And I just want to say I had nooo idea there were members who were that young (other than the one I think we are all referring to), so you are all very mature and I don't believe anyone has problems with having younger members who are responsible and mature :thumbup: :) and can share their experiences and advice on yorkies.

It isn't so much a issue in regards to who is mature or immature for their age.
It just seems that sometimes these threads can and do get pretty heated up, and when they do.. you just Then found out that person you were upset with is only a young adult, and you feel pretty bad about it because some of the language that was used or what you said, should not have been addressed to a child, let alone another member of any age. So I guess I would say we need some type of sensorship :confused: I feel YT is for everyone at any age. my concerns are for the protection of a younger member . if we see a thread that upsets us we have a tendency to verbally abuse this post. Not even considering that this person might just be a child, and only made the mistake of not have worded their post correctly. An adult can usually handle the situation ( or should be) getting upset with a child and (not knowing) how old they are is a concern for me. I really don't have an answer for this, So the only thing I could think of was an age requirement something that would protect all members of any age.

Well, I don't want to offend anyone, but the new YT rules say that no one should be saying that sort of thing to anyone. Like you said, "if we see a thread that upsets us we have a tendency to verbally abuse this post." Well, no one should be verbally abusing any person of any age on this website. I think that having younger members on here is a good idea so that everyone remembers to control their anger and not say something they are going to regret. JHMO

I also wanted to reply to one of lovefor3yorkies posts.

I do not agree with that. Several of the younger members have never acted anything like a child. I know that myself, Jhordan, and Megan have never whined. We have very few misspellings and grammar/punctuation errors, and just for the record, I am only 14, and I know many 16 year olds who can't spell at all, and they don't write very well either. I do not think that you can put an age on things like that because everyone is different. Not every 16 year old has good grammar and spelling. I can spell and use punctuation better than both of my older brothers and my stepdad who are 16 ,20, and 41! They are very intelligent, but they aren't very good in English. I hope that I didn't offend anyone. I do not want to start any big argument or anything. I am just fighting for my right to be a YorkieTalker because I love my Yorkies! This is JMHO.

You are so right!! JHMO and I am very impressed that you are only 14 and you are one of many who can understand how some theads can get, and way more mature than I have seen in some adults :rolleyes: lol This forum should be for everyone without discrimination! and you truly understood my post was not meant to eliminate anyone of any age other than protect someone your age from some form of verbal abuse.. And I really did not know how to express this and I guess this is why I tried to clarify myself a few times here :rolleyes: and as far as misspelled words, I am notorious for not knowing how to spell a word from time to time... And I was truly impressed that you just about recited the yorkie law... :bravo:

To Err May Be Human, But to Forgive Is Good for You

By ERICA GOODE

Thank you for the many compliments that you gave me. I am so happy that there are many members of this site that agree with me. I just do not think that it is very fair to discriminate the younger members. We are all here for the same reasons as the adult members. I hope this can all be quickly settled so that I can continue to talk about my Yorkies! :D

My opinion on this matter of age is please dont pick on the young people,the letter I just read is so far above what I would or could have written at that age,she is a very caregiving person,maybe we should pick on what is said and not age,next thing it will be if you are between the ages of 30-50 allowed, then I get kicked off because I am much older than that, now as far as computer experiance,the kids have it, maybe we should kick out people who dont know how to post pictures of our fur babies,now thats a rela reason not to allow us to join and chat,not the smart young people who love there yorkies as much as the rest of us older grandparent..that it for me

Thank you so much Judy! I really appreciate the compliment that you gave me. I also appreciate the fact that you posted and stood up for the other younger members and I. We all really appreciate it. I want to once again thank every person who posted in this section and stood up for the younger members. We would like to continue sharing stories, asking questions, and posting on YorkieTalk because, as Judy said, "the smart young people who love there yorkies as much as the rest of us older grandparent." All of the younger members, including myself, are here for the exact same reasons as all of the adults. We just love our Yorkies and want to talk about them with everyone else! JMHO

Thank you everyone for saying nice things about me!!!!! i really feel like we are a family here and it doesn't matter what age, gender, or color you are. we are one big YT family loving our yorkies togeather!

I agree! We are just one big Yorkie loving family who spend a LOT of time together! LOL :D

I agree with everyone on here that it doesn't matter what age we are- only that we ALL have one thing in common-- the LOVE for our babies!!!! I love hearing from everyone-- young, old and everyone in between!!!! And maybe I can learn a thing or two from all you youngins!!! And to all you youngins-- enjoy this time of your life!!! Don't rush to grow up!!! Its the best time of your life right now!!! Have fun and enjoy having no responsibilitites!!! (except your YORKIES!!!) You'll be full fledged adults before you know it!!!!

I agree with everyone who said that the reason YT is so awesome is because it's a mixture of age groups, race, gender, lifestyles, et cetera. Each individual is unique and adds to YorkieTalk in a different way.
It gives the older people insight on how a younger member thinks and teaches younger members things that we may not learn outside of YorkieTalk. Everyone adds on and compliments eachother in a small, effective way. I think that is the reason why I am so addicted.
The law may have it that a person under the age of 13 cannot, without parent consent, have full range to the internet and I can understand if a person under 13 may not be allowed but let's face it. It's the internet and there are easy ways around getting through when you are 12 and can click a box that says "I agree that I am over the age of 13". (I did when I was 12 and wanted to sign up for an eBay account! :p )
I know a lot of extremely (and I mean EXTREMELY) intelligent 12-13 year olds. Would you have ever guessed a 13-year old wrote this:

It's amazing!

