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Subject: 
Re: Minors in LUGs (Re: NELUG Turns 50!!)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.loc.us.me, lugnet.org.us, lugnet.loc.us.ma.bos
Date: 
Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:05:33 GMT
Viewed: 
4447 times
  
In lugnet.loc.us.me, Eric Kingsley writes:

I do believe however that if we participate in public events like Mindfest in
the future or even sponsor our own events then it might be nice to let <18
participate.

How do you mean? Do you mean participate as in attend the event and see our
models, talk to and meet us, and so on, or do you mean participate as in bring
models of their own and be there as a part of NELUG?  The former isn't a
problem, at that point we're just publicising the event, which is good for
everyone.  The latter brings us back to all those legal issues we were dealing
with before.  Imagine this situation:  Someone <18 hears NELUG will be at an
event, and he is allowed to participate.  He brings a model to display, chats
with event attendees, etc.  Now he is off looking at something else, and
there's an accident.  A monitor falls down and breaks.  Owner wants money.  Kid
was part of NELUG.

I realise it's more than a bit of a grey area, but since I don't think anyone
would find straightening out legal stuff like this to be fun, it's probably
better to just avoid them completely.

I also think that it might be OK to let <18 get on our mailing
list with their parents permission and their understanding that there are • rules
for using the mailing list that they have to follow.

Well, this clearly isn't a problem.  I wouldn't think.  We make sure part of
the user agreement is that people don't use "strong" language or inappropriate
behaviour, and we're all set.  Of course, at that point they might as well be
reading LUGNET.  Especially since so far, everything that would be of use to
someone who wants information but can't attend meetings or be an active
NELUGger has been posted here.

Maybe a second mailing list?  I mean, part of the problem is that so far the
mailing list's niche has been for discussing stuff that we *only* want members
to see, like stuff about deciding whether we should go to Mindfest, and other
things that we, um, haven't done and would probably be inappropriate to bring
up here.

The real issue for me in all this, that has been brought up before, is what
about those <18 year olds that are not quite adults but they don't really have
friends that build/play/create with LEGO anymore.  This is similar to Ryan's
situation.  I would really like to support these "young adults" in some way so
that they don't have to have a 13 year dark age like I did.  My problem is I
don't know how to handle this other than to include them on the mailing list
and invite them to our "public" events.  Maybe we can do something like have a
cookout once a year that we can invite JrFOLs and their parents to.

We can certainly support Ryan and whomever else out there might want to start
an organisation for LEGO fans that are <18.  We can also have events that they
can attend.

I think the more we can try to do to help young adults like Ryan keep their
interest in LEGO until they are 18 the better.  Then once they turn 18 they • can
become full fledged members and valuable contributors to our meetings as
AFOL's.

You're absolutely right.  I do beleive in supporting LEGO as a hobby for people
of all ages (literally), I just don't think that NELUG would be as much fun if
we had the extra headaches that would inevitably come with <18 members.

eric



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Minors in LUGs (Re: NELUG Turns 50!!)
 
(...) Again I think you are right. As far as events like Mindfest etc. I would think it would be more of a "come see our exhibit" type thing then a "be part of NELUG and display your creations". First of all if it were something like Mindfest where (...) (25 years ago, 17-Nov-99, to lugnet.loc.us.me, lugnet.org.us, lugnet.loc.us.ma.bos)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Minors in LUGs (Re: NELUG Turns 50!!)
 
<snip> (...) Eric J, I agree with everything you have said here. I really want to keep this from having to be a "judgement call" of any kind. I also agree that to have <18 folks at the types of meetings we have had so far is probably not in the best (...) (25 years ago, 17-Nov-99, to lugnet.loc.us.me, lugnet.org.us, lugnet.loc.us.ma.bos)

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