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Regulation

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Regulation is definitely a necessity when browsing the Internet, especially for younger children. Most children nowadays are introduced to Internet communities at a relatively young age when some content is inappropriate and potentially offensive to younger people. This is why regulation, Internet security and a few simples rules are important to protect the younger generations from the harmful content and people that plague our once safe-haven of friendly chat in the Internet community.

I personally, until now, have never been apart of communities other than Professional Wrestling communities, and all of them have a minimum age of 13 to be able to register on them, as the content may be unacceptable to people below that age. There are also sections of the site which can only be accessed when given permission by the administrator, or if you are of a certain age. To me, this is the best way for Internet communities to be run, in order to keep children safe while browsing and free from potentially offensive and inappropriate content.

Regulation is not only important to keep children safe, but also ordinary, every day people who join simply to exchange conversation with people who share a similar interest in a topic. Not be quizzed about sensitive topics such as religious beliefs, sexual preference, and other personal details that on an unregulated site, would easily spur off 'flame wars' and hurt not only the feelings of the person involved, but also the credibility of the website itself. People take part in Internet communities simply to discuss the topics that interest them, with people that share a similar interest in the same topic, not to take offense from people who are against that particular topic, or immature people who join simply to offend others, without the fear of being banned on an unregulated site with minimal to no rules whatsoever.

A simple rule to follow, commonly found on Internet communities, is: If you disagree with a topic, either ignore it to keep the peace, or debate it in a regulated, adult and friendly manner without offending the other person taking part. This is something I seemingly come across every day with younger generations being introduced to the Internet world too soon and it is making it a very unfriendly place to be.

Keeping the peace on Internet communities makes them safe for the whole family, where as, offensive material on public oriented websites, will turn people away from it and cause the site unnecessary damage to their reputation, when it can be easily avoided by following a few simple rules, such as the one above, when taking part in an Internet community.

To conclude, I would say that regulation is DEFINITELY a necessity in an Internet community for the reasons I have stated. It helps keep the peace, avoid people being offended, and it gives the user a general good experience on the website. Regulation covers a vast array of guidelines on social communities, consider them the laws of the Internet, and like the laws in the real world, they have to be followed or punishment may follow.

You would not break the law in the real world, would you? So why would you consider breaking it in an Internet community?

Learn more about this author, Wayne K. Wilkins.
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