This is slightly off topic to the original question, but when I answered I wasn't thinking about lying to people about your age online, and this brings up a concern of mine, so I thought I'd respond again.
I only talk online to people I know in real life or to folcs. But lately I've had a lot of random strangers IM me when I'm on IRC. My standard reply is, "I'm sorry, I think you've confused me with someone else." Half the time, that is enough to stop them, but the other half the time, they are just as happy to talk to me as whoever they were looking for. So my second response is to tell them politely that I don't talk to people I don't know. Have a nice day. Etc.
But lately more and more the content of the IMs are of a sexual nature from the beginning. So when that's the case, I start off saying, "I'm sorry, I'm only fourteen. I don't think I should be having this type of conversation with you." hoping they will apologize and stop. But I was ASTOUNDED by the number of people who will say things like, "You're fourteen! Me too!" My response to that is always, "Great. So if my dad, who's a cop, traces your IP number, he'll find out your really a kid and not some forty-year-old pervert?" You'd be amazed how fast they sign off. <G> But while I find that mildly amusing, mostly I find it horrifying and I worry about all the chatters out there who really ARE fourteen year old girls.
