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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Dealing with Minors on LPF

Joined
Dec 9, 2009
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Hi all,
Just curious.....has anyone else on here had any dealings with kids on LPF? I've had the range of experiences, very good to very frustrating. Would be interested in hearing the good, the bad and the ugly if anyone is willing to share (without mentioning any names).
Sometimes I do have concerns as lasers are not toys, and wondering if other members of LPF feel the same.
Cheers.
 
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Re: Dealings with Minors on LPF

Hi all,
Just curious.....has anyone else on here had any dealings with kids on LPF? I've had the range of experiences, very good to very frustrating. Would be interested in hearing the good, the bad and the ugly if anyone is willing to share (without mentioning any names).
Sometimes I do have concerns as lasers are not toys, and wondering if other members of LPF feel the same.
Cheers.

Why is this in B,S,T? Other than people who sell lasers to kids should be checking and informing. I do not see how this belongs here.

But I do agree with you tho, the price that these lasers have come down, they are now more accessible to kids. I do hope that none are to stupid with there lasers and that the seller informed them about Laser safety. And now in this digital age I see some idiot kid filming some idiot thing they are doing with there laser and our community suffering from it. :(
Someone was told that a >1W laser was to much for him to have as a 1st Laser and warned him how dangerous it is, and as soon as he gets it hes trying to burn him self with it, No goggles. And the other week someone posted how cool it would be to shine a laser at a aircraft. :( Some people (Kids/Idiots) just can't comprehend how dangerous it is.
 
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Joined
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Messages
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Re: Dealings with Minors on LPF

Why is this in B,S,T? Other than people who sell lasers to kids should be checking and informing. I do not see how this belongs here.

Because its to do with buying, selling and trading.
The only other place I considered putting it was in the 'Trades Feedback & Dispute Resolution' section but I'm just asking for general opinions about selling to kids. I don't have a dispute so to speak.
Thanks for your input though!
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2010
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Re: Dealings with Minors on LPF

When I was a kid I was pretty mature for my age but if someone bullied me, I would probably have tried to defend myself with a laser.
It is too difficult for a young person to grasp how permanent blindness would be.
I tried to explain to a 12 year old (friend's kid) what blindness would be like when he asked to play with my 445.
Even after wearing 2 pieces of opaque tape for 15 minutes, he said "well that wasn't too bad".
Completely over his head.
You sell to kids, be ready to be held responsible for whatever they do with it.
It would be like handing your car keys over to the same kid and then being upset when you are held responsible.
 
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Mar 25, 2008
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Well, kids don't generally have access to a paypal account without their parents - and they should be informing them what exactly it is they're buying. It also depends how old you're referring to when you say kid. I started my first DVD-burner laser about three yrs ago (just before I joined the forums) and that means I was 14-15 at the time. Did I have safety goggles? No. Did I have any accidents? No. Does that mean I was extremely safe with them? - not entirely... I can remember only two seriously close incidents - once almost shined in another's face a 60mW red, and myself I accidently shined a 40mW green that was luckily a kaleidoscopic kind. I was looking into it and couldn't believe I accidently hit the button.

So yeah, I was a kid I guess, and I bought plenty of diodes, some lasers like a DILDA or something manufactured and maybe a complete module or two from people here on the forums and most didn't ask or really care about my age. Now I'm much more responsible with safety, and I don't even let my father really use/touch my lasers without my supervision, and even then I always critique him when he does because I'm very worried.
 
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My old man is into the lasers as well, he told me he would share the costs because I was the one learning it....
He then bought a 445 from me for about $1 more than raw components.
Thanks dad!
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2009
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I agree with you guys. As long as there's adequate supervision, I think lasers provide an awesome learning experience.
Safety is one thing but the other thing that I've found a little frustrating on here is when 'deal negotiations' take place. On a number of occasions, I've had ridiculous offers (out of the blue) emailed to me on some of my laser gear. On other occasions, I'll spend stacks of time emailing numerous messages with a 'prospective buyer' about something I have for sale, answering questions, working out a deal, only to find out eventually that its some kid who has to ask his mum if she can buy it for him and then that's the end of it.
I'm a teacher and lecturer by trade. I am totally all for young people getting into technical things like this, building up their knowledge rather than wasting all their time on Facebook and pointless online chats. But at the same time, they need to know that stuffing people around doesn't do them any favors.
 
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I think it is hard to verify age of someone aside from their ability to get a PP account and such.
If there is a PP account than the minor is using it with their parents okay, or without...I would think that either way its all on the parents.
If for some of these parents do come back to you...perhaps just explaining that there is no way to verify age, and a PP account is the best you have(control your own damn kids).
This is not a sure fire way of keeping yourself out of trouble, and judging the questions asked and language used in emails is sometimes a clue to ones age as well(lol, not always though).

My two Australian cents;)
 

Things

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I actually joined this forum when I was 13 (Around 4 years ago now), and coming up to 17 in a few months. And the whole time, I have only ONCE had a scare from an almost direct hit to the eye. This was waaayyy before the time of the 445nm lasers, I think it was only 40mW or so, but it scared the crap out of me. Luckily no damage.

I've been told I'm extremely mature for my age (Wish some others were too), and luckily never had any serious accidents with lasers. All of my knowledge has been self taught. I was never offered electronics or physics at school, everything I know has been learnt from experience, or the internet.

I guess the point is, some kids are much more mature than others. When selling lasers to them, you really just have to keep an eye on their personality first and make sure they aren't outright psychotic (Although this doesn't just apply to kids ;). However, providing they are mature enough, laser safety really comes as common sense. Laser = bright, bright light + eye = hurt :D
 
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As someone mentioned, kids don't generally have access to Paypal.
I assume and would surely hope that a parent would not give their child free access to their paypal account, and that when they let them use it that they monitor what they are buying.

