When I started searching this site a few months before I became a member, I assumed that there would be all kinds of folks participating in the forums. I read posts on topics I was interested in and searched for more threads on those topics, then used some common sense and my own values to filter. Some excellent advice and thoughtful perspectives I hadn’t entertained previously, and thus found very useful. Others were rubbish.
Forums have been around for a long time (correct if you see an error):
(a few key sites - not comprehensive)
Computerized Bulletin Board System - developed by Ward Christensen and Randy Seuss in 1978
Usenet - established in 1980
IRC, or Internet relay chat - in 1988
Forums - developed by the W3 Consortium in 1994
Blogs - also 1994
Six Degrees - 1997
Social Media … - 2000s
My son was born after Blogs became a ‘thing’.
My point is … he grew up in, aware of and interacting in this online world (he was allowed computer access in his teens). He’s way more hip to forums, chatting on them, judging who’s an idiot, who’s reliable, than I am.
I’m not any more concerned about the teens taking bad advice than the adults.
Also there’s no real way we can know who’s who here … usually.