Youth Safety Policy

The Softball Forum includes discussion involving youth athletes and may be used by minors, parents, coaches, officials and other members of the softball community.

The safety, privacy and appropriate treatment of youth athletes are priorities across the site.

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1. Appropriate Adult-to-Minor Communication

Adults must maintain appropriate boundaries when communicating with minors.

Communication should remain softball-related, respectful and appropriate for the age of the athlete.

Adults must not use The Softball Forum to initiate inappropriate, sexual, coercive, manipulative or exploitative communication with a minor.

2. No Grooming or Sexual Content Involving Minors

Predatory behaviour, grooming, sexual exploitation, sexual solicitation, or sexualized discussion involving minors is prohibited.

Content or behaviour presenting a serious youth-safety concern may result in immediate account suspension or permanent removal.

3. Protect Youth Privacy

Do not publish private or sensitive information about a minor without an appropriate reason and permission.

This includes information such as:

• Home addresses
• Private phone numbers
• Private personal email addresses
• School or personal schedules
• Private messages
• Travel or accommodation details that create a safety concern
• Other information that could reasonably be used to locate or target a youth athlete

Information intentionally made public by a team, league, tournament or organization may generally be discussed when relevant to legitimate softball activity.

4. Photos and Videos

Photos and videos may be shared when they are appropriate and relevant to softball discussion.

Do not post sexualized, exploitative, humiliating or otherwise inappropriate images or videos of minors.

If a parent, guardian, athlete or appropriate organization raises a legitimate safety or privacy concern regarding an image or video, moderators may remove or restrict it while the concern is reviewed.

5. Player Performance Discussion

Legitimate discussion of youth softball performance is permitted.

Members may discuss games, statistics, development, recruiting, positions, strengths, areas for improvement and other softball-related topics.

Do not use performance discussion as an excuse to ridicule, bully, shame or repeatedly target a youth athlete.

6. Recruiting and Team Opportunities

Tryout, recruiting and player-opportunity posts should use appropriate forum sections and contact methods.

When possible, team representatives should provide organizational or adult contact information rather than requesting that minors publicly disclose private contact details.

The Softball Forum does not independently verify every tryout, team opportunity, coach or organization unless specifically identified as verified.

7. Direct Messages

Direct messages must follow the same rules as public posts.

Members should report concerning direct messages, including harassment, threats, sexual communication, requests for inappropriate images, coercion or other behaviour that raises a youth-safety concern.

8. Bullying and Harassment

Do not bully, humiliate, threaten, intimidate or organize harassment against a youth athlete.

Repeated targeting of a minor across multiple discussions or platforms may be treated as a serious violation.

9. Reporting Safety Concerns

If content or communication on The Softball Forum creates a safety concern, use the Report function so moderators can review it.

Do not publicly repost sensitive material simply to draw attention to it.

10. Moderator Action

Youth-safety issues may require faster or more serious moderation than ordinary forum disputes.

Depending on the circumstances, moderators may remove content, restrict communication, suspend accounts or permanently ban users.

Serious situations do not need to progress through the normal warning process before action is taken.

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Our Standard

Youth athletes should be able to participate in softball without becoming targets of harassment, exploitation or inappropriate attention.

Members are expected to use good judgment and help maintain a community where young athletes can be discussed, recognized and supported safely.