[Admin Note] Rules addition - minimum age of members

[SuperSleeper]

After a recent situation and discussion amongst our Advisory Members, it is the consensus opinion of the Apnea Board Advisory Members that we needed to add the following [bolded] sentence to Rule #1 of the Forum Rules:

1. You agree to accept the entire Apnea Board Legal Statement, Privacy Policy, Copyright Agreement and any other rules or policies that the Administrator specifies.  You must be 18 years of age or older to create or use a forum account.

This is being done for several reasons, including:

A)  Safeguarding and retaining proper accountability for underage children and teens (under 18 years of age)

B)  Retaining the rights of parents or guardians, and

C)  To protect Apnea Board legally

It is the official policy of Apnea Board that if an underage child or teen is in need of help related to sleep disorders, their parent or legal guardian must be the one who creates and uses a forum account to act on their behalf.  Further, no underage person is allowed to use an Apnea Board forum account for any reason.

This rule extends further than FTC's COPPA requirement (13 years of age) because we feel the COPPA age requirement is not broad enough to fully protect children, teens, parents and guardians.

In some instances where we suspect an account may have been created or used by an underage person, forum staff may temporarily suspend the account and require documentation from the parent or guardian to ensure the account was created by and being used by them alone.  Absent of such proof, the account may be subject to a ban.

If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask here in this thread.

[Sleepy Quixote]

Agreed

[Homerec130]

Agreed and well said.

[JonC]

I'm going to have to throw in a dissenting voice here.

While I doubt that there are many teenagers who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, I think it's important for those who have been to be able to participate in the forum.  

Setting a COPPA-compliant age of 13 is sufficient.  I would urge the administrators to reconsider this, I think it's a well-meaning mistake.

[Gideon]

I have an issue giving anything but general info to a minor, someone who is still under parental rights. I have no issues with addressing a child's situation with a parent.

Despite all the warnings with no medical "advice" being given here, that it is nothing but the opinions of the users here, I know that many take it as advice. Too fine a line for me with a minor.

Just my opinion.

[SuperSleeper]

Howdy JonC - it's also a legal issue for Apnea Board.  By giving advice to those under 18 years of age, we risk legal action against the board should a minor take action based upon a forum post that potentially causes them harm.  That's one of the main reasons for this rules update.

Unfortunately, we live in an overly-litigious society, so this rule is absolutely necessary to protect the very existence of the board.

If a minor under 18 needs sleep apnea advice or information, they need to have their parent or legal guardian create an account and ask for that info on their behalf.

Thanks.

[dockrebs]

WILCO.

[sauerkraut]

SuperSleeper;
Direct and to the point !!
I think most Parents will agree ..

[SarcasticDave94]

Age limit seems reasonable.

However I guess I'll need to leave, for coffee.