I HAVE HANDED BACK MY ADMIN BADGE.

[IannodaTruffe]

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRETY OF THIS POST BEFORE REPLYING OR LIKING.

For those who don’t know me, I have been a follower of the HealthUnlocked Couch to 5k forum for eight and a half years and I have been on the forum admin team, initially as a mentor and then as an administrator, for approximately half that time.

Many do not fully understand the structures of these forums, but the C25k, Bridge to 10k, Marathon and Race support forums along with Strength and Flex and Active 10 forums are run by a volunteer admin team with some crossover between forums, providing familiar names and faces for those moving between them. The wonderful current team is ably led by roseabi, again, as a volunteer, despite the amount of time and organisation that it requires to run it all smoothly. All these forums, along with a huge range of other community forums based on specific issues, covering mental and physical health, are hosted and supported by the HealthUnlocked (HU) platform, who somehow manage to keep our pages free of advertising.

Just think, where else do you go on the internet that is ad free?

HealthUnlocked do a wonderful job enabling communities to set up their own forums and I have no beef with them as an organisation, but as community admins we have to enforce their terms, conditions and guidelines. These have recently changed, which leaves me with no option, in my mind, but to hand back my admin badge as I cannot, in all conscience, continue to carry out all the duties expected of me.

On September 2nd 2021 HU raised the lower age limit for membership of all its forums from sixteen to eighteen. We were informed of this by roseabi, on our admin forum. Having duly read the communication, I forgot all about it until I saw a post on the C25k forum from an admirable young man who had completed the programme, encouraged others to stick with it, persuaded his father to start C25k and then entered a race raising funds for a cancer charity. Thanks to the new biog box under each post, I could see that he was sixteen.

The C25k forum was an eye opener to me when I joined it, in being such an all inclusive, welcoming, supportive island of positivity for new runners, amongst the sea of venal and divisive social media on the internet and I have taken great joy in upholding this ethos over the years. While I reluctantly accepted the previous sixteen year old minimum age range, simply because it was in force when I joined, as a matter of principle I cannot enforce the new minimum age of eighteen…………….I cannot tell a young man who is doing his best for himself, his family and his community that he is not welcome on our forum and so reluctantly I have asked for my admin badge to be removed and am writing this post in an effort to apply some pressure to HU to reconsider their action and I need your help.

HU have have imposed this raised minimum age because of the new “Children's code" brought in by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which has been designed to safeguard children against certain dangers posed by online services. They define children as those under the age of 18 and it seems that HU have simply decided it would be best to exclude the 16s to 18s from the site. There is a substantial fine involved if the rules of the code are breached.

ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/ne...

HealthUnlocked have reacted quite understandably to this piece of legislation and I appreciate that it may be difficult for them to find the resources to investigate alternatives…….they are not Facebook or Youtube. However, both those mega businesses have adjusted their procedures and protocols enabling them to maintain their previous, much lower than HU, age limits. theguardian.com/technology/...

Over the last two months both roseabi and I have communicated directly with HU to find out whether they have any intention of reversing the increased age range for the forums. We have been told that discussions are taking place, but after several emails I have concluded that there is no imminent action on this front.

While the intentions of the new Children’s code are laudable, I am sure that in these times of an obesity crisis and rising levels of mental health issues amongst children and young adults, that the ICO did not intend to remove access to support networks, from the very sector of the population it is intending to protect.

My aim is that this post, and the other identical ones that I have posted on all the other sister forums of which I am a member, will act as a show of the strength of feelings of our communities, so I would ask you to LIKE this post only if you agree with the statement below

We ask HealthUnlocked to reconsider its recent raising of the minimum age limit for all its community forums and return it to sixteen, to enable ongoing support to young people who can get married, consent to sex and medical treatment, become parents and even vote in devolved elections, in these times when these self same young people have been exposed to very great stresses.

The number of LIKES we notch up will act in the same way as the names on a petition and you can do this wholly anonymously, or you can comment below and discuss the issues and possible strategies to resolve this. Or you can voice your disagreement. If HU feel unable to put things right, then I will use the numbers generated and arguments from these posts to lobby the ICO, on behalf of HU, to consider the unintended consequences of their new code.

This post is not intended to indicate any criticism of any of my former admin colleagues, nor indeed of HU as an organisation, but purely to highlight the new minimum age and its implications for forum admins and, more importantly, young people. For me this is a matter of principle to support our young people, our nation’s future, and I have far less to lose than these young citizens have at risk.

So it is over to you to tell me, by NOT clicking LIKE, that I am a crazy old man, or that you believe, as I do, in the rights of our young people, simply by clicking the LIKE button below.

Please contact all forum members you know who you believe would agree with the above statement. You can also help the cause by highlighting this issue in other HU community forums of which you may be a member.

If any of you would like to be involved in strategies in this campaign, then please PM me.

Oh, and by the way, keep running, keep smiling.

[misswobble Marathon]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention 🙂👍

It’s mind-boggling just how much untoward stuff is allowed for our young people now. The government stance on allowing things without parental involvement being a case in point currently.