Even though I was only 12 years old eight years ago, it's good to know that many of them are not involved in bad things and actually have the responsibility to take enough care for someone other than themselves.. which would be their Yorkie!

I don't have a problem with the young ones left on here either.
To me it is a parent's responsibility to allow or disallow not
mine.
As a parent though I personally would never allow my own
daughter who is 12 to be involved in a forum that is made
up of mainly adults. But again that is just my opinion and
choice as a parent.

Midge...I was REALLY surprised at how old you were then very impressed to see a fourteen year old with this much on the ball...There's hope for our teens yet !!!

After reading your posts - I want to tell you that you do a great job and you sound very mature for your age - I wish I could get my 23 year old SON to take a lesson from you !

Thanks so much Vilette! It just makes my day when people say things like that! Everyone here is so nice and thoughtful, and I dont know what I would do without YorkieTalk.

I totally agree!!
My daughter is 11 and our second Yorkie "Destiny" chose her as her owner.. My daughter is very responsible and has given some great advise to others who own Yorkies.. It would be terrible if she could not voice her opinion and her stories about her Yorkie here as well..
Besides... I have seen other members on this site that are "much" older than 11 and probubly shouldnt be here posting their bad attitude and rudeness to other members..
So.. In short.. No I dont think there should be an age limit..
Joy

no age reqiremet
 

I agree some people in the world arent as mature as other but im only thirteen and I don't think there should be an age reqirement. Its hurtful to hear the regular stereotype about adults and children but being 13 may mean i dont have alot of exsperience but i am still a human as are everyone else, we are still all dog lovers regardless of age. some of us are very devoted and mature, i do alot for my community i do alot for dogs! i try hard to make good grades and be respectful and i would feel out casted if i wasnt allowed to be on this site because of a number, 13 my age. because after all its just a number right? :D

:thumbup: I second that! :thumbup:

I was more concerned about posts getting heated like the one the other night and kids feelings getting hurt. For the most part the younger people on this forum are very mature and well spoken. Midge and Megan I had NO idea how young you were!
I would hate to see some of them not be able to post but I would also hate them to get their feelings hurt by someone unaware of their age.
Just wanted to clear up that my vote was not a predjudice against the young people:)

i also forgot to add that i know alot of people here who are around my age and more mature than some adults in my life that are in my community . I feel like family with everyone here and when i go to yorkie talk it helps me develup knowledge about yorkies! I may sometimes put things im my sentences misspelled, but the feeling behind anyones post is what counts not a number. ;)

Thanks for the compliment about not knowing how old I was. I am very thankful that people like you agree with me. Thanks again!

I think some of you are missing the point - the reason we do this is to protect the young members not as a punishment. Many of our young members could post very eloquently but we don't want to expose them to the dangers of the internet.

Julie - How do you know their parent is sitting there? There are plenty of websites I would not want my children visiting, and they are 14 and 17. They have computers at school. The kids sign an agreement not to be playing around, but they are kids. The child safety features on the internet do not allow for children between age 3 and 17. Sesame street.com does not do it for most 12 year olds. I would rather kids be here talking to us (mostly women-sorry guys) as long as we behave. We are not helping them or punishing them by keeping them out.

Like someone said earlier, how hard is it for them to say they are 13? And if we have 13 year olds, why not 11 and 12? If that is the LAW, then so be it, are we the internet police. That is for their parents to decide. My 14 year old is more mature than my 17 year old (don't tell him). He is allowed to do a lot of things much earlier. He will probably drive before his brother. Age is relative

Only members who have either been met personally or have been members for 2 or more years are allowed to have their children join the group. By that point we trust the parents to look after their children.

The problem is that you have to assume all parents are responsible, which is just not so. Also, when we first got AOL, 10 years ago, my son was 8. He is very intellegent and began to download all sorts of stuff (games) onto our computer. I was too busy to figure out child blocks, or even downloads and removal at the time. I turned off AOL because I couldn't keep up with him. They wanted to make me stay, of course, and tried to tell me how easy it all was. I just didn't have the time right then. I am responsible, but having children, I never underestimate what they can do on a computer. All I can do is try to teach them the dangers and hope they truly understand.

Here's somthing funny Julie! I just looked at your profile to see how old you were (if it was there). It occurred to me that you might only be 12. Not that you sound 12, but they don't necessarily sound 12 either. They are a lot more computer savvy than we. :D

12 ? Oh I wish :D

ME too, well I would probably pick 30! ;)

I do not want to offend anyone or anything, but I am responding to the part of your post that states: "but we don't want to expose them to the dangers of the internet." I am only 14, but if I was an adult and a mother, I would definitely rather my children accidentally being exposed to a bad word or two on these posts (parents do accidentally say them around their children too) than have my kids browsing the internet and run into a porn site. I know it's possible because it has happened to people I know. If I was a parent, I would definitely rather my kids be here, rather than searching the internet and running into something really horrible. Ya know? JMHO

I agree with you on that one!

Very Well Said!!
 

I totally agree with this!! And I am an adult Mom.. I love this place for many reasons... and see it as a place where my daughter can learn more about her Yorkie since she love her so much and wants to be the best Yorkie Mom for her.. She always reads the posts on care and training and does her best to use the advice she has learned.. And whether they post or not these threads can be read.. Thats how I found this site.