are petty or personal arguments.. but even then i'm sure this can be present across the spectrum of ages and i'm sure there are many other youngsters who are sensible and can have a lengthy discussion.

I think many people want younger generations to question authority and not follow other flocks. By not letting them into a site purely on their age will give them a bad taste and thus may lose interest in said matters.

So in short- People of all ages are essential, if an idiot should arise, well we have an army of Mods who will soon sort the situation out.

No offense, but I really don't like that idea. As many others have said, it would make people think that a younger person's opinion doesn't matter, etc.

I know of people on here who I thought we're much older than they actually are. Some people's maturity on here is incredible, and it makes the world a less worse place to live knowing that not everybody is completely stupid.

If this was up for vote I'd vote 14 thumbs down. It's none of your business (or anybody else's) what a member's age is and it shouldn't make any difference to how their post is taken. The content of the post should stand on its own. If it's stupid and worthless - it's stupid and worthless whether they're 17 or 70. If it has value - it has value whether they're 17 or 70.

Originally posted by chissler

Originally posted by TrappedSoul
My feature request is that one can easily see the age of other persons in the thread.

I think the feature should be added ONLY if the person can turn the age show feature off in "edit profile"


just my $0.02

In my humble opinion, every member should fill out the profile data truthfully. However, the internet is the great anonymizer, so if people are going to create screen personas, as most people do, age is likely to be a part of that persona. By the way, except for my name, my profile is accurate, but then, how would I prove it?

Well I at my age I will be offended for being ask to tell my age

Plus I love a littler mystery.

Now . . . when ATS starts to have their own Dating services and become Match maker the age will be a big issue.

Originally posted by TrappedSoul
And another thing that would be great would be to have cell phone verification or something like that. (you get a message with a password on your cell phone)
And if a user is banned so is his cellphone number, that would help a lot with unserious users.

Never owned one, never will. In fact I'm in my thirties and I've only ever talked on a cell phone once. I agree with the "electronic leash" thing DB said. I just like to be alone too, and if some one can get a hold of me I don't really feel alone...
BTW, if I didn't have a roomate I would keep the ringer off on my land line and just let the machine always get it.

Vas

I'm not interested in anyone having my cell phone number, except a few very important people and necessary businesses. A internet bulletin board would definitely not qualify.

Originally posted by TrappedSoul

That's because I get the feeling that everybody in this forum is under 15 years old or something, it would be much easyer talking with a person if you know their age!

You were born in 86 ???

I was born in 1962.
I guess your unworthy to talk to now, being that I'm so much more mature.

Although I already have my DOB on my profile, I feel this would be just another way of negating people. I mean, we already have the classes of Member/Fighter/Writer/Scholar to divide and pigeonhole people into cliques, now you want to use age as well? What next? Why not skin colour? Sexual preference? Favourite colour? Or you know, thinking radically for a second, why not judge the people on this forum ON WHAT THEY ACTUALLY SAY?

[edit on 25/7/06 by Implosion]

The internet is a place where we can crush usual prejudices against age, gender, weight, color, style, and even income.
Opinions of other people in real life are usually based on these insignificant things. Here a person is judged on what they post.
Almost sounds like utopia doesn’t it?

if YOU want to " wear your age on your sleeve " then do it , just spend 500ATS points and put " Age = XX Years " in the custom line one of your mini profile .

there , its that simple can we move on ?