A MESSAGE TO TEENS FROM JACKINWORLD

A lot of teens like yourself find their way to JackinWorld. Whether you found the site by accident, heard about it from a friend, or even were brought here by your parents (it does happen!), you should be aware that a lot of JackinWorld's material is not what some adults would consider appropriate reading for younger teens. Let's face it: JackinWorld is about sexual stuff – and sex makes some people very uncomfortable, especially when young people are reading about it.

When visiting JackinWorld, it's important that you read carefully. Although there's nothing "nasty" about anything on the site, understand that people of all ages are welcome here – and as a result, different sections of the site are appropriate for people of different maturity levels. So if you ever go onto a page and you find yourself feeling confused or uncomfortable, or if you know your parents would not approve, then please move to another part of the site where you feel more comfortable.

In general, it's a good idea to ask yourself how your parents would feel if they learned you had been visiting JackinWorld. If they'd be very upset, maybe you shouldn't be here. After all, your parents are the best people to help you decide what's appropriate for you to read and what's not. If things were perfect we'd want you to ask your parents to take a look at the site and decide for themselves – but we realize for a lot of you that's just not possible. If so, please be responsible and make those decisions yourself, based on what your parents have taught you as you've grown older.

We understand that some areas of JackinWorld are not accessible on computers with "parental controls" in place. A lot of young people have asked us what can be done about this. Unfortunately, if your parents have this function turned on, they've done so for a reason, and we can't help you try to get around it. If you can have a talk with your parents and possibly discuss changing or updating the parental controls they've chosen, that might do the trick. If you can't do this, though, we're afraid you're out of luck – sorry.

One other thing: When you're on the Internet in general, please be especially careful anytime you're chatting or exchanging IMs or e-mails with anyone else. Unfortunately, there are older people out there who may want to trick you into talking to them about sexual things (or worse), and you need to be very careful about that – even when it starts off innocently. Never give out any personal information about yourself, and never agree to meet anyone in person. This is very important.

We don't want you to feel bad about reading JackinWorld, but we certainly don't want you to get hurt or to get into trouble, either. JackinWorld is here for your education and enjoyment – but in some ways it's serious business, so it should be treated as such.

Have fun, and be safe!

–The JackinWorld Editors