Members Ages In Profiles & Donations

Member Age

When the forum was initially launched we requested members filled in their age & birthdays, sometime ago we removed the birthdays as people seemed to have lost interest in wishing other members a happy birthday (common etiquette on most forums) in addition to this, some members have commented or contacted me suggesting their "Age being displayed" is a security concern, quite how anybody would think this I'm really not sure, anyway in response I have now removed members ages from their side profiles.

Donations

A quick thank you to those of you who have purchased stickers & made donations. As always thank-you for your support, some of you are second time & even third time donators which is very humbling. 

When donating please be sure to make a note of your username in the message section of the PayPal payment so I know who the donation is from. If your profile has not been changed to show you Donator status then this is most likely the reason. if this is the case then please message me to make me aware as a couple of you have done, Thank You.

Regards

Ed

Just turned 68 as well Ed, nice timing.  
Boaby

That's a pity Ed!

I'm 74, and was quite happy for my age to be shown. When I made a stupid comment our lovely members would look at my age, and make sympathetic noises about the poor senile old sod.

Now they will just think I'm daft!!   

Gromit wrote:That's a pity Ed!

I'm 74, and was quite happy for my age to be shown. When I made a stupid comment our lovely members would look at my age, and make sympathetic noises about the poor senile old sod.

Now they will just think I'm daft!!   

I've always liked to see ages for this reason. I might give a different reply to an 80 y.o. with internet problems than I would to a 30 y.o. with the same problem.

Shame I can't see a sympathetic smiley for Gromit.

Think I agree with Dave (dbroada) over ages but would pass a comment that Dave (gromit) doesn’t look his age and no he hasn’t bribed me to say that

I'll sit on the fence. Knowing the age was a help in forming a rely but so many were obviously false that they had to be taken with a pinch of salt.

I too was happy to see age quoted. That why, when I post folk can make their minds up on whether my post is influenced by me senility! I am not ashamed of my age!

Thanks for the feedback those who've commented.

I've never understood comments by members objecting to their age being shown, and even more bemused by those who think it can somehow be a security risk.

The hole purpose of this feature was to allow others to communicate better with someone based on their age group. it's not an uncommon feature of most forums.

Everything has been fine apart from the odd comment over the years, but more recently members have been giving false ages and many have sent me PM's asking why it's necessary and objecting as well as comments posted on the forum, hence my reason for removing this feature.

I would happily reinstate this feature but if members are going to make up ages and not comply then I can't really see the point. This feature helped our security if anything as it drew our attention to certain non genuine members.

If enough of you feel it should be reinstated then comment here, otherwise it will stay as it is.

Regards

Ed

I don't see why it would be a security risk and agree it can be helpful; it's especially pleasing when we see younger members enjoying our hobby.

Why not reinstate it for those of us who don't mind but allow those who do object to flag this by entering an obviously wrong DoB such as 1900?

I would like it to be reinstated.

Hi

I'd like it to be reinstated as well.

I prefer to see ages as it does influence the answer I would give.

Is it possible to make it optional? "Prefer not to say" is far more useful than some of the dubious ages we see.

dbroada wrote:I prefer to see ages as it does influence the answer I would give.

Is it possible to make it optional? "Prefer not to say" is far more useful than some of the dubious ages we see.

I will look into wether or not we can make it optional, this may be an option if available to us.

If others object still or would like it reinstated then leave a comment.

Reinstated please can't see any security threat you get more information about a person on the net electoral roll and what have ya.

It could be reinstated and the member is given the option of having it displayed or not.    For instance on another forum I don’t get a birthday message as on there I choose not to disclose my age

roli wrote:It could be reinstated and the member is given the option of having it displayed or not.    For instance on another forum I don’t get a birthday message as on there I choose not to disclose my age

That sounds the most sensible option Roger, and presumably acceptable to everyone.

Either that or just leave it blank . . . as a number of members do already with potentially useful aspects of their vehicle data. 

Since vehicle year is optional I would hope that "owner year" would be as well.  I like age to be there - owner and vehicle!

I would also like the age to be reinstated, it helps to give a fuller picture of the person you are talking to and agree that it should be optional whether it is shown or not.

I'm with the yes, please reinstate age.

I agree with the "yes" camp, those who want to keep it private could either not display (if that facility can be made available) or fabricate as some have done in the past  

Is it possible to reinstate the age whilst not having to enter the full date of birth, that would perhaps go a good way to reassure those concerned about a possible security risk while still showing how mature (in terms of years ! ) the member is.

That is interesting , they are all males that want in reinstated  

Maybe it's a male thing!
I'm aware that whenever nuevogirl mentions that she's met someone I don't know, , the first thing I always ask is "how old are they?"

Another male trait is this: if we're out cycling together and we pass another cyclist, nuevogirl can always describe what they looked like, whereas I can always tell her what bike they were riding.

Another yes here.
Al.

I'm happy for my age to be displayed and would also like that reinstated, but as an optional field.

If that can't be done, then I suppose there'd be no harm in those that prefer their age displayed, adding it to their signature line.