Relationships on Myspace

Go outside...into the street...in your neighbourhood...and make friends...real friends, living, breathing friends with your neighbours.

As far as I can tell...'MySpace' is for the socially inept and disturbed.

....to be avoided at all costs....

How true that is... but if I go outside I won't be able to hit the refresh button to see if I have any new friend requests...

Without myspace I wouldn't get to talk to half of them, and I would have no outlet to get ahold of them if I wanted to.

email? telephone?

if I go outside I won't be able to hit the refresh button to see if I have any new friend requests...

what if it's just these guys?:

people are trying to add me to their buddy list, and they are people from my past that I try to avoid

Yeah, buddy. Walk away from MySpace. It's an ugly site, anyway. All pictures and ugly backgrounds and gifs that won't hold still and you just want to shoot them.

I'll admit it, I have a page there, and all of my friends are people I know as well, but I contact them all - and I mean ALL - outside of MySpace, too. it's just a dumb jokey thing for most of us. Don't think that MySpace is real, 'cuz it's mostly just gay.

I gotta agree with Jafo on this one as well...and really who would want these girls on myspace? They talk like they're gangbangers and they're attitudes are pathetic.  

Myspace sure is an ugly site...too many juveniles advertising things they shouldn't even know about, and much less considering....too many sicko, deviant perverts lurking there specifically to prey on them.... I read earlier this week that 3 girls under 15 were sexually assaulted by adult males who sought them out on Myspace...and that was in the space of just a couple of days. The actual figures for a year must be horrifyingly staggering, and it's doubtful the the slimy Australian bastard who owns it, Rupert Murdoch, cares one iota so long as his profits remain high at the expense of others. The damned site should be closed down.

cleavage, and butt crack,

in your neighbourhood...and make friends...real friends, living, breathing friends with your neighbours.

Sometimes, my overweight slob neighbors are out in their yard working on a plethora of junk vehicles that are littering their yard. There is a multitude of "Butt Crack", it's visible from "My Space". The sight of it causes ones eyes to water and teeth begin to itch.

However, as stated, kick the Myspace.com hangout. You will be a better person for it in the long run.

Tons of MySpace haters! Sure, there's lots of crap on MySpace (and I'm sick and tired of those True ads!), but like any online community, it does have its benefits. For me, it's allowing me to share a side of me people usually won't see in a social atmosphere. And I've met two of my best friends from MySpace who I probably wouldn't have met otherwise even though we go to the same church and everything.

People socialised and made friends long before the advent of the internet and sites like MySpace, so the reasoning/excuse that MySpace is a valuable social network is pathetic to say the least. It may have started out innocently enough, but with teens using it to flaunt themseves, and sickos to prey upon them, it has become a cesspool...a den of iniquity that should not exist. When MySpace's publicity is 99,9999% all bad, highlighting just how many nasty things are happening to teen users, it's a strong argument to have it closed down...as proof of age/intent can not be verified. It's all well and good to say it's the parents' responsibility to educate their children and monitor their online activities, but when kids think they're bullet proof and have defiant, naive "it won't happen to me" attitudes, there's little parents can do to stop them, as determined kids will find a way to get into trouble. Besides, law enforcement wouldn't tolerate perverts opening clubs in local neighbourhoods that entice/lure kids in, so why should it be any different with MySpace?.....the same intent/activities occur. Yes, government has a responsibility to kids/parents/families/society to shut the bastards down.

What is this? Dear Abby?

"People socialised and made friends long before the advent of the internet and sites like MySpace, so the reasoning/excuse that MySpace is a valuable social network is pathetic to say the least."

And before email was the telephone, the letter, talking, etc.. Does that mean email isn't valuable for communication?

"It may have started out innocently enough, but with teens using it to flaunt themseves, and sickos to prey upon them, it has become a cesspool...a den of iniquity that should not exist."

