WOW IS GATHER NOW A SITE FOR 15 YR OLD GIRLS?

oh my

From the TOS:

Gather is concerned about the safety and privacy of all its users, particularly children. For this reason, you must be at least 13 years of age to access and view the Service. In addition, please be aware that Gather has created certain areas on the Service that contain adult or mature content. You must be at least 18 years of age to access and view such areas.

Wow... I haven't seen as many at all til lately,,,but I guess if they can be they can be..but I think it should be 18

My kids have gather accounts. I approve who they have as friends.
I think you can be 13 to have a gather account.

I have seen some of the things a few under age girls have written about on here,and its kinda disgusting for that age .. omy..my mother would shoot me.

I monitor what my kids do online.
I wonder if thier mother knows what they are doing??

When Gather was mostly for writing, I could have understood having so many underage members. However, that's not the case today, and I wonder the same thing as you.

I am a bit dissapointed in Gather for allowing such young teens be on here.

I do understand that some of these kids lie just to get on here, (My 14 year old neice is one of them- her parents are aware, they simply just do not care.) - So for that I spy upon her and make sure she's not getting into anything too molding.

And that there is nothing Gather can do to determine that.. So for that I dont hold Gather compleatly responsible.

Im more upset by some of the things I see these girls/teens writing about.

Oops, didn't know that you were upset by what one of them wrote.

No, not just for girls. There are some teenage boys on here as well.

I realize its not cut out of the gender pool for boys lol,but I have only seen girls on here at that age.

Just playing with ya!

i know i would have lied to get on if I was a little younger lol!

There have been a series of posts written lately that appear to be written by teenage girls. However, they are likely part of a scam.

As Bridget points out above, you can be 13 yrs of age or older to join.

What? Scams on Gather? On Gather? Oh my!

I haven't read any of the posts you're talking about but it could just be fantasy or something like that. Perhaps they just have very vivid imaginations.

Omy no,its stuff about having sex and being sluts and omg stupid crazy stuff..

Kids seam to take over everything.....
I have seen a couple posts by children on here.

I feel that gather is fairly safe
My 13 yr old recently signed up and put in a bunch of pictures....however, then the computer she was using went down.....and redoing the harddrive something is still wrong and it can't go online. But...she sits right at the desk next to me....and I trust her.
My 18 yr old also recently joined, but she can't get photos to load.
My 23 yr old has been a member for awhile but she doesn't have internet so hasn't done anything here in awhile.

I would sure be interested in seeing some of what you are referring to that these teens are putting in. Although I see Kevin seems to know and is saying they are scams.

Marsha, there is NO way I'd let a 13 yr. old be here on Gather! I have even discouraged my 22 year old son from here.....LOL!!!!! I trust my son 100% BUT..........13 is way too young!!!!!!!

I am connected to your daughter and she is fine - I love the anime photos she posts and she is respectful and polite.

And she has guarded viewing on so she can't see the adult stuff

I do not mind younger people being on here as long as they stick to the mundane stuff. Stuff that is tagged for mature audiences / adult only should be adult only and if someone who is under 18 is posting on it than that needs to be a TOS violation or they need their membership revoked. ALSO on the same token I feel underaged members needed watched closer as to what they are posting and commenting. IF their posts are disrespectful, rude, or ADULT/obviously for 18 and older that also should make them grounds for removal from the site - for obvious reasons. Gather is a great site and I would hate to see them get into trouble for something a kid does. SOME TEENS are responsible enough to view/participate in mature things if that is the case than have their parent sign up for an account and let the kid view with them or through their log in.

I thought Gather prided itself on being different from other social sites and being for a more adult community. I have loved it for specifically that reason. I hope that it remains to be a refuge. I don't mind talking to some kids who are interesting and respectful but rude, mannerless ones who want to post crap about how hot so and so's abs are and how sad they are they only slept with three boys this week instead of 7 is going to totally ruin the site for me.

granted we can still chose who we connect with and who we can ignore so I guess it won't be that bad.

Idk, at this point, I think Gather is a big enough site to accommodate the young-uns-I, myself, haven't run across any.

It is perfectly reasonable for Gather to allow teens on site. This is not an "adult" site in the sense that "adult" means activities which are inappropriate for young people. It's not a dating site or a porn site. The site's "more mature" format is more mature in that it is a less immature format than other social sites. It's not dedicated to flash games, leaving silly comments for your friends, making a personalized, html profile that can be used as a superficial means of communicating one's "style." Communicating is more DIY here.
The age limit has been what it is now since the beginning.
MySpace allows young users. Facebook allows young users. Livejournal allows young users. Though Gather is less youth oriented than other social sites because of its nature (being more of a site dedicated to creativity, with social activity based on that creativity) it still has features which are not only youth appropriate, but educational and of interest to young people.
Based on the nature of the site, it is likely that in the long run, Gather will attract a more mature, creative and intellectual segment of the teen population than we would find on other social sites. With parental guidance a teen's experience here can be very beneficial. These kids can fine-tune their creative and communication skills while enjoying the benefit of earning rewards for their efforts. As they participate in discussions with others whose viewpoints differ from their own, they can hone their research and debate skills, and even learn ways to deal with jerks who demonstrate a complete lack of maturity when unable to effectively debate an issue.
As long as teens aren't wandering through the site unsupervised (just as should be avoided with other social sites) "Gathering" really should be good for them.

I think that it wouldn't be so bad if the parents are ACTIVELY involved and paying attention to what their children are doing on here. The problem isn't so much that kids are on here - it's that the parents often don't have a clue what they are doing on here (or any social site).

I think 13 is too young too. Most of the kids I have seen on here are children of active members and their parents are monitoring them. I wonder how many kids don't have parents on here to watch them.

I think 13 is to young for any chat room/

Like most of the above comments, I believe that 13 is okay, if the parents are involved in what they read and what they post.

I don't have a problem with 13 year olds on the site whatsoever. Some of the posts by people a lot older seem to be by 13 year olds and no one is saying anything about those...

I haven't seen any of the posts you mention, but this is also my escape and I expect to deal with adults not kids on here~~ If I wanted to play with the children, I would be on MySpace or something, I would be mortified too, if one of my sons were to pop up on my posts *shudders*

I don't see a problem with a 13 year old so log as she behaves appropriately however that said there are people here on the site who are older then 21 and act more immature then 5 year olds

Wow!! I didn't know about this, at all!!

Gather is probably one of the safest sites out there. Facebook is far worse.