Being relatively new to this online forum (although I've been participating in online forums since 1985), I don't really have a strong opinion about whether junior membership is something that ought to or ought not exist. However, as long as it does, it ought to be clarified somewhere, like the FAQ.

As for providing credibility by giving an email address in the profile, I did in fact consider the potential con with respect to credibility. I decided that initially I would leave it out since I could always add it later if I wanted, but once I've added it, removing it will do no good if a spam address harvester struck in the interim.