Ah, another angle.

For a fraction of a second, my mind even went to: "paced" meaning "paste(d) in the password".

At first I thought the user was entering emojis back in the year 2000, but I suspect that that was a typo.

Your profile has become conscious and is now voting.

Heheh, it's better than squeezing an enema into a colonoscopy.

I did figure that out, but not instantly. ;)

Ha, more like a walking "Dunning–Kruger"...

It can't die because it's got health insurance.

Hello? I'm standing right here...

Heh, I've never heard that term before. I am one, though. Unfortunately, it also comes with a chronic sense of inadequacy. Probably because I have not yet come across a scenario where that kind of skill set is cherished, even if I sometimes recognize its value.

Frankly, I grew up in a world where it would be ridiculous that any of this stuff is "free" in the first place, but a dollar-per-year system would be worth a try, then.

Cigarettes/alcohol purchases are not the same because the shop keeper is the gatekeeper, witnessing the transaction. When I was a teen employee, I couldn't sell alcohol to anyone, having to call an older employee to complete the sale. I see that one can buy such stuff on-line today, but, again, a credit card is required.

I assumed by "trivial" you meant "stolen", which might happen but less likely to happen by a child; and it can be found out/reversed if anyone is paying attention. Is $1 not noticed? How about a $500 charge one month with $499 reversal the next?

If you meant a credit card is easily to legally obtain, I don't see how a kid with no credit can get a credit card.

If you're talking about tracking, mutually exclusive logic wins here: Identifying someone in order to prove their age is the exact opposite of not identifying someone (for the tracking).

"Double the effort" was just an exaggeration. But spending the extra time to be more proficient with tool X seems better than being mediocre at many of similar tools. I know, because I am mediocre at many computey things and am paid as such.

While that's a good suggestion, learning something well that's in the minority means he may have to learn a second thing well if he wants to move on professionally--that's double the effort. I've looked at both; they are different. As we all know, our tech fields are hard enough and ever-changing, as is.

I don't see why they can't just charge $1 per year, credit cards only.

I'm not a viber at my job, but this seems like a simple, very compatible way to handle this.