Geoff Burling wrote:
And what do we do if a minor makes a submission? After all, while minors can sign contracts, but cannot be held to them. And we do have several minors who are making contributions to Wikipedia. (For example LittleDan, who I wouldn't have thought was that young had he not stated the fact.)
This has been something that has nagged me ever since I learned that the FSF does check for this of every contributor to their code base. If someone under 18 wants to contribute, they have to get their parents or guardians to agree to the FSF's terms. (This is done to provide the necessary documentation to prevent a SCO v. IBM lawsuit.)
Somehow putting all these bureaucratic hoops in front of people seems very unwiki. This sounds very much like seeking solutions for low probability hypothetical problems.
If we are to judge Wikipedians at all it should be based on what they to on these sites. Age alone should never be a factor.
Ec