A popular UK social networking website, Faceparty.com has banned all users over 36 years old claiming it is their approach to fighting potential child abusers. Critics suggest that the real reason is to better engage a younger, more valuable user base for the hip English network.

Age verification, as with most sites, appears to consist simply of people picking whatever age they see fit to use with no checkup, so the measure seems unlikely to deter much abuse though it may simply make older users feel unwelcome – an approach that would be consistent with the claims of critics that this is a commercial measure rather than anti-abuse.

Faceparty’s terms of service may not be all that effective, but they are certainly cleverly written:

I hereby do declare, and solemnly swear, that I won’t act like a prick, I’m not a judgemental fool, I believe in racial and sexual equality, I’m not a pedo, I’ve not lied about my age, I’m not a spammer, I won’t nick anyone’s pics, I will never refer to faceparty as a “social network”*, I will never call Faceparty “Facebook” by mistake, I will try my hardest not to moan all the time, I’m not a cam whore (nor a faker), I will perform at least one practical joke every 38 days… and most importantly, I genuinely value love before money (at least when I’m on ‘ere, anyway). Amen.

The Register has more.