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Comment by oiuyhgtfryhuj | Hacker News Reader

They should think themselves lucky - in the UK they would now have a lifetime on the sex offenders register.

Being in a playground while adult and male!

I honestly don't think this law is related to sex offenses. I think it's related to the fact that adults can easily push children away, and then the taxpayer's money is not being used for the intended purpose. Adults have plenty of places they can go. Kids, not so much.

(Similarly, if you're 40 years old, you can't go to the public kindergarten. It's because the program is designed to educate 5-year-olds, not 40-year-olds. Nothing to do with sex, it's merely practicality.)

So you think the "no unaccompanied adults" rule in playgrounds is because the swings are too small for them?

Playgrounds shouldn’t have chessboards if they also have rules prohibiting adults without kids. Stupid planning is responsible for this ridiculous outcome.

What, because anyone under 18 doesn't play chess? Or because a 8x8 grid of colored squares is an expensive feature to add.

If that IS the case, we have bigger problems.

Not at all. I’m all for chessboards and I’m all for kids learning and playing chess, but the boards should be put in an area where both adults and kids have access.

With a simple rule change you wouldn’t even have to change anything about the playground layout. Just allow unaccompanied adults playing chess and nothing else and the problem is solved.

You say that - but what if the checkers players move in? You could have gang war

Not to out myself as a nerd, but if my history is any indication, some kids play chess. And even checkers.

Sure, but how is that relevant for my argument? Kids and adults enjoy chess and checkers, both should have access to public chessboards, slides and swings are for the most part only enjoyed by and only safe for kids.

There are lots of chess boards outside of playgrounds. They are generally occupied by adults. I think the point of putting the table inside the playground was specifically to enable kids to use it.

Amending the sign to read something like "no adults, unless playing or watching chess, but not if a child has been waiting to play, except ..." would get complicated fast. Just go to a different park already.

I suspect the chessboards and rule came from different generations. During the "Searching for Bobby Fischer" era, the beat cops would probably have gotten to know the regular chessplayers and used them as resources -- i.e., asking if they had noticed strangers in the neighborhood. Nowadays, not so much, apparently.

Really? I lived in the UK and I quite often take a shortcut through a playground when going for a walk near my parents place. It has never occurred to me that this might be a problem and I've never had so much as a nasty look for doing it. I'm male and apparently also an adult :)

Try being in public with a camera, or even holding a phone up to read the screen as if you might be using it as a camera.

British Airways recently had to admit they had a secret policy of moving men seated next to other's children on flights. It only came up when they moved Boris Johnson from sitting next to his own kids, they didn't realise they were his own children - presumably they looked human (although you have to wonder if the kids were secretly relieved)

You know, i hear stuff like this a lot. Mostly on reddit and sometimes on here. But Ive never experienced anything like this at all, nor am i aware of anyone i know experiencing anything like that so i just choose to forget about. I still smile at kids in the street and use my camera phone in public and trust people not to be complete idiots, works for me :)

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