@ my fellow adults who use tumblr a lot:
can you PLEASE put your age in your about/sidebar and make sure it’s accessible on mobile. imo if you’re an adult esp 20+ it’s a little weird that you wouldn’t have your age readily available on your blog. if you’re reading this now and you don’t have your age listed, please rectify that. i feel like teenagers get lured into talking to adults in fandom/lgbt spaces that they may not have intentionally sought out because they think they’re talking to other teenagers, and this can lead to a lot of other – much more insidious –problems
Can you guys step out of the tumblr “everyone over 20 is inherently predatory and creepy towards children” bubble for once and consider that encouraging people to give up their personal information for the imagined safety of the community is like…not safe?
this advice doesn’t even make sense for multiple reasons; if someone is intent on preying upon minors, all they have to do is follow your advice and lie about their age, being over 20 doesn’t mean you can’t be preyed on yourself, you should never be coerced into giving up your privacy on social media (seriously, did a fed write this?), and promoting the idea that turning 20 means your interactions with younger people should be viewed with suspicion is absolutely harmful, like OP do you have any common sense? At all?
“ignore your own privacy boundaries and discomfort and if you don’t idk 🤔sounds a lil sus 2 me, pedophile” will you guys stop larping as conservative politicians for one second please
think-of-the-children fearmongering is not the same thing as actually protecting minors
You’re talking about - much more insidious - problems while telling people if you don’t do what I tell you, you might be a threat to the safety of our community, like okay Dubya!
Also there’s a big fucking problem with kids oversharing information about this website to begin with, and pushing the mindset that if you don’t have your age- which is in fact a piece of personal information- readily available on your blog you’re a bad person is bad, no matter whether you’re an adult or not.
YOU DO NOT OWE STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF.
REPEAT: NO ONE OWES ANY STRANGER ANY PERSONAL INFO WHATSOEVER.
This goes for adults and minors both - and honestly, I don’t think minors should advertise the fact that they are. It’s not like that’s going to drive predators away–very much the opposite.
There is nothing “shady” about having personal boundaries and choosing to keep personal information private - and when in doubt, it’s always safest to err on the side of privacy. For everyone. What creeps me out is people demanding to know things that are none of their business. Age is the most innocuous probably but I’ve also seen people on here demanding to know complete strangers’ disabilities, traumas, survivor status, etc, just for the purpose of winning a fucking internet argument. THOSE are the truly skeevy people.