Patrick O'Keefe

So, I’m sure you’ve seen news reports on MySpace and how it is dangerous or how it’s… fertile ground for predators. I see people looking at MySpace like it is some new concept. Like MySpace came around and, uh oh, we better watch the kids! Like it created danger or something. There was a post at KarateForums.com where someone asked if anyone had a MySpace and someone posted no – they didn’t want to get that personal. There are some previews at Fox.com for an upcoming episode of America’s Most Wanted that focuses on online predators. And one of the cops mentioned that he (whichever sicko it was) was on MySpace, so he’s hoping he’ll show up. (Funnily enough, I just remembered that Fox owns MySpace).

What is MySpace, really? It’s one really, really big online community. MySpace is just another internet community, at heart. Whether it be MySpace or one of my own communities, you are sharing yourself online. How much information should you disclose about yourself? That is up to you. You disclose what you want in line with what you desire to accomplish. Don’t come to one of my sites expecting to be immune from sickos. I’m not God. If I see any suspicious behavior, I’ll deal with it. Thankfully, I never have. But, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t or can’t happen.

I’ve been online for many years. Since I was… er… I’m guessing… 11 or so. I’ve went through the various stages. Hanging out in chat rooms for hours, shorthand, no caps, no periods, talking about things I might not talk about with someone face to face, whatever whatever. But, it never occurred to me to ever give out my home address to anyone because that’s not how my parents raised me. Even in business, I have a P.O. Box and that gets the widespread use. I always tell people “well, if someone wants to kill you, most likely they can get a chance.” (I’m so nice). But, there is no need for me to help anyone do it.

The internet is an enabler for these people. The greatest enabler ever. But, it’s about common sense and it’s about common sense parenting. It’s not about MySpace or KarateForums.com or phpBBHacks.com or SitePoint or anything else. You can’t expect people to protect you or your children. That’s not their job, nor should it be – it’s yours.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 27th, 2006 at 10:51 pm and is filed under Business and My Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.