That being said, I'm not a big fan of buying stuff from children. While some may be mature, if any problems arise from the transaction they normally do not have the means or the ability to resolve the situation accordingly. Where as an adult may have a job and has a financial backing, a child does not.
 
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I actually joined this forum when I was 13 (Around 4 years ago now), and coming up to 17 in a few months. And the whole time, I have only ONCE had a scare from an almost direct hit to the eye. This was waaayyy before the time of the 445nm lasers, I think it was only 40mW or so, but it scared the crap out of me. Luckily no damage.

EDIT: imagine what would of happen if that laser you had was a 445 nm >1W. Isn't that the same price range that you paid then for the 40mW as a used 445nm today? So we got kids buying a 1.2W 445nm as there 1st laser now-a-days.

I've been told I'm extremely mature for my age (Wish some others were too), and luckily never had any serious accidents with lasers. All of my knowledge has been self taught. I was never offered electronics or physics at school, everything I know has been learnt from experience, or the internet.

I guess the point is, some kids are much more mature than others. When selling lasers to them, you really just have to keep an eye on their personality first and make sure they aren't outright psychotic (Although this doesn't just apply to kids ;). However, providing they are mature enough, laser safety really comes as common sense. Laser = bright, bright light + eye = hurt :D

I do understand that some may feel they are mature at 13, And they could be. but honestly they are not as mature as a adult and there peers can pressure them and that can allow bad things to happen. and it's just by chance that you didn't hurt your self. You could of easily blinded your self with that accident. And don't get me wrong just being a adult doesn't make you careful or responsible. But every Adult out there will tell you that as a kid we all did stupid stuff. AUTO XX stated even after having a kid blind folded for 15 min still doesn't help them grasp the concept.

We all can hope for the perfect scenario of "the parent watching there PP account and what the kid is doing/buying with it" But we can't be ignorant of the fact that most kids are not getting watched by there parents. And some are allowed to have there allowance $ connected to a bank account and then they can make there own PP.

I'm not saying that anyone in this thread is immature I'm just trying to say that as a community we have a obligation to our Hobby and Trade to inform and help educate others just starting out. I know I am still learning and going to be for awhile about this hobby, so Thank You all who have experience and want to spend the time to teach the new ones.

I think the only main point is we want a educated community of responsible people who can help the future of the hobby progress and not do stupid things that take our hobby away, or more "underground"...
 
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Well, I certainly agree that with the cheap price of 445nm Class IV lasers being so easily accessible, that the younger generation is at much higher risk - but at the same time, 445nm diodes aren't the only thing to have gone down in price. Even just DVD burner diodes and blu-rays becoming under $10each, I'm sure that most people wanting to start this hobby will probably follow the same route I did, which was buying a cheap green laser, wanting more power, seeing they're a little high in price, searching how to make your own, and then starting off with red and blu-rays and working up from there to 445nm. As cheap as they may be, I still remember when I was 13 or 14 and I thought $30 for a DX True 30mW green was a lot of money for just a green laser dot - then I loved it and wanted more, but I was still a cheap guy who didn't want to spend $50 on a Dilda and instead tried making my own (and it wasn't about how much money I had, it's how much the thing was worth to me). So to somebody who hasn't had experience with lasers, I still don't think it's gotten to such a cheap price where they would blow around $200 on a powerful blue-dot rather than an xbox or some games, unless they've already played with other lasers and developed some sort of passion for the hobby (and thus learned the safety involved).
 

Asherz

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I think any teenager between the age of 15-18 who is browsing forums in their spare time learning how to build, or learning about lasers tend to be the slightly more mature people in their age range. Purely because they're doing this rather than going out etc.

I hate to say it but I think sometimes teens more clever than they're given credit for, obviously they're exceptions to this, as there always is but in general the fear instilled on this forum to do with safety glasses etc. compelled me personally to be really careful when dealing with my first laser, a DX 200mW red, hopefully that goes for other people around the age range.

Now coming upto my 18th birthday, I find most people regardless of age between 15 right upto 50 are completely unaware of the dangers of high powered lasers until educated, I do think that most people under 15 tend to find the safety concept hard to grasp though, personally I think that's too young to own a laser.

Up to a point I think teens have to have freedom to learn for themselves, obviously we should try and be as cautious as possible when selling lasers to make sure they're a responsible person through previous posts or feedback.

From what I understand health and safety regulations 30 years ago were ALOT less then they are now, and there were dangers people probably didn't even take notice of, for example teachers taking kids out on a school trip now a days is a pain in the ass thanks to all the forms, insurance etc. they have to complete, back then I imagine it's just round them up and go out.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that people are very up tight now a days about safety, I mean some parents don't even let their teens out of the house, so whilst I agree very young teens shouldn't be given the responsibility of dealing with their own safety around high powered lasers, MOST middle teens tend to be able to cope with the responsibility and it's just apart of growing up, make a mistake, learn from it don't do it again. I guess that can't really apply to eye sight though as you only get one chance. If parents are paying for lasers they should know the maturity level of their kids, and if they're mature enough to read around the forum, make well written posts and read a little they'll soon learn how dangerous lasers can be, I think it changes from person to person but I handed one of my green lasers to a 40 year old and he started flashing the laser all over the place not realising the damage it can do, so age isn't always an indicator as to them realising safety issues unless it's pointed out, I think that under the age of 15 though, UNDERSTANDING dangers and safety advice and completely dismissing it can become an issue.

Well that was a stupidly long post not really making any point at all, I just wanted to express a few opinions :p
 
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