Myspace drama, Planeshift style!

[Kymizer]

thankyou Kixie

[Kiern]

The only people that get raped via myspace, are the same people who get raped from causes outside of the internet.

Really, if that's not one of the most stupid things that I've heard someone say, I don't know what is.  Rape is an extreme form of harassment, but any harassment is too much I think...and if you're saying myspace in no way helps people harass others, there's not much else to say other then you are completely wrong.

And who exactly are these "people"?  Describe them for me.  I'm interested.

[zanzibar]

The only people that get raped via myspace, are the same people who get raped from causes outside of the internet.

Really, if that's not one of the most stupid things that I've heard someone say, I don't know what is.  Rape is an extreme form of harassment, but any harassment is too much I think...and if you're saying myspace in no way helps people harass others, there's not much else to say other then you are completely wrong.

And who exactly are these "people"?  Describe them for me.  I'm interested.

I think Kixie meant young women who will meet up with strangers they talk to on the internet.

I don't think rape is a form of harassment... it's in another category, and is much more serious.

[Kiern]

I think Kixie meant young women who will meet up with strangers they talk to on the internet.

I don't think rape is a form of harassment... it's in another category, and is much more serious.

That's the point, it requires no "meeting up" at all.   Unless you stay locked up in your apartment it's all too easy to find someone WITHOUT the internet.  Hell, I have facebook to stay in touch with my friends from high school and I've been hunted down by girls (small college...eh), so I'm guessing for girls it's much worse..and from what I've seen from my girlfriend's myspace I'm right.

And I don't view it as "harassment" in and of itself, but it is a part of it and definately in the same category.  Just different levels.  But harassment in general is the problem, I don't see why rape specifically was brought up?  I certainly didn't have that on my mind...I mean, they're not as serious but even the more harmless things are a problem as I see it and shouldn't just be ignored.

[Kixie]

Rape was brought up, because that is what the media has decided to focus on. Truly, it's the only bane of myspace not disproven with common logic.

The only people that are raped on Myspace, are the ones who post personal information that you should not post anywhere on the internet. These girls should not be visiting anyone they meet online; that's common sense.

That being said, I believe the real motive to your rebuttal was that men and women alike can be tracked through myspace easily, and this may lead to unfortuanately disasterous consequences. These consequences come with every peice of technology available, that can track a person, or give information about their whereabouts. It's nothing new. When caller ID came out, many where up in arms over the controversy that their homes could be tracked now with the push of a button. When party lines were advertised, many parents were in hysterics for the simple fact that the lines were easily monitored by potential wrong doers, thus putting their children in danger of being confronted by a stalker or pedophile. When AOL instant messenger, the only tabloids about the prehistoric little relay chat were about how many children posted personal information on it.

Anything a child can use to present him/herself to a mass audience will draw bad people. However, the only way to prevent this is to monitor these children, and make sure theat personal information is not easily found.

Myspace is hardly the cause for rape. Nor is it a large tool for stalking. Someone can get your ISP, track your whereabouts from an internet service provider and show up at your house at any second. Someone could even read the street address/email address/messenger screen name  you so casually put on facebook/livejournal etc.

It's a terrible thing, but hating myspace because un-monitored children are taken advantage of, or even hating myspace or any other service because you are tracked through information you provide, does nothing.

[Kiern]

Good response, Kixie...and I agree on most points.  However, I think that it is a perfectly valid reason for hating myspace.  Maybe not if it were your sole reason, but it certainly adds to it.  In any case, I just really don't like the type of people on these things...the whole concept I just disagree with.  I mean, sure, you have the people like Kymizer who use it for what I think are the right reasons (keeping up with friends and stuff like that). 

Then you have all of the other people (majority) who uses it for what I think are the wrong reasons (not just harassment but popularity contests, whining, etc.).  It just seems to cause problems that would otherwise not be there.  If you want something private, use AIM or Email...myspace is a public/social thing.  That's why I hate myspace, and is the source of my original response.

[Kixie]

Kiern, perhaps you should be hating the people who are using the program for these popularity contests, whining and harassment. You can do it anywhere on the internet, and other places are just easily corrupted and abused as myspace is. You can't stop these people from doing these things, period.

I don't exactly what you get by whining, however. If you mean keep up with a blog, to express your thoughts and recieve constructive critisim on your life events, then I disagree fullheartily.

