I was talking to my brother-in-law yesterday about whether this app would be good for my niece who is very crafty and has recently got into crochet.
However, I felt it necessary to mention my concerns about children using the app as if it was social media - routinely creating non-craft related social media-esque posts - and seeming to be able to send/receive private messages from strangers (including adults!)
He was highly concerned by this as she is too young to be on social media and there are obvious safeguarding concerns around building relationships with strangers online. I also wonder, based on what I’ve seen, if children are using this app as a way to get around social media bans which could put Ribblr in a dodgy legal position.
Is there a way to block children’s accounts from being able to send/receive private messages?
Should Ribblr be allowing children to create and take part in chats unrelated to craft, including private spaces?
Could there be specific areas for children which are more heavily monitored?
On a less important note, due to the discussion boards being mostly children connecting, I do not take part and feel this part of the app is unusable for its intended purpose of people talking about crafts - something I was initially looking forward to being part of. The pattern library is also overwhelmed by simple, repetitive children’s/beginners creations (e.g. bees) which look like copies of other patterns and make it hard to find anything - could these be in a seperate area for those learning to create patterns?
I mean ribblr does have this thing where the adult has to write a paperwork thing then the child can have there account [ i really dont know ] You can check in the ribblr help thing
You can set the profile to private so no one can send them messages. They will not be able to test patterns though since they need to be able to communicate with the designers. You can also hide the personal spaces in the community section if you want to keep it all craft related. Some people don’t post in the correct place and the topic needs moved but we try to get it moved as soon as possible.
I agree that children should not be allowed in the general chat room. Craft chat is fine but I highly doubt their parents are monitoring them in the chat rooms. They need to be at least 16+ imo. I stay out of the gen chat because I’m not comfortable chatting with a bunch of young teens unless it’s about crafts
I agree with the idea of protecting children but what if that kid what’s to connect with there friends on ribblr and this message makes it so they cant have private messages with there friends
Yes! There are ways to do that, (including making a child’s public profile private, and you can also individually disable chats/messages)
Ribblr is monitored quite well but not all the pressure of monitoring should be put on ribblr, it’s also up to the person setting up the account and the parents. It’s impossible to create a perfectly safe space on ribblr and I can think of many issues making a child only space could cause.
Though somewhat true, this app is what we use it for, discussions can easily be prompted to discuss more craft related topics, hence the different spaces and chats, they help to (to some degree, I do agree that people go off topic but that’s an issue you are going to have with anything) separate people who are using this app for different purposes!
I do agree with this, and it would be cool if ribblr could maybe create a separate tag that people new to crochet could put on their patterns so if someone decided to filter out those patterns they could!
All these are great concerns but most of them have solutions that ribblr has already created if accounts are handled correctly!
Thanks for all the info. It’s good to know there is stuff in place
I couldn’t find anything about limiting a child’s account in the help centre. Are you able to point me to where to find more info please?
In terms of discussions going off track, I am partially questioning why non-craft message boards are allowed as it is taking Ribblr into general social media territory which is not what it is for.
I’m not saying banning say people talking about their dogs in a dog pattern post, just when it’s not related at all.
If they are already friends, there is no reason that they need to message via Ribblr.
If they met on Ribblr and formed a relationship here, then that’s part of my concern. Unfortunately you can’t be sure people are who they say they are online or that they have good intentions. The person they’re talking to may not be another child really.
I’m trained in safeguarding for my work and children forming friendships with strangers online sets off big alarm bells as sadly they could be being groomed rather than talking to another kid. It’s why restrictions are in place generally.
If you navigate to “preferences” on a ribblr account you will see options for hiding public profiles, disabling messages, and options for blocking certain users etc. (there is also an option where you can send notifs to an email whenever a child does receive notifs on their device so you could also have a parent receive the notifs as well through an email) I think there are also more privacy options when you first make an account, and stuff you sign if someone is under 13, (just so you know though, ribblr doesn’t have advanced parental controls because this app wasn’t made to cater to young children so that’s just something to keep in mind)
Great point! I would also like to point out that ribblr is really good at addressing flags on messages and things (as someone who has had people accidentally flag them, ribblr messages right away to resolve issues and WILL ban accounts permanently for disobeying community guidelines, even just having 1 flag catches ribblrs attention!)
I know a lot of teens use this app (including myself) if she is under the age of twelve I probably wouldn’t encourage her to use it as there is also a lot of adults on the app
Thank you. I wonder if Ribblr would consider adding parental controls as although it wasn’t made for children, it is now being used by a lot of them.
] You can check in the ribblr help thing