I despair at the false messaging aimed at our young from burger and fast food companies, so with this in mind, and being supportive of our Mods, I agree and give you a like 👍.

We need to support our younger members in their pursuit of exercise and good health. “I believe that children are our future”. We should treat them with fairness and respect. Lord knows things are tough enough for them at present 🙁

You’d expect this to be high on HU agenda too. Maybe they need to show courage and leadership.

[IannodaTruffe in reply to misswobble]

I will do my best to nudge them towards sanity.

Thanks for the like MW.

[misswobble Marathon in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Sanity needs to break out soon for all our sakes ! Sharpish !!

[Whatsapp Half Marathon]

As a father of two teenage girls I cannot think of any other social media that I would feel as happy for them to join. They are on tick tock, snapchat and various others and I am always concerned about the contect they view.

I have not been active on this forum for the past couple of years but always dip in from time to time. I remeber this place as being an absoloute god-send to me early in my running days and I would hate anyone else to miss out simply because they are a bit too young. Kinfd of goes against the ethos of HU doesn't it?

Weel done to you for bringing this forward. I will stand with you!

[jpipw]

Surely everyone is safe sharing stuff on this site than on almost any otherIt always feels like an oasis of near normality

[Mummycav in reply to jpipw]

Part of our job as admin is to monitor the content of posts etc…& there’s no getting passed us 😉

[jpipw in reply to Mummycav]

Thank you for doing such a good job

[Mummycav in reply to jpipw]

We love it…& we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for people like you

[Sandraj39 Half Marathon]

Thank you for raising our awareness of this change IannodaTruffe . I completely support your efforts to encourage HU to revert to the 16+ age limit we had previously. Certainly these running forums seem to me, to be the safest and most supportive place to be online. Good luck in your endeavours.🙂👍

Incidentally, I think its a real shame to lose such a long-standing and valued admin team member.

[Mummycav]

Here here!!! All my teenagers should be on here…Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat all leave them vulnerable to bullying, shaming & everything else that their ‘internet world’ opens them up to..& they’re allowed at 13 on most sites…huh, not in my house!!! This forum is like a fluffy cloud in the internet sky where everything good in the world is waiting for them x

[misswobble Marathon in reply to Mummycav]

😘👍

[Decker Ultramarathon]

100% agree with you IannodaTruffe . I’d feel no worry for my two teens to post in these communities of ours. I’d hate to think young interested people might be missing out because of this.

[Hidden]

I was not aware of this age rule, but I don't fully understand it. Especially not for groups such as these regarding running. These are safe groups where people - including youngsters - can get tips and support in their quest to a healthier lifestyle. I can only see positive things happening from this. I honestly think these groups are more safe for a youngster than eg. Facebook.

[Lifluf]

Well done for raising this. I completely agree that this is exactly the sort of site we should be encouraging youngsters to join.

Running is for everyone. And too often, children are given the impression that sport is only for the elite, athletic enthusiasts at school. We're doing them a real disservice if we exclude them.

Come on HU! Think this through!

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

I no longer have youngsters (youngest is 25), but my goodness I’d have been delighted if they’d all had access to HU at age 16; maybe even younger. I don’t really see why there should be an age restriction at all within reason. These forums have proved invaluable and essential in getting us all up and running, and keeping us at it, so why can’t youngsters have similar? Or maybe their own Juniors forum perhaps?

You admins do such a fabulous job at mediating. It’s a shame you’re stepping down IannodaTruffe , you’ve been amazing. I do understand your situation though.

[sparky66 Half Marathon]

I will definitely stand by you !! 100%I have been using this forum for nearly 6 years and I have never once came across a negitive post or even comment!

I would happily allow my children, grandchildren to access HU.. such support for health and wellness 🙏

I'd hate for you to leave 🥺

Wish you every success with this campaign 🙏

[Ant50 10 Miles]

Thank you IannodaTruffe for an extremely well written post, which I fully agree with, along with the comments posted so far. Amazing that legislation like this is brought in to ‘control’ the big players, but as you say, the same players who can find ways around this due to their power and capabilities, leaving small organisations like HU to face the brunt of the changes, as they do not have the equivalent resources to challenge. Excluding young people like the example 16 year old you cite is complete madness and defeats the whole message of what these health programmes and forums try to achieve. Crazy!

[Dexy5 10 Miles]

I fully support you on this matter. On the few occasions I have reported anything dubious on the forum it has been acted upon immediately. Having seen posts on Facebook and Twitter, I think this must be one of the safest forums available to youngsters.

May I also add that I do think the admins do a wonderful job , very dedicated volunteers who give up so much of your time to help others.

[Ellesbelles85 Marathon]

So sorry to read this IannodaTruffe , but absolutely understand why you are taking this stance and thank you for raising it to our attention. I can see the position HU feel they are in but they are going about it completely the wrong way; banning enthusiastic young runners from an encouraging and motivating website is not the way to solve the issue.

Thank you for the amazing encouragement, advice and support you have shown to all us runners- without the support on this amazing forum there is no way I personally would have gone from being a C25K member to a marathon runner. I do hope this is resolved so the HU community can continue to benefit from the amazing role you contribute and not lose you.