Thom,
You don't have to tell people specifically WHO you are, but it would be nice to have a clue as to whether male or female.

As far as children, we just today started a forum for junior and youth sailors to use. This was suggested by Mindy, a 10-year-old who loves sailing Hobie 14's and 16's, and she wants other kids to talk to. So we'll give it a try and see what happens and how many kids are interested. It is with the rest of the specialized forums in the Main Index. I hope your goddaughter will be able to participate in it.

As far as our New Open Forum, I have never yet seen anything on there that would not be appropriate for children. Have you? In fact, the Old Forum has been pretty civilized lately, too.