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Situation

The tag wiki excerpt of the tag makes it clear that the tag is Windows-specific.

Problem

But Mac- and Linux-using parents, too, might want to impose parental controls upon their kids.

Solution

I propose that the excerpt should be replaced with the following:

"Parental-control tools are usually used by parents to help control their kids' use of technology. Time limits, monitoring, Web filtering, social-networking monitoring, preventing the use of mature games such as Grand Theft Auto, and so on."

Bonus idea

If it's OK with you, the full tag wiki could also say: "Parental-control tools can also be used by adults, to serve as self-control tools."

Side notes

(Yes, I know exists. But the two tags are different. Not all web filtering is imposed upon kids (some is self-imposed). And not all parental controls are about web filtering. Some parental controls are about time controls, or Facebook-friend monitoring, or other such things. So the two tags should be kept separate. You could add a "see also" if you wanted.)

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  • I'm a linux using parent dang it, I want to be included too!
    – djsmiley2kStaysInside
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 16:54
  • That was a joke, but thanks!. Upvoted as I agree anyway.
    – djsmiley2kStaysInside
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 16:59
  • 1
    Ah OK :) Still, there definitely are options on Linux. For example, there's e2guardian, which is the successor to DansGuardian. You can run it on each machine, or maybe even on one central gateway. You could look at its logs from time to time. There may be other tools too.
    – tealhill supports Monica
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 17:00
  • 4
    This feels like it should be a retag request as well as a broadening of the current tag. The current tag appears to be specifically for the Windows Parental Controls feature but it could well be made more general to suit other operating systems. I'd be tempted to add windows-parental-controls and retag whichever questions are specifically asking about that feature.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 17:00
  • @Mokubai: If you want that, for clarity, maybe you should: A) Call it microsoft-parental-controls. B) Then write a clear tag wiki excerpt. C) Then hope that people won't use it to tag questions about non-Microsoft parental-control utilities, such as Qustodio for Windows.
    – tealhill supports Monica
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 17:03
  • 1
    Actual usage looks like a majority are about the Microsoft tool that has changed names a few times. The rest are either about other tools of the same function or the general concept of usage control. I would suggest two tags, one for the Microsoft tool, the other for everything else. The wiki excerpts should include guidance to use only the applicable tag, not both. If another application has enough questions specific to it to warrant a separate tag, we could always break out additional ones.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 19:53
  • re:bonus idea--in practice, whoever sets it up can easily change it, so parental controls aren't typically an effective solution. For that matter, a lot of parents have to ask their kids to set up their own controls. :-)
    – fixer1234
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 19:57
  • @fixer1234: If you have a friend hold the password, or you use FutureMe or WhenSend or Pluckeye, or if you lock the passphrase on a piece of paper in your car trunk, you can use parental controls to protect yourself.
    – tealhill supports Monica
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 20:05

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