Being relatively new to the mudcat, I would like to say I find most of the folks her extremely newbie friendly and I doubt that changes if the poster is a youngster.

As far as keeping this site child friendly; I think that would cut down on a lot of discussions that are not necessarily meant to be porngraphic or offensive but honest discussions. Children do not belong in all adult discussions and adults should not have to stop themselves from honest pursuit of knowledge or even just venting because a kid might see it.

At the risk of being flamed, what ever happened to parents taking the time to say "We don't behave that way, but some people do"; or spending time with the kids while online.

As I said before I work doing tech support, I spend an extreme amount of time online and from where I sit it is truely frightening to see young kids and teenagers on line as much as I do,obviously without parental guidance.

I can point to specific chatrooms and messages board not unlike this one where kids as young as 10-13 spend 8 -10 hours a day in a room with adults.Does it then become our resposibility to constantly censor ourselves? I think not.

Please let me explain why: None of us go out of our way to talk about explicit subjects around the kids but we have had adult discussions in front of them, have our "in jokes" and such; to take that away from the adults would be plain wrong. The site in question is made by an adult for adults to talk "girltalk" , not meant for kids, but they do come in. Some of them fit in well and develop real friendships with folks because they know we are _real_, not perfect, but real. We get mad, scream, swear, fight, talk about sex, have fantasies and dreams. What does it do to the kids? Well, I have had one come to me and talk out suicidal feelings and tell me she was being abusee and I was able to get her to talk to her pastor about it. Another girl was able to talk out the confusion and anger at seeing a friend abused and stalked by her first boyfriend.

Max, I applaud your wanting to have your daughter share your love of music and for it to be safe. The only way to make it completely safe is for you to be there with her and to direct her to the threads she should be at. Also,have her tell you if she comes across something or someone that makes her uncomfortable if you do let her surf by herself.

The other threads serve a function too. It's not to make the place unfriendly to kids but making it a place where real people can come to solve real problems , musical or otherwise. Yeah, Trolls happen and they are annoying , but can anyone honestly say the know absolutely no rude, angry people in real life? Or in the case of flames, that they never have arguments in real life?

What the kids can learn here pertains not only to music but to real life. The biggest thing they learn, beyond music, is that everyone handles things differently and that some of those ways breed anger and the better ways breed understanding. And understanding others, is, to me, one of the most important lessons a child can learn,anywhere

andi