Hi,

I wrote you a message a month ago about Wikikids/Vikidia: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikikids. I recently had a discussion on IRC about this proposal.

Someone pointed out firstly a 2006 UK act that regulate internet moderators on children website, and require a vetting process for them. That's the UK Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeguarding_Vulnerable_Groups_Act_2006 It defines "regulated activities" among which: "moderating a public electronic interactive communication service which is likely to be used wholly or mainly by children;" then "a person moderates a public electronic interactive communication service if, for the purpose of protecting children, he has any function relating to—(a)monitoring the content of matter which forms any part of the service,(b)removing matter from, or preventing the addition of matter to, the service, or(c)controlling access to, or use of, the service." http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/47/schedule/4/paragraph/2/2006-11-0...

I'm afraid that's what the sysop do on Vikidia. This wiki is hosted in France for a content in french, but I wonder if it would prevent to run a similar wiki in english, be it hosted in the US or elsewhere. What do you think about it ?

I was also told that they were a kind of unexpressed policy on the English Wikipedia that would be "Don't tell us you're a minor". As it would be likely extended to another Wikimedia project, it would make very tricky to make Wikimedians accept a Wikikids project, that aims to enable children and teenagers (though not only them) to write and to be involved in building the encyclopedia.

I have to recognize that Simple English Wikipedia actually seems to me to follow this pattern, with a kind of similar principle that would be "don't say that it fits/it's for children"... The rest of the reasoning was about the "cultural climate surrounding kids in America", especially concerns about pedophiles. I responded that they were also legal standing for children empowerment which meet the project (especially referring to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikikids/Relation_to_the_Rights_of_the_Child )

I had quite an idea about these issues before, both knowing some specificities in the UK and the US, and because theses concerned have raised and evolved in similar period in France, certainly with some differences. But now I wonder if these concerned are too weighty to be oversteped. Then if a wikikids were unlikely to be launched in English, has the adoption of the project and opening in other languages (German...) any chance to be accepted and uphold by the Wikimedia community ?