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Elizabeth
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| Posted: Jan 13 2006 at 11:04am | IP Logged
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I'm fiddling with the idea of a Typepad account in order to do a private blog, mostly for my parents, who live out of town (and so I can comment because I'm finding it very difficult to keep my mouth shut  ). About a year ago, Lissa and I talked about letting my boys blog. Seemed like a great idea. Then, several of the homeschooled kids we know got "my space" pages. I admit to being mostly in the dark here. Tell me what's bad about "My Space" please. My gut says it's not a good thing. Would a typepad account for them be better? Is anything safe anywhere?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Mary G
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Interesting you should ask this question Elizabeth. Myspace is the popular one down here for hte teens. I know there were some issues at dh's school because the girls (mostly middle schoolers) had posted pictures (some extremely provocative), personal information etc -- yes, I know, all the no-no's -- about themselves including the fact that they attend a private Catholic school. Doesn't look good for the school or the saftey of the girls. One principal here in the upstate has let it be known that he will expel anyone for linking their school's name with blogs.....it's pretty messy.
I wasn't too impressed when I looked at the site a month or so ago when my kids asked about it -- first thing that comes up is provocative info about some of the members.
I'd suggest Typepad or even Blogger (where you can keep it private by only allowing members to write, all posts are screened and you can ask that a blog not be included in a general search).
Hope this helps -- I know myspace is a popular place but it won't be in my house.
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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MaryM
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| Posted: Jan 13 2006 at 6:15pm | IP Logged
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I guess I'm really out of it as don't know anything about sites like this for young people - have never seen or really heard much about them. My older boys have expressed no interest in having blogs or being connected to other young people via the internet in this way. They do attend a local Catholic high school and I have no idea if this is a big thing with any of their peers (but I'm going to ask!!)
Mary G. wrote:
| I wasn't too impressed when I looked at the site a month or so ago when my kids asked about it -- first thing that comes up is provocative info about some of the members. |
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So, I just took a peek and YIKES there are not only "provocative" pictures but a couple I would call downright pornographic (like a backside view of a young woman in a th#ng) and that was just going through the first few pages.
Even if all the photos were okay the idea of someone putting themselves so "out there" with personal info just scares me and kind of creeps me out because I can just see the "perverts" cruising these sites as well, meeting young people . Oh my gosh!
Maybe I'm just paranoid - but I even get a little uneasy about posting on what I consider safe forums like these (we never know for sure whose reading, do we?)
Well this and the iPod/PDA discussion was my wake up call for the day.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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teachingmyown
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We are quite familiar with My Space around here. Yes, some of the kids have some pretty objectionable pictures and content. But the smarter kids can set it up so that only "invited" guests can even log onto their space. This makes it safer. I am still not thrilled with them posting pictures, but at least our son has consistently avoided giving out specifics. So many other kids are not that cautious.
By the way, I highly recommend a computer program such as Spector Pro which enables you to see EVERYTHING your child types or looks at on the computer. It is not a filter, but sometimes you get a better picture of what they are doing if you don't filter everything. We also have a program that allows us to block certain types of sites.
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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folklaur
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| Posted: Jan 13 2006 at 11:03pm | IP Logged
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A friend of ours is having some real issues with her daughter and the My Space site. Her middle schooler (and her only one not being homeschooled at this time) has a site there, and it is linked to her friends sites - etc -- with all kinds of talk about s*x, drugs, and even more. I really would hesitate using the site. When I asked my teen about it, she looked appalled and informed me she would not even go there. And as was mentioned, they put up WAY too much personal information too ( you can type in the name of a school and get all the kids pages from that school, etc.) I would go with Blogger.com, or HomeschoolBlogger.com , or something like that, IMHO.
HTH,
~Laura in AZ
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ShawnaB
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| Posted: Jan 13 2006 at 11:28pm | IP Logged
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My oldest is 5...and life does seem so simple when they are little!!!
However, I am familiar with MySpace and I have only seen negative. Lots of what everyone else is referring to, explicite photos, s*x and partying discussions. I know there are ways to limit who can visit your space, but to me, its like bringing the whole public school scene right to your computer.
I only am familiar with this because a collegue of my dh was forwarded a link to his daughter's MySpace page. Another concerned parents sent it, and poor guy, he was horrified by what he read. It did prompt intervention though.
We live in a small town, and my hubby is the highschool baseball coach. When the MySpace links hit our office, he was prompted to explore a bit and found blogs and photos of several of his players with less-than-appropriate content. The good news is that he was then able to confront his players, and its kind of hard to deny that you've been partying when you have posted photos of yourself in the act! Not so bright, some of these guys...Its a quick way to get yourself booted off the baseball team!
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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Donna
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| Posted: Jan 14 2006 at 6:11am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth,
We've had personal experience with My Space.....and it's been bad from the start. We've banned it from our home. Not only the negatives others have mentioned....but, we also heard a commentary on the radio regarding My Space. Seems there are people who pretend to be teens signing up with My Space accounts...but they are not teens. Very scary.
We, also, use a computer program that allows us to see everything our children are doing on the computer...it's called Cybersitter.
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Donna
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Mary G
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It's pretty worrisome when we're not even "members" of My Sapce and yet we can pull up so much information.....I understand that some are private, but the stuff that does come up 
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MaryG
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Jen L.
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I just spent 3 minutes on this site and found actual pornography by just browsing members(didn't even have to open a specific blog). No way, no matter how much I trust my kids or their sensibilities, will they be allowed on MySpace. Yuck!!!
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Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
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Molly Smith
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| Posted: Jan 16 2006 at 1:54am | IP Logged
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Sorry to butt in, but I just came across this article and thought it might be of interest in this thread.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06015/638279.stm
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Molly Smith in VA
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Mary G
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| Posted: Jan 16 2006 at 5:16am | IP Logged
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Molly -- htanks for "butting in" -- this is an important article!
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: Jan 20 2006 at 7:24pm | IP Logged
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Wow, I did not know that anyone over 15 (or those who lie) cannot have a private page! That is outrageous! I think it is time to put an end to it here.
Another take on myspace- I was reading in Money magazine about how teens and young adults could be messing up their future careers by what they post about themselves on myspace.com. Apparently, it is now common practice for potential employers to do google searches on prospects and find out all about them through sites like myspace. And from what I have now seen, there is plenty that these kids do not want to follow them into adult life. But once it is on the internet it doesn't go away.
Thanks for bringing this all up Elizabeth. We really hadn't looked deeply into it. What Charlie has done with it has been very limited and harmless, but that doesn't make it a safe or worthwhile place to be.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Mary G
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| Posted: Jan 21 2006 at 7:31am | IP Logged
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There was an article in our paper last Sunday about how wonderful MySpace is (a definite clue to relook!) and it was saying how Rupert Murdoch is funding it, trying to make it THE hip-new hangout for all teens and young adults with lots of freedoms that the other sites don't have.......
Pretty gross, huh?
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Jan 24 2006 at 11:54am | IP Logged
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My cryptologist husband says that there is something called PGP (Pretty Good Protection) that you can use to completely encrypt a website. Basically everyone you want to give access to has to have a copy of this software, which has a unique, encrypted key. They give the key to you in order to request access to your site. You and you alone can give access. It's not a password. It's encrypted...a computer would take months to break it.
Pros...very secure. You have control.
Cons...the cost (I don't know what it costs, sorry) and apparently you need to spend some time learning to use the PGP system. It's fairly popular, DH tells me...
For what it's worth, there is something more secure out there, anyway!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: My space
