Tonight, there were a few urls flying around the members bar. Some of the stuff these urls take you too is some pretty serious porn, gore and other things. Now, i decided to pm a few people and ask their ages. Its true some could be lying but a fair few were around the ages 12-16. Now, the stuff on these websites doesnt bother me, as i guess theres not much i havnt seen before over the years.
Its true, these kids could surf to such websites of their own accord, but to acquire these urls on a family website is not on.
I understand im not in a position to demand anything. But, the way things are going at the moment this website is becoming a breeding ground for perverts, and i really dont think anyone wants that on their hands.

As a website designed for use by all ages, this simply cannot be allowed to continue.
In the last update, i recall http links were made clickable. If you ask me any words beginning in www or ending in .com .co.uk etc etc should be filtered out.

This is a very serious matter in my opinion

I'm glad you summarised with a suggestion scaley, and not a bad one at that.
Ill spare you the speel because I presume you already know it, we work hard, on a voluntary basis to moderate this site. We can't be on 100% of the time.

Is it really our responsibility to censor what youths see on this site? I think parents ought to be a little more active in their childs surfing, to ensure they don't click on these links. If I let my kid go on any chat room, I am accepting that he or she is mature enough to handle the inevitable offensive material which they will be exposed to.

That does not mean for one second that I condone posting inappropriate links; only today someone had to be 'ejected' for such an offence.I will continue to try and keep this site family-friendly but you have to accept there will always be some inappropriate content, and parents ought to accept that too.

Well said magic.

Also I think it would be fair to say that kids have a much greater chance of navigating to a porn site ect using any simple search engine then they do from Funkypool.

It is a very small portion of users who post inappropriate links (mostly we boot due to language ect) and they are all eventually caught and dealt with.

Edited at 03:45 Fri 10/11/06 (GMT)

Iv found this as well scaley, but like the mods said all you can do is report it. One of the things that concerns me is the amount of 'adults' in members bar talking dirty! I think this has become a real problem, and it's not even joking in the members bar, i always have a laugh with certain ppl, but what some ppl do and say is quiet disgusting! Also just like to thank the mods for trying their best to control these situations!

''It is a very small portion of users who post inappropriate links ''

Im afraid you have no idea what goes on in the chatroom. Being a moderator. When moderators are present in the chatroom there is some trouble. It completely different when there are none, as i have said before.
The mods cannot comment on situations they never see.

Also

''Is it really our responsibility to censor what youths see on this site?''

Why else are you here?

We do try and censor what the youths see, that doesn't make it the sites resposibility, legally or otherwise. We do log on without the star to see whats going on in the chat rooms.
Scaley if you have something small to add to a post you should really edit

The bottom line is mods are voluntary so they cant be here every single second of every single day, they do have other commitments too, Its time to NOT shift the onus on just the moderating and admin team, like was said before there is a responsibility to parents too, if they didnt put computers in there kids bedroom (for example) then im sure they wouldnt be as stupid in there surfing.
Dont fall into the trap of clicking on some link you are not sure of, take responsibilty too!!
The world wide web is a global community and there are always the sad losers who feel it is 'big and clever' to abuse it in any shape or form because they feel some sort of power AND its those people the intelligent and sensible people need to ignore.

Im afraid you have no idea what goes on in the chatroom. Being a moderator. When moderators are present in the chatroom there is some trouble. It completely different when there are none, as i have said before.
The mods cannot comment on situations they never see.

What do you want us to do be invisible and boot with our magic wands? Its not our fault people are aware that moderators can remove you from the site. When we see situations like this one we deal with them every time.

Thanks Tidnab well said. The reason I congratulated you on finishing with a suggestion in your original post scaley, was because more often than not these threads descend into arguments which simply can't be solved. They inevitably have to capped.
I think this is a valid point and discussion may be very helpful, especially if more suggestions could be found. Just lets not let this become a moderator V's user debait as it achieves nothing. Both sides have now put forward their points of view, what can we DO about this situation?
Please suggestions welcome by absolutely anyone.

Your right. The reason I posted this, was not to point the finger it was to highlight a big problem.


edit - i didnt read the last thread.

Edited at 14:34 Fri 10/11/06 (GMT)

The only thing you can do is go in rooms under a different name which i think a mod has already said they do, but bar that all you can do is rely on the resposible users to help you with your constant battle, i know i've let admin know about certain ppls actions (by sending a chat log). I couldn't really say anything else, i think you guys try your best to stop the mis-users! Keep up the good work MARTIN!! But really keep it up!

martin? humph!

I would like to ask. If someone provides a space on the internet designed for use by all ages, do you not think it would be the decent thing to do, to be responsible for what goes on there?

The site is being as responsible as it can be! Like the mods have just said, if you have a suggestion to make it better then share with us!

no, to try and keep it a family place, which the owner of this site always has and will continue to do. You can't take responsibility for every person on the internet and what they do in your chat rooms, not with 60,000 odd users.
I think our disagreement primarily lies on vocabulary scaley.
Look at competitors site, they make no effort to monitor what goes on in their chat rooms. You really can't question what we are trying to do.
Any suggestions on HOW to do it our appreciated!

We all need to be vigilant as 'sensible' users
and ignore the abusers.
I personally think its well monitored, but inevitebly some idiots do get through and abuse the system, Unfortunately they are about and no matter of banning, there will always be someone else to 'take there place'.

It can only be dealt with as best as possible.

OK ok. Shouldnt have asked that last question.

Back to the point, as i said before, filtering all the .com and co.uk's etc would help i believe.

Also, updating the filter to catch all the words with a . in the mi.ddle, and words s p a c e d out.

How about, when mods arent present, a quick message on entry stating that swearing will gain an auto boot. And then add an auto boot feature.

If your going to have an auto-boot feature then whats the point in having the moderators?