I'm pretty sure the Internet was a cesspool of sickos and slutty teens before MySpace.

"When MySpace's publicity is 99,9999% all bad, highlighting just how many nasty things are happening to teen users, it's a strong argument to have it closed down...as proof of age/intent can not be verified."

If you judge the entire world by only what the news reports, then you would be a very depressed person. Seriously, all I see on commercials for news programs are robberies, murders, etc.

"It's all well and good to say it's the parents' responsibility to educate their children and monitor their online activities, but when kids think they're bullet proof and have defiant, naive "it won't happen to me" attitudes, there's little parents can do to stop them, as determined kids will find a way to get into trouble."

Cut off the Internet.

"Besides, law enforcement wouldn't tolerate perverts opening clubs in local neighbourhoods that entice/lure kids in, so why should it be any different with MySpace?"

I don't think Tom's a paedophile. I could be wrong.

I don't think Tom's a paedophile. I could be wrong.

My sister in law is a Lawyer working for the Department of Public Prosecutions'.  Until recently she was in what they referred to as 'the Rape Squad'...aka sexual crimes ....pretty nasty stuff [as you'd expect].

She refers to those new suburban subdivisions...you know the ones...all the glossy TV advertising and fake lakes and bike tracks as 'Paedophile Central'.....[and she'd know where they came from...being the Prosecutor].

Needless to say they will gravitate to the 'source' of their 'interest'.....where the kids are.

MySpace is 'where the kids are'.... like chatrooms, etc.

Half the 'kids' will be impressionable youth....the other half of the 'kids' will be those who prey on them.

Good luck distinguishing the real from the evil...

Satan's Advocate....if you were the parent of a teen who had been preyed upon and harmed by a filthy slime bag (as I am), you'd see the stranger danger, predator peril in a whole different light. Yeah, my 15yo step-daughter had a MySpace account which we deleted for its inappropriate content, but that's not where the dirt-bag (who seduced into thinking promiscuity and teen pregnany were okay) met her...so cutting off the internet would not have prevented it. But then nothing would have cos the pig-ignorant little bitch knew it all, much better than we did, and was determined to ruin her life no matter what. However, the blame just doesn't lie with the sickos or her peers, but also with the Oz Government, which pays her a homeless allowance to whore around....and an attractive $3000 baby bonus to get herself pregnant. She's no longer with the 28yo she ran off with, there's been at least a dozen or more men in the 8 months since, so heaven knows who the father really is....and welfare authorities just stand by and watch it all unfold, useless bunch of pricks. Yeah, you can bet your sweet bippy I'm fu***ng angry. Parasite sickos keep crawling out of the woodwork left, right and centre with near immunity because govenment and law enforcement here refuses to do anything without a complaint from the child...which is very unlikely when the kid wants to behave badly, despite all your best efforts to better advise. Okay, so MySpace isn't entirely responsible in this, but given the horror stories emanating because of it, its sure as hell contributing to and exacerbating a huge social problem that won't go away until the people who really matter stand up and take responsibility for the societies they're supposed to govern and protect....God help the next politician who comes to my door electioneering

"MySpace is 'where the kids are'.... like chatrooms, etc."

It seems like the Internet is the actual problem.

"Satan's Advocate....if you were the parent of a teen who had been preyed upon and harmed by a filthy slime bag (as I am), you'd see the stranger danger, predator peril in a whole different light."

And if my son died in Iraq, I probably would see the whole war in a different light. Doesn't make Cindy Sheehan right though.

Both my daughters post alot on myspace, so I created a name and joined, BUT only to be able to read my daughters thoughts. I have 2 friends, both my daughters and I am on their friends list. The oldest has a few friends on her list, but the youngest has 200 something on her, what the hell is that about? I do not know 200 people let alone have 200 friends.

Quite Right with the Iraq analogy, quite right....

