Newcomer Status

When you see folks who have the label "Newcomer" over their avatar, it means simply that they haven't been here very long, and so we don't know a lot about them.

It's always hard to advise people about online safety, since we're all here to meet and be around other people.

But children (even Innerkids) sometimes trust adults who seem to be "parental" or otherwise safe too easily, and we worry about this, as there's just really no way to know what kind of person someone is online -- even if you think you know them.

So on GI, folks that have been here and interacted with us for long enough that we feel they have some track record to show what they really are, are labeled as Full Residents.

Those who either haven't been here long, or haven't participated a lot, or both, are labeled as Newcomer, so you have at least some sense of how well *we* know someone, at least, when deciding how much of your Innerkid to give them access to.