"Please enter your age to enter"

[girzwald]

Whats even the point of these? Do they like, provide some sort of legal protection or something? I mean, I've never heard of someone suing some sort of website because their 10 year old saw some porn or some other "adult" thing and this age verification barricade shielded them from a lawsuit. Or do they actually think the honor system will prevail? Because a bank with a cardboard vault door would be more secure than the "please verify your age" things.

I mean, I can understand the ones that just say "you must be 18 to enter, click to enter" Cause that's more just of a "hey, possible objectionable material head, you've been warned". But the "enter your age" and it placing a cookie on your computer just seems stupid. Cause ya, ill admit, in hurr durr moments I've misclicked and put in a wrong year or in some cases, no year at all, but it takes it anyway and then locks me out. But I mean, come on. Do they really think this stops anyone who is "not old enough to enter" from entering a site?

Just seems dumb IMO.

 

[Lucem712]

I'd say it's just legal protection for the website, but it does irk me a bit on the Escapist. I don't see it often but when I do, I'm just thinkin' I'm signed in, you have my birthday, why not just verify it through that?

 

[tippy2k2]

Do they like, provide some sort of legal protection or something?

BOOM (HEAD-SHOT!)! You just answered your own question in your question: It provides the minimal amount of work while allowing a website to say that it put up a fence to keep the kids off of their trampoline (AKA Legal Protection and/or angry parent protection).

I'd say it's just legal protection for the website, but it does irk me a bit on the Escapist. I don't see it often but when I do, I'm just thinkin' I'm signed in, you have my birthday, why not just verify it through that?

The Escapist states on the access page why that is:

From 18+ page:
What do you do with this information?
When you enter your birthday in the field above, we store it in a temporary cookie on your computer. It expires when your browser closes, and we do not record this information or use it for any other purpose.

I've put in my birthday before, why do I have to do it again?
The guidelines for handling age gates require that we save your information for your current session only. Unfortunately this means that you'll have to enter your birthday again to see this content after your close your web browser. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.

For whatever reason, The Escapist can't keep your age verified (might be a legal thing; might be a "for fun" thing)

 

[daveman247]

snip

Yup, it provides legal protection. If anybody complains they can just say that the user deliberatly faked their birthdate. They warned them. Which is true.


I think its the only solution really for the random internet user. The only other way would be having to sign up for some sort of account or for you to prove your ID with bank details or something.

This way at least keeps it anonymous somewhat