COPPA Members

This guide was originally written by Twilight Sparkle

Are you confused about COPPA? Don't know what it is? Not sure how to react to a trade from a COPPA? Nowadays I see a lot of questions and misconceptions about what COPPA is all around CS, mainly on the 'Suggestions/Problems' board. I want to make this guide to answer the questions about COPPA. So look no further, here comes tons of information.

What is COPPA?

On Chicken Smoothie, "COPPA" is used in two ways, firstly to describe the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and secondly, to describe players protected by that law. Below is Ocelot at Soul's description of the COPPA law, as well as a site which explains COPPA in depth. Below that is my simple explanation of a COPPA player.

Ocelot at Soul wrote:: COPPA stands for Child Online Privacy Protection Act. It is a law in the US that prevents children under the age of 13 from posting online without a parent's permission. The parent has to fill out a form and fax or mail it to the admin of the site. It keeps young kids from posting information like name, age, or location to keep them safe. So on here, they can't post on the forums, make trade rules, send trade messages, or send private messages to keep them safe. They can post in Oekaki, but every post has to be approved by a moderator.

What Is COPPA- A More Boring & Thorough Explanation

'Mione wrote:: A player who is referred to as a COPPA is a player who is under 13 and lives in the United States. Their "membership group", so to speak, is "Registered COPPA Users".

What can COPPA's do?

On below are the list of things COPPA's can and can't do on CS. NOTE: COPPA's are able to do everything once their parents sign and mail/fax a special permission slip to Tess and Nick. This permission slip makes them unCOPPA'd.

They can:

Collect pets
Name pets
Name groups
Make/post on the Oekaki (mods must approve these posts first)
Put items on pets
Make a wishlist
View all forums except 18+ and human roleplay
Read trade messages

They cannot:

Make trade rules
Send trade messages
Read private messages
Send private messages
Post on any forum but the Oekaki
Read the 18+ forum / the human roleplay forum

(If I missed anything, please say.)

Hekomi wrote:: It might be a good idea to note as well, once a coppa'd member trades you a pet, it's name seems to disappear. ^^; As in, if they named the pet, it comes onto your account with no name.

What are some misconceptions about COPPAs?

Anyone who has seen the Trade Rant Thread has probabily noticed a rant or two about COPPAs. I want to put a stop to these common misconceptions that seem to make some users think that all COPPAs are bad. They're not. So, here we go.

COPPAs can't / don't ever read trade rules and send bad trades

Not true. COPPA members get thanked all the time on the Good Trade Thread, and most COPPAs know how to read. I mean really think of most, let's say, 8-13 year olds. I'm pretty sure the majority of them can read. Now, there are some people who just don't read, and do break rules, but the majority of COPPAs can read your rule and will read them.

All COPPAs are noobs / stupid

Again, not even close to being true. Most COPPAs are smart. They may not be as smart as you, because you're older, and they may make some mistakes (Doesn't everyone make mistakes?), but they aren't all stupid.

How do I respond to a COPPA trade?

Help! Some COPPA sent me a trade with nothing on my side, but something on their side. Is it a gift or do they want me to edit?

What you need to do is send back the trade, asking if it's a gift. If it is, they'll most likely accept, if it isn't, they'll probabily send it back to you. Remember, COPPA players can't send you a message in the trade.

A COPPA sent me a trade with nothing on their side, but something on my side. What do I do?

Edit the trade to make it fair, then send it back to them asking if it's okay. Most likely they want the pets and aren't trying to beg, but they don't know what you want for the pets. If they don't have anything you want or anything to make the trade fair, simply cancel it with a message explaining why you canceled.

A COPPA completely breaks my rules—what do I do?

Just cancel the trade without a nasty message. Explain why you canceled and try to be kind about it.

So I hope I helped people understand about COPPAs. If you have any unanswered questions, please post them here. Thanks for reading!