Both my daughters post alot on myspace, so I created a name and joined, BUT only to be able to read my daughters thoughts. I have 2 friends, both my daughters and I am on their friends list. The oldest has a few friends on her list, but the youngest has 200 something on her, what the hell is that about? I do not know 200 people let alone have 200 friends.

I'll be your friend, too, MM. You can see my fake photos (they're actually all pictures of my favorite author, Unamuno) and my false screen name (I still won't go by the real thing, you couldn't pay me enough)!
Just look for San Chonino

As with most sites and other things, its what you make it.

Granted MySpace has many (many many) faults, but its also a huge site and extremly "open" for just about anything. Given that some things should be expected to go wrong. Maybe more precautions could have been put into place to help stop alot of it long before now.

Personally, I have a myspace page that I only have 4 friends on. One of which was someone I just recently recontacted through there after 8 yrs of lost contact (it happens when you move alot). So it does have some good points as well.

As said... it is what it is and its also what you make it.

To quote the heading of a recent forum post on this site... "MySpace is a disease".  Simple as that.  There's not nearly enough good about it to justify all the horrible.  It should be gone already.

My wife teaches junior high, and we recently checked out the pages of some of her students, and were SHOCKED at the information they put up for anyone and everyone to read.  One of her ex students, now a 17 year old college freshman, had her college dorm and room number displayed on the site.  And a picture of herself.  She might as well just invite the pervs over for dinner.  And this was at Miami of Ohio, which has had 2 recent rapes occur on campus.  When my wife expressed to her her concern, her reply was, "I didn't even think about that...I just wanted my friends to know where I lived."

And this from a VERY smart 17 year old college freshman.  Just imagine how stupid most 14 year olds are...

And this from a VERY smart 17 year old college freshman.

Didn't know such a creature existed....

She doesn't sound very smart to me

that's my point... even the smartest of teenagers are naive and do stupid things...

Any place youngsters gather is going to attract a certain number of pedophiles, from the local park or public pool to skating rinks and theaters. MySpace is no different in that respect.

Not quite....in those places the rock spiders are discernible from the actual children....they're the ones with their hands down the front of their pants.

On Myspace the 'anonymity' of the net puts the advantage firmly with the spiders.

There are simply 'some places' you can choose NOT to frequent....and you WON'T have a diminished social life from the [lack of the] experience....

Shooting dens....

Brothels....

Myspace.com....

None is really necessary....

You can be my friend too modman My parents both have myspace accounts and while my brother and I are both adults they are both on our friend's lists. I do not have anyone that I do not know on my friend's list. But I also do not check it religiously like I do JU Myspace isn't as much the problem as the over-hormoned teenagers that abuse it. But I feel like we've had this discussion before
Charissa

My problem with things like MySpace, LiveJournal, or heck even JoeUser/WinCustomize is how people become dependent on them for their social interactions. It becomes as real to them as a real-life friendship/relationship would be, and they take great offense/joy from what ammounts mostly to text on a screen from people who are largely strangers. This happens especially easily with younger people who have a more broad definition of what constitutes a friendship or relationship, having grown up with the Internet.

However, this dependency/forming of semi-false ties is not the fault of the site or the technology that hosts it, it is a fault of the people who become dependent. It's a neutral platform that allows others to use/abuse it as they like.

Are parents right to blame a public park if they send their young children off alone to it and something bad happens there? If parents aren't willing to let their kid wander off alone to some unknown destination, why are they so willing to send their kids off without supervision onto the Internet? A lot of these problems with Myspace etc... could be prevented/helped if parents were as proactive about what their kids do online as they are about what they do offline (of course there are the parents who do neither).

I'm getting sick and tired of everyone blaming the Internet, video games etc... for bad things happening to kids. It's a neutral platform. What happened to parental responsibility?

Myspace isn't as much the problem as the over-hormoned teenagers that abuse it

Well, when MySpace ignores the abuse, then they become the problem.  A little moderation wouldn't hurt that site...