Do you allow parents on your forum?

[Thomasss]

Now before you think harder on the title, I don't mean people who are parents, I mean people who are parents of teens on your forum.

A while ago I was on this forum, and we had these two members, one being a teen and the other being their mother. It was all fine until the son started debating in our debate board and the mom had PM'ed me and said that she does not like her son debating, and if we could do anything. Personally I was pretty shocked, I've never had parents message me telling me they don't want their son doing something.

I forwarded the issue to the owner, and it was dealt with. However what would you guys do? And would you allow parents of your teenage members to be on your site, and calling their child "sweetie" or the kid calling their parents "mom/dad" on the forum?

 

[Allenafaith]

I don't mind it as long as they aren't my parents. I know they would probably try to embarrass me somehow. 😛

 

[THF_Martin]

It is something that the family need to work out, not the owner of the forum. If I got a PM from a parent about a member on my forum I would tell them to talk it out between themselves because I cannot prevent someone from contributing just because someone asked.

 

[ddoesmc]

I don't mind it. But, I would not accept a PM from a mother/father if I had proof that a user was related to them.

 

[Ashley z]

Having someone's parent on the forum is fine with me, but I'm not going to give the parents preferential treatment. If the kid is acting out of line or reveals they are doing something dangerous or illegal, I may consider contacting the parent, but I would never limit a person's freedom of speech or ability to post in a Debate section just because a concerned mother told me to do so.

If it really became a problem, I would evaluate each member's posts. I'd figure out if the parent and child are high quality members or low quality. To stop them from starting public conflicts on the forum I would either ban both of them or ban the one instigating the arguments.

 

[Cierra]

I don't think we have any parents of other forum members on my forum as far as I'm aware, but I'd allow them. I agree with [user]Ashley z[/user] about not giving preferential treatment though. I have had a husband and wife on my forum once, before they both got banned for other things. 😛

 

[Ashley z]

I don't think we have any parents of other forum members on my forum as far as I'm aware, but I'd allow them. I agree with [user]Ashley z[/user] about not giving preferential treatment though. I have had a husband and wife on my forum once, before they both got banned for other things. 😛

Yes, very important to understand the concept of All users are created equal.
Also, not all users remain equal forever. I try to ban or warn low quality users as much as possible and it works out well. The happiness of the forum overall has to come before personal feelings and the happiness of a single user.

If it's between a mother and a child creating issues, I'd warn them both to keep their family meetings at their dinner table or they'd both face a ban. I would definitely consider banning the bigger offender, or the one that causes trouble the most, but I'd worry that would just create larger issues especially if it was the parent that ended up being banned.

It just depends. If the parent was there first and they were a really high quality member and they told me they were leaving the forum if I didn't ban their newly signed up child, I'd probably ban their child. Quite possibly vice versa, but that depends on whether or not I think the parent is going to have a vendetta against my forum or not for banning them and letting their child stay.

 

[Deleted member 7467]

Personally, As long as no one is breaking rules, I don't care. If I were approached by a parent, I would politely instruct them to discuss it at home off the Internet. Parents need control of their children and need not rely on a webmaster to have that control.

 

[Bitchat]

I would say yes, as my forum doesn't really allow such debates, it's more based around Bitcoin. Although, if there was an issue between the parent and child, then I would have to take action and ask for one to leave; I would ask the parent, but allow them to "check up" on their child's account.

 

[Geoffrey]

I've never had a parent and child on a forum together.

In the situation in the OP, I think I'd just tell the parent to talk to their child in person and deal with it that way. If the child isn't breaking any rules, I wouldn't restrict their account just because mommy or daddy asked me to.

 

[Nuke]

If they can verify it and pay me for being a babysitter, I'll "discipline" their kid on a forum, sure.

 

[drucrazy]

I don't think anyone would be on any forum with their parents on there, I doubt they would have that much free time on their hands.

 

[Cosmic]

It is something that the family need to work out, not the owner of the forum. If I got a PM from a parent about a member on my forum I would tell them to talk it out between themselves because I cannot prevent someone from contributing just because someone asked.

I agree. It's not my responsibility to enforce what a parent wants their child to do. I would also have no way to verify that the person contacting is indeed that member's parent.

 

[Teapot]

This is an interesting topic for sure. I wouldn't have a problem with it as long as the parent doesn't start anything with their child on the public boards.

 

[Kopacetic]

As long as they aren't my parents. I am fine, as long there's a relevant reason into why they join my forum.

 

[MasterA]

I would allow parents to be on my forum. It doesn't break any rules and if they want, they can monitor their child's posts. I would totally allow it but I personally would not do anything to help them control their kid. It's not my job to help them look after their kid and if the parent doesn't want their child on my forum, then they should discuss it at home and not with me. If I get that request, I would kindly ask them to solve the issues themselves.

 

[CM30]

As long as they don't break the rules. I wouldn't even care if they were my own parents to be honest.

 

[LadyAnna]

It's an interesting question, but I'd allow them.

Of course I'd expect them to keep family matters away from the forums and behave, just like everyone else.

Along with the same questioning you could apply a lot scenarios, allowing sibling, allowing couples, allowing close friends etc, all of those could technically invoke some kind of problems if they have a fall out about something.

Admittedly a parent and their underage (teen) kid is a lot different from those cases and might cause a different line of trouble.