Whats bad about gaiaonline.com?

[supermom2]

My kids have been going to this site for a little while so I was trying to do some research on it. So far the only thing I've found is that its considered a PG-13 site but I don't know why? Anybody familiar with this site? Good? Bad?

 

[Teris]

My younger daughter (age 14) is on there all the time, playing in the Barton Town forums. It's role playing, and I keep a close eye on things there. I have a membership as well, just to keep an eye on her actually. She loves writing stories, outlines for roleplaying games, and drawing, which is the main attraction for alot of the kids on there. Bear in mind, that anyone on there, could be of any age, but that is the same with any website aimed at kids. The kids do cut loose with swearing a bit here and there,, but the admins and mods do have rules of behaviour on there, and seem to deal with situations pretty quickly. I think for the target age group, it's a very well orgainized site. Alot of thought has gone into it, from how you gain gold to 'buy' outfits for your avatar, to the little surprise events, where you randomly get a pressie of gold, or whatever. Very clever site really.

The only forum that I think might be questionable, is the 'Extended Discussion' forum,, where the topics tend to be more of a college age, or adult nature. A bit like a debate forum, Politics, Science, psychology, Religion, and other topics of discussion that tend to be more adult (not in a naughty sense necessarily) My daughter tends to only stay in the roleplaying forums tho.

 

[funhouse8]

My younger daughter (age 14) is on there all the time, playing in the Barton Town forums. It's role playing, and I keep a close eye on things there. )
My daughter was on a site like this when she was 11. The computer is in the family room and we were all in the room. Well that being said be very careful. There was a man pretending to be a 13 year old boy. When i walked over and started to read her conversation, i was shocked. (She didn't even try to hide it) He told her he wanted to play house and he would be her daddy. i don't know how far it would have gotten if i didn't walk over but he was just asking her is she had been a good or bad girl with the boy she liked. I took the computer away from her and reported the man and told him never to talk to my daughter again and do you know what he said. Sorry i didn't mean to offend anybody. (does that sound like a 13 year old boy to you.) When i talked to her she still wouldn't believe that he was a old man. I told her she invited a stranger into our house. Well she lost the computer for a while and now is 15 years old and i hope a little wiser. There is a good book about this subject called Katie.com which is about a young girl who met a creep on the internet.

 

[Teris]

Good that you were on top of things That's one reason I keep a very close eye on things. It's just too easy for creeps to pretend they are kids, to gain trust. That said tho, my daughter and some of her friends at school, are on Gaia together, and it's great fun for them. I still keep my 'mom radar' on when I check the threads she participates in.