• Age gates on websites, and why i find them stupid.
    89 replies, posted
Age gates are those things they put on websites that make you enter your birthday because the content is only for 18+. They're also fucking stupid. Here's why: [b]1. The point of an age gate is to alert minors that they shouldn't be viewing certain content 2. If a minor wants to watch something with an age gate, it's trivial to bypass it by putting in a fake birthday 3. It takes more work to answer an age gate honestly than it does to put in some improbably old fake birthday 4. Apparently date of birth is "personal information" so no websites will store your information once you go through the age gate. Which means you need to go through the gate every fucking time you visit a site[/b] When I was under 18, I never really minded age gates. They were still annoying but were easy enough to get around and perhaps it felt a little like I was cheating the system by looking at stuff I "wasn't supposed to see". But let me tell you, age gates only become more irritating when you're over 18. Now whenever I want to visit a site that it's perfectly legal for me to visit, I have to put in my frickin' birthday. And you know what? Even though my real birthday will let me into the site, I still lie about my birthday just because it's faster to scroll down really far and say I was born on January 1, 1923. Every website with an age gate should start anonymously recording the ages they're given and then compile a graph with the birth date distribution. "Wow, 99% of the people who visit our site are born on January 1st and are over age 50! And only 0.00000001% of our visitors are under 18 and didn't get past the gate." And the fact that no websites will store a cookie with your age just rubs it in. I honestly wouldn't give a fuck about every site on the internet knowing my age if it meant that I wouldn't have to enter it into another age gate ever again. And another fucking stupid thing: gaming websites are [b]way[/b] more stingy about age gates than porn sites. Almost every gaming site will make you meticulously enter your exact date of birth in order to see a trailer with animated violence and pixelated partial nudity. [img]http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/710/gameb.png[/img] Most porn sites (if they even have a gate) will simply make you click a button or check a box that says "I verify that I am over 18." See? They fucking understand. They know that people under 18 can bypass their shitty age gates so why bother making it complicated? [img]http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2606/porng.png[/img] The bottom line is they're redundant, politically correct time wasters. Almost all content that has an age gate also has another notification saying it's only for mature audiences, it's almost completely ineffective at stopping minors from viewing inappropriate content, and it in attempting to restrict people who are under 18 they end up getting in everyone's way.
Agreed. Definitely one of the most annoying things on the net.
they have to put it there, deal with it
Fuck you [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Flaming" - Monkeyjoe))[/highlight]
"1. The point of an age gate is to alert minors that they shouldn't be viewing certain content" No, the point in an age gate is to protect the company providing the content against charges that they allowed minors to view the content.
The age gates are more of a juristic backup for the sites than a barrier to keep minors from entering.
[QUOTE=Catdaemon;17675943]"1. The point of an age gate is to alert minors that they shouldn't be viewing certain content" No, the point in an age gate is to protect the company providing the content against charges that they allowed minors to view the content.[/QUOTE] A check box agreeing you're over 18 would cover their asses too.
[QUOTE=Grayron;17675932]they have to put it there, deal with it[/QUOTE] Wow, that's a compelling argument...
Even if they have to be there, let the man rant. They are fucking annoying.
Just as above users said, it's practically the same as putting a safety belt on your car and say "We're doing this to protect ourselves, not you. Screw you."
[QUOTE=VassikinX3;17675966]A check box agreeing you're over 18 would cover their asses too.[/QUOTE] Or just adding a button on the main page that does the same. "By pressing the button I confirm that I'm over 18 and blah blah blah"
[QUOTE=Superkilll307;17675938]Fuck you[/QUOTE] Sounds like somebody skipped nappy time.
They serve a very important purpose: Protecting the site owners from lawsuits by pissed off parents. They can simply say "See? We have an age gate, and it's the parent's own fault if their child is entering fraudulent information." It's impossible to actually check a person's age and block them, so they'll gladly settle for legally protecting themselves.
Aww, i tought this was a thread that gave you instructions that if you eat a dick you age to the same age as Bill Gates :saddowns:
Dumb kids can enter real info and get no access so it almost works.
I love how I can set my birthday as Jan 1st 1900 on these, making myself one of the oldest people alive :buddy:
Wait, if a minor uses a check box to say he's 18, doesn't that make his statement void? I mean, he's a minor and minors can't sign legal documents/whatever without a legal guardian. So... Who's fault is it if a minor checkes the "i'm 18 and i agree to terms" checkbox? they themselves can't be, they're minors. This is silly
As long as they're compatible with scroll wheels I tend not to mind them. They're legally obliged to lose them, so it's better to mildly annoy people than get sued.
Mind linking me the site in the second image? Thanks.
I like youtube's, a simple button to press.
[QUOTE=kizza55;17675988]Even if they have to be there, let the man rant. They are fucking annoying.[/QUOTE] Exactly. I can't blame him for ranting. It's so stupid. They also make some of the most rediculous shit 18+ when it shouldn't be...
Well, the website and/or company would be sued if they wouldn't put up a warning. It would be like "hey, he lied about his age, its not our problem"
[QUOTE=lmaoboat;17676019]Sounds like somebody skipped nappy time.[/QUOTE] Fuck you too
[QUOTE=Larikang;17675888][img]http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2606/porng.png[/img][/QUOTE] Ohay, you go to MyFreePaysite too?
Someone doesn't know how bureaucracy works. Keep complaining, and they'll pass a law requiring your credit card number to get in.
Hey, it can stop some minors. I remember when I was [i]really[/i] young, and I wanted to look at a gaming website. So I kept putting in my age, and it kept denying me. I never understood why. I even tried covering up the screen, because the most reasonable answer to me was that the computer was watching.
Leave the month and day alone, only the year matters.
they are indeed, very annoying. But it makes every computer illiterate conservative sleep better at night.
[QUOTE=Callius;17676124]I love how I can set my birthday as Jan 1st 1900 on these, making myself one of the oldest people alive :buddy:[/QUOTE] there are people older than that actually and still alive
I lold at all you under agers crying about age restricted websites.
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