Myspace is a great way for me to talk to other people conviently, and share my ideas with other people. I can read their blogs, and know exactly what troubles them in less time than it would normally take. Sure, this isn't exactly healthy compared to sitting down with a person and asking them what ails them, but at 17 years old I don't always have that opportunity. Sometimes, there are people I can't dedicate my time to. I have school, work and other friends to keep up with, and juggling these important people around can be a hassle to say the least.

I can use myspace to talk to people that I would normally never ever meet in my life, and I believe I have become enlightened in a way because of it. While some people do indeed only add me because they see my profile picture, or hear from a friend about who I am, it doesn't outweigh the important things that myspace provides.

There's abuse of everything man creates.

Hate man, not the machine.

[Kiern]

I don't exactly what you get by whining, however. If you mean keep up with a blog, to express your thoughts and recieve constructive critisim on your life events, then I disagree fullheartily.

Myspace is a great way for me to talk to other people conviently, and share my ideas with other people. I can read their blogs, and know exactly what troubles them in less time than it would normally take. Sure, this isn't exactly healthy compared to sitting down with a person and asking them what ails them, but at 17 years old I don't always have that opportunity. Sometimes, there are people I can't dedicate my time to. I have school, work and other friends to keep up with, and juggling these important people around can be a hassle to say the least.

I can use myspace to talk to people that I would normally never ever meet in my life, and I believe I have become enlightened in a way because of it. While some people do indeed only add me because they see my profile picture, or hear from a friend about who I am, it doesn't outweigh the important things that myspace provides.

Do the people not define what something is?  Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that myspace should be shut down or anything like that, I'm just trying to point out why I will never use it.    Which I think I've done.

To just continue on the topic, even if I'm the only one actually interested...as far as blogs go, I just don't think they are in any way good for people.  Most of it is just from people seeking attention, and a lot of what is said is better kept in private journals or such if they must be written down.  You've already listed what my other worry is, it makes it way too easy just to get on and read what someone's feeling on the internet and makes relationships much less personal then they should be. 

I find it hard to believe you can't make time for your friends, at least the ones who are important to you.  Time should be made, school or work is in no way more important then that.  Or maybe you just have too many friends...and yes, that's not necessarily a good thing.  Making things more simple is not always a good thing, it makes you rely on something that you might not always have.  The issue of relying on something such as myspace to do your work for you I think is a lot bigger issue then people think and should be given more attention then so many other things get.  Whether it be myspace, reliance on medicine to cure whatever ails you (random, sorry..just something else I've been talking about recently), or anything of that nature.

[Gesene]

(I don't use mySpace, but I do use Livejournal. My understanding is that they aren't that dissimilar, but take that into account when reading my comment below)

That's interesting, because I use a connected blog website a lot, and genuinely feel I've gained a lot from it. True, there are a lot of journals out there that I personally wouldn't take the time to read, but there are some beautifully written and very witty journals out there too. I've added people to my must read list purely for their writing. I've also interacted with people who I'd never have met offline, because they don't live close to me, or they move in very different circles, and found I've learnt a lot from their alternate viewpoints. My online social group is a much more diverse group of people than I see day to day, and I like it that way. I've also found keeping a blog to be an excellent way of keeping in touch with people. I moved from the UK to Japan last year, and it's definitely helped me stay in touch with my friends in the UK in a more meaningful way than if I was relying on emails and phone calls.

I agree that you should exercise a certain modicum of common sense when protecting your personal details, but that's true of anywhere on the internet.

Gesene

[zanzibar]

(I don't use mySpace, but I do use Livejournal. My understanding is that they aren't that dissimilar, but take that into account when reading my comment below)

That's interesting, because I use a connected blog website a lot, and genuinely feel I've gained a lot from it. True, there are a lot of journals out there that I personally wouldn't take the time to read, but there are some beautifully written and very witty journals out there too. I've added people to my must read list purely for their writing. I've also interacted with people who I'd never have met offline, because they don't live close to me, or they move in very different circles, and found I've learnt a lot from their alternate viewpoints. My online social group is a much more diverse group of people than I see day to day, and I like it that way. I've also found keeping a blog to be an excellent way of keeping in touch with people. I moved from the UK to Japan last year, and it's definitely helped me stay in touch with my friends in the UK in a more meaningful way than if I was relying on emails and phone calls.

I agree that you should exercise a certain modicum of common sense when protecting your personal details, but that's true of anywhere on the internet.

Gesene

I find that people use myspace with a focus on pictures and quizes and lifechanging events, while they use livejournal more for ranting, venting, lifechanging events, and everyday events.