ive been on it for years and it seems mostly the talk about sexual content and drugs come from the younger children on there trying to act cool if you dont like your kids being on there keep them off cause gaia already tried to disable the ciggarettes but everyone was against it so they brought them i hate how everyone worries about gaia if some talks sexual block them and leave or just wait for them to leave cause usalley its just trolls and dont go into the mature forums you know adults like to post stuff too so i say make it 15 and up and keep your freaking children off the site if your gonna have a hissy fit

I love it personally. Yes, it can get pretty inappropriate at times, but that's only some of the threads. If you don't want your kids to see this make sure they don't wander into the General Discussion or Life Discussion forums. They talk about things they might not understand. While the website has its downs in this are there are ups like educational threads that let us talk about sports or the exchange where you learn to handle money and item.

It's not a perfect site, i admit. But the reason i give it a 6+ is that with the filter on the kids can't read the swearwords, and what six year old is gonna click on a topic with something inapropriate? some of the topics on the forums make me uncomfortable, but those are the topics you just...ignore!!! or better yet, teach you child to be vocal about things that make them uncomfortable. if you ask someone to stop swearing, chances are they'll stop. plus, once you get to middle school you hear swearwords *constantly*, so kids shouls get used to it.

While there is inappropriate content on here, openly displayed, most of it is in this little thing called Guilds. Firstly, it is against Gaia rules and ToS to discuss mature content or attempt to use the site as a dating network, and there is an age minimum of thirteen now, I don't know if that was always there. Not that children always follow such rules, but parents can find these types of things out easily. So the site is designed for a slightly older age group, as opposed to sites such as Club Penguin or Littlest Pet Shop (sites my younger siblings play on.) Now, the main forums are moderated by people that Gaia has deemed responsible through their actions. Not to mention, general users can report other users for breaking Gaia Rules and ToS. The reasons most of the inappropriate content is in Guilds is because Guilds are user-moderated. Usually, you can tell what type of content is in a guild just by its main page. The larger guilds are harder to self-moderate- don't expect to find good moderation there. When a guild is reported, then moderators step in, but until the situation is bad enough that this needs to happen, people are going to continue with their actions. Gaia tries to maintain a pleasant but open to opinion environment, but with over a hundred thousand people on each day, that can be difficult. As for my little 'Positive messages' icon I have clicked, that's due to the fact that there ARE good people on there that support things like cancer awareness, and places where you can find a nonjudging voice to listen to a problem. There are many, many opinions in this online community- and people are a good deal less shy about sharing them online. So, as with many sites, there will be ideas you maybe don't want introduced to your child- but that's everywhere, and other than not letting them into the world, there's not a thing you can do about it.

Gaia is really a good site as long as your kid knows some safety precautions such as filtering swear words and blocking people that just don't seem right. o.o One problem is that some Gaians can be really mean. Today I got some really vicious comments on my profile from a girl. I just deleted the comments and now I'm ignoring her. It's as simple as that.. I never really go to the forums so no comment there. If someone or something someone says is really threatening or uncomfortable, you can report them to site moderators and they will give the person a warning or ban the account. Gaia site moderators try to keep everything below a PG-13 level. Gaia is educational because it teaches you to save for things that you really want. For example, right now I'm saving to buy a dress for my dream avatar. Gaia does not force you to buy anything. Buying stuff for your avatar is an option most people choose. It's fun to express your creativity and personality. I think it's better for kids over 10 because even though Gaia has some really good safety precautions, it can still be kind of an iffy site unless you really trust your kid.

I'm 13, and I have an account there. The sight does reference sexual topics in some threads, and you do talk some about personal things if you want to, but most kids using the site never even wander near those. I use the site to talk to friends, play games, and make a mini me. It's not really easy to get to the threads, and personal topics are generally reserved for people who really need to talk about stuff. "...will stumble upon...in a matter of minutes" Not true. I didn't even see they were there until my 3 week on the site, and I didn't look. Also, by middle school, you've heard all the "strong language" you'll come across. If you want to censor this site for strong language, you might as well just pull your kids out of school as well. Just make sure you talk to your kid a little about internet saftey, and they'll be fine.

i like gaia there is some issuses sometimes but its still fun little kids can just go fissing or something ive ben on gaia for over 400 days so i know !! safety is not a problem just tell people tmi and talk to your kids about that problem! people will say somethings and just stay on the vidio game forms. i gots a cuz that is 7 and he is active on gaia all he does is play games. if u dont shoow kids things and tell them they will knot know all he does is play ppenball or race people in rally. gaia can send possitive messages and if u cant find any the send out some like:dont smoke and other stuff. its all allways good to send a pasitive messige. ^_^ i think that gaia is not volient unlessu make it.well sexual behavoer is a problem but just keep your kids out of hollywood and towns. people will say bad things also people are starting to call others noobs(idk what that is but it is bad) (not too bad) they call to new people or nasty people (if u look at my avater it will proball never look new)(x_flapjack123_x)and there is no problem to muh about drugs and otherthings. the gaians might talk about it but not to often.(go gaia) =^_^=(plus the tos sayd that u have to be 13 and up) (lol)

Gaiaonline isn't in any way educational (except if you think the occasional "can you help me with my homework?" threads are math practice or something. But overall it's a fun game where you can talk to people and be yourself. Safety is only a problem if you weren't raised with basic internet safety stuff, don't give out your address, last name, phone number, etc. Sure some threads will seem a little mature (some people post about their teenage pregnancy, first time with drugs, sex) but the truth is most kids are already being exposed to this kind of thing IRL anyway, unless you've totally sheltered your child from the internet and real world.