Does an Admin's age matter?

I agree, its the maturity that matters... people with attitudes like that are sorry people.

 

I came into this thread to mention maturity...but looks like I've been beaten to the punch. lol I'm a firm believer that age shouldn't matter at all when it comes to forum administration (or many other things, i.e. web development). What matters, as you said, is maturity. I don't care whether you're 15 or 50; if you're running a forum, I expect that you act with maturity and professionalism. Your relationship with your forum can be seen just like an entrepreneur, manager, or business owner is compared to his product, and in my opinion, you should be running it as such. Acting childish and/or immature isn't and shouldn't be part of a forum admin's duties.

I think I may have to write a whole blog post on this... (gives me an excuse to write another entry anyway, lol)

 

Yes you have been beat, as I mentioned it in the OP. But I agree with everything you said.

 

At the risk of being unpopular, I have to yes, it does matter. Depending on the subject matter of course.

For instance, I have a very mature and smart 6 year old. But he is still 6 and has no life lessons and is still limited in his ability to reason and interact with adults to a certain extent. If he is interacting with other 6 or 8 year olds, he is golden. If he is interacting with a 20 year old, he simply cannot relate. Now, I know that is extreme, however the same philosophy applies to say a 13 year old.

So, I guess, it does matter depending on the subject.

 

Why being unpopular, your opinion counts... dosent matter whether we agree or not thats what makes the discussion interesting.

While I see your reasoning, but I will have to say again age is not a factor, if the 13 year old is mentally mature than why not. Im 16 and I am friends with people on the net that are in their 50's. I dont have a problem interacting with anyone on the net, as age is not a factor on the internet because everyone is the same, but if in person than it would have been different. You point is right but only in real life and not the internet. If you see what im trying to say.

 

I personally think it doesn't matter. As long as the admin is mature and knows his things.

 

Yes maturity is the biggest factor.

 

Yeah; that's a good point--obviously a 6-8-year-old shouldn't be running a forum about...I don't know, teenage romance or college advice or anything, haha.

 

Only time I can see it mattering is if a child runs a adult forum. As in business and money talk. Things he or she won't know anything about. Which brings the question why a child or kid would make such a forum.

 

Age does not matter.

It just more or less determines your maturity level.

For example, if you act like a 15 yr old person and you're 17 year old, it really contradicts who you are.

If you're 20 yrs old, you're expected to act the age, otherwise, people will just lose respect for you, and have nothing to do with the site.

 

Age does matter in my view. It makes a difference with grammar, cleanliness, professionalism, and many more factors. You can usually always tell when there is a young forum owner.

 

Nope, I wouldn't say that. I have seen people in their 50's with horrible spelling, and I have ran into old 40-50 year old trolls on many forums. It has to do with maturity, and with spelling it really depends on the person.

 

That's a lot of what I meant. With age comes maturity and it's not too often that you run into in uneducated 50 year old on the internet. The communities are mostly young individuals.

 

Yes and No.

It just depends on the person.

 

Yep, the maturity of the person.

 

I don't think 'age' is the issue, I believe 'maturity' is the issue. If, say, a 15 year old takes the job seriously, then why shouldn't he/she be an Administrator.

Plus, hey, the best way to learn is to get experience, and to me, the earlier you start the better.

 

I see alot of immature admins that are my age, but I dont blame them because they are just now starting, while I started years ago at the age of 11. And of course, the earlier the better.