Im quite Biased on this situation because anyone of any age can give their opinion, but also people of all ages can be immature, but mostly in kids under 13. So i say if its something that is completely irrelevant to them, why let them comment on it with stupid stuff... and have them get banned, then just have them read it but not be able to reply until they are over a certain age limit.

I will say that I cannot form much of an opinion as to whether the Debate and/or Cafe Corner forums should be closed to those who are 12 and below. It is just uncertainty on my part. Can these kids contribute to the discussion? Is it safe for these kids to read these topics? (I am aware of how they can fake their age.) For me, I leave my answer neutral about restriction by age. Now about spammy posts...

JigSaw and legacyme3 made a great discussion on this. I like the idea of adding a reminder that "This debate forum, or this Cafe Corner, must be taken seriously. Your post to this thread must be relevant." Granted, relevant posts are what we want for any forum but I think enforcement should be taken one step higher on these two in particular.

Maybe the best solution to fixing this involves Viz and word count. Increase the Viz lost to hundreds of Viz in the normal forums and thousands of Viz in debate and cafe corner. People would then think twice before making a post below the required limit to a specific forum. That would at least fix the short spammy post issues that are seen a lot. And if they do it multiple times just auto ban them from the forum. Or if you want to be nice just don't allow them to make a post if its below the word requirement.

This is an okay idea. I agree with this because it deals with most of the silly posts. Then the only spam left can be easily stopped. This also lets the people with the most experience post in those threads. If it's a serious issue, then younger users would be a little bit of trouble. I agree with the_casualty's suggestion of a choice of who can reply, but if that is not feasible then this idea is fine for them not being able to post in them.

Although the idea about only letting trusted members post on these threads hasn't been discussed since around the halfway point of this thread, I would like to give my input on the idea. I, personally, am not for the idea. I do understand where they were coming from. It would very likely reduce the spam or annoying posts because Trusted Members are less likely to do so. But it does harm those who really are dedicated and serious about this site, but just happen to become members not long ago. I might be a bit bias because I have not been a member for very long. I have only made 83 other posts, which is clearly nothing compared to a lot of people who are voting on this poll. But I am 23 years old, I have logged on multiple times a day almost everyday since I joined, and I post often each day on a variety of threads. I try to make sure that everything I post is at least as serious as the thread itself is intended to be. I have been nothing but respectful to all posters on both the serious threads and the threads that are just for fun. I also frequently post on the Debate and Cafe Corner. The thing is, I only have one trust point. Maybe it is because I am still relatively new and don't know an easier way to get trust points from people other than being respectful, making a lot of posts, etc. For those who have more than enough trust points to be Trusted Members, this idea doesn't seem like a big deal. But I am not just going to ask people for trust points, and I don't think people like me should be punished simply because other Trusted Members have not rated me to give me points. There is a large portion of members who are not Trusted Members yet, and this would be closing forums off to all the innocent ones.

I did like the idea about making it an option to apply the 13+ setting when making a thread. That way, those who are being serious don't get advice or comments from kids whom the thread couldn't even apply to. Just make sure this isn't an option of all threads, over half the threads would probably be unavailable to kids.

One idea I would like to put out there is maybe making a Kids Corner that is specifically for those who are under 13 years of age. That way, they could talk about what they want to talk about with kids closer to their own maturity, and they can do so without worrying about older teens and adults complaining about them or even insulting them for their immaturity. This would not help with the spammers, but it might help keep kids off the more mature forums by providing something appealing to them. Or better yet, make the 13+ an option when making a thread under the Debate and Cafe Corner, AND give the kids their own forum.

I'm currently in favor to let the 12 - years old kids to read, but not to post. Personally, those threads could be a little too mature for them. That's just what I think.