AGE CAMPAIGN UPDATE: A BIG THANK YOU.

[IannodaTruffe]

Hi all you runners and thank you so much for your likes and responses to my post about returning my admin badge. (If you don’t know what I am talking about then please click here and take a look healthunlocked.com/couchto5.... )

As of this morning I have had over 370 LIKES and dozens of replies to the three posts on C25k, Bridge and Marathon forums. My intention had been to wait until next week before directing HealthUnlocked to the posts and responses, but I see no point delaying…….this response is impressive and hopefully persuasive, so I will be contacting HU this morning.

What shines out from the responses is the recurrent theme of how safe, well ordered and well behaved our forums are, which is down to the work of all of the members of the admin team (and you) who over the years have maintained the ethos of being accepting, non judgemental and supportive which we all value as being almost unique in the world of modern social media. It was also pointed out that this environment is ideal for all teenagers and I would support a reduction in lower age limit to 13, if it became possible, although it would only be wise to poll the membership on this before implementation.

To date nobody has commented that they would like the lower age limit to remain at 18.

The idea of forum by forum age limits is popular and would be relatively easy to implement (I imagine). While this could get around our issues on these forums, it might not eradicate the lack of access to support from some of the other HU forums which under 18s may wish to access. Alongside this I also realise that for some communities, the 18 age limit may be far more appropriate than 16. An ideal result would be to ask each HU community to actively consider and decide its own lower age limit, according to their content and subject matter and membership preference.

In my communication to HU I will ask them to read the post linked to above and the responses and will stress the points that have been made and ask them to reconsider their stance. I will ask them to give me detailed reasons why they feel unable to change the age limit, if that is the initial outcome, so that I can approach the ICO to see if they can help HU to minimise the unintended consequence of their Code.

In my previous experience of trying to produce a poster/leaflet advertising C25k (Guilty, m’lud) I know that these issues are rarely considered high priority by lumbering bureacracies and it can very much feel like repeatedly impacting the uppermost part of one’s anatomy against a vertical masonry structure.

I have time. I have patience. I do however worry about our young and impressionable teenagers who could be changing the future course of their lives if they were given opportunities which this Children's Code is so lamentably denying them.

If there is anybody with a legal background out there, who would be willing to offer free advice, should it be necessary………..don’t worry, I am not intending to glue myself to the door of the ICO………..I would love to hear from you.

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that my C25k Administrator badge has been removed and replaced by a Mentor badge. So I am still part of the admin team……….you can’t get rid of me that easily.

At some point I will have to get away from my computer………...that yellow Alert icon is driving me mad.

I will keep you posted.

[Roxdog 10 Miles]

This is good news, but I was discussing it with my daughter and she did comment that if under 18s post pictures, including information about where they run etc, that could possibly make them vulnerable to predators. Young people are so used to sharing info over social media that the could perhaps be more inclined to overshare such information on this forum? That said, I still agree with you, but hadn't thought about that aspect.

[IannodaTruffe in reply to Roxdog]

Good point and something the admin team would have to discourage.

Up until September 2nd we did have under 18s on the forum and it wasn't an issue.

I don't think we are going to get overwhelmed by youngsters, even if we dropped the age to 13, as some suggest and I would support. Just think though, of our members who work with junior parkrun; they could point youngsters to our resources, support and advice to make sure that their onward running journeys are safe and as free of injury as possible.

[Roxdog 10 Miles in reply to IannodaTruffe]

And it's sensible to generally discourage people from posting too much information about exactly where they run. I post photos, but as a lone runner am careful that they don't identify any notable landmarks etc, because you never know!

[IannodaTruffe in reply to Roxdog]

That advice is in the guide to C25k, in a Pinned post on the C25k forum and regularly reposted as well as members of the admin team pointing it out on occasions to individuals who may be unaware of the risks they are taking.

I was given very short shrift by one member who seemed to think it intrusive that I pointed out how much information she was divulging.

We do our best.

[Roxdog 10 Miles in reply to IannodaTruffe]

I know, and it's a fantastic job too! Thank you.

[Katnap Marathon]

Bon Courage!

🐱 Xmas Katnap 🐱

[Sandraj39 Half Marathon]

Thanks for the update. I agree that a workable solution would be individual forums setting their own age limits.