General safety concern !!!

[jfs9900]

Although I am new to posting to these boards I have found something that concerns me greatly. I noticed that there are a few ‘children’ posters on this board… Although I do think children should be excited about going on vacation, I think responses to their threads should be monitored. In today’s age we are surrounded by good and bad people. Unfortunately, it has become almost too easy to prey on unsuspecting victims.

I have reported the threads/users to the moderators, and at this point they have not been removed. My suggestion for all the parents on the board is to not allow your child to post on the site. Inquires about meeting under-age children on board the ship should be ignored/deleted.

In addition I think the owners of the DISBoard should also be responsible enough to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Keep our children safe!

Does anyone agree/disagree?

 

[MarkRG]

Completely disagree. If you have been onboard either ship you would know how out in left field what you have just written sounds.

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

ditto. These boards are monitored just fine, as demonstrated on a recent thread that went sour. Thank you for your concern, however, you'll find the parents on this board parent their children just fine.

 

[webray]

Disagree...if the kids can help other kids on these boards..know what is going on or meet before they get on their cruise..that is excellent!

 

[jfs9900]

I'm sorry, maybe what I said wasn't said correctly....

My concern is with the possibility of not knowing the true identity of the user on the site. I am sure the vast majority of people are who they say they are.

If a child predator was on the site posing as a little child and built a relationship with a child, then met them on the ship, it could only create a bad situation. Being on a ship with hundreds of children may be the dream of some sick person…. Then try to take advantage of the situation…..

 

[NalaNYC]

I'm not a parent myself yet, but I would imagine that parents would accompany their children to the first meeting with someone they "met" online...

 

[CheapMom]

NALA- I would certainly hope so but that is not always the case. Especially if the child is 12 or 13... they may have quite a bit of freedom. They may say on the 3rd day of the cruise- I have planned to meet a friend at 2:00 and parents might assume it is someone they met at the clubs.

 

[my3kids]

I do agree. I would never allow a child to "talk" online with someone I didn't know. Ditto for the cruise. There are good and bad people everywhere. I think I would be being naive to think a bad person could not be on a Disney Cruise. We recently had a man in our area sent to prision for molesting children. He was a regular family man in a professional career, married with kids. People were shocked.

 

[CRB#33]

I would imagine the risk would be far less for younger children because they are monitored more by their parents.

I have teenagers and I am not allowing them to "meet" up with or correspond with anyone. I don't know who they are for 100% certain. Plus the teenagers have more freedoms on the ship and I may not know who they set up with.

I do not allow my children on these boards and they have very strict Internet usage rules and supervision here at home.

I've heard one too many stories about teenagers disappearing. I substitute teach and hear horror stories about what my students are finding on the Internet.

And I'm not looking through rose colored glasses and thinking that there are never going to be any child predators on a Disney ship.

jfs9900, I applaud your concern and your care and I think the sharpness of some of these posts is uncalled for. You are only concerned about children and that's a nice thing. I don't think there should ever be anything wrong with being concerned about the safety of our children. Thank you

 

[CheapMom]

I am ultra-sensitive to this subject as a register sex offender (pedofile) has just moved into the house directly accross the street from me. I have been doing a lot of research and the fact is these people are EVERYWHERE. There are far more registered sex offenders than I ever would have guessed and probably even more who are unregistered.
visit www.meganslaw.org to find a link to your state's sex offender registry.
As far as online safety I am not very savvy on the subject as my kids are too young to surf alone but there are children on this board and I would hope that they will be taught to NEVER reveal any personal information online, through emails, pms, or otherwise.

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

As originally posted by jfs9900
I noticed that there are a few ‘children’ posters on this board
I think responses to their threads should be monitored
I have reported the threads/users to the moderators, and at this point they have not been removed. My suggestion for all the parents on the board is to not allow your child to post on the site

This post was not originally about ship security, but about postings to this board by "children". This board does a fine job of monitoring posts, by everyone. And being a parent, I, of course, have all the same concerns for my DD, but I don't think this board is experiencing the concerns the OP seems to think it is.

 

[CRB#33]

Originally posted by DMS_cruisers04
This post was not originally about ship security, but about postings to this board by "children". This board does a fine job of monitoring posts, by everyone. And being a parent, I, of course, have all the same concerns for my DD, but I don't think this board is experiencing the concerns the OP seems to think it is.

I'm not speaking for the OP, but the way I see it is, yes, these boards are monitored. BUT, do we really know who these people are? No. Absolutely not. And neither do the moderators or webmasters. Unless they've met these people, they have absolutely no idea who they are monitoring.

I'm not taking any chances and I agree with him/her 100%.

 

[CAMICKEY]

OK - Am I a child, teenager, or adult? How can you tell? If you can not tell, how can it be monitored? I think as parents, we need to monitor our childen ourselves. Oh I guess I gave away the answer. LOL - Mike

 

[jfs9900]

The boards can be monitored from now until the end of time. Moderators are not trained to pick out pedophiles/predators. The best rule of thumb is just assume that posters asking to meet children, they are. Better to be safe than sorry.

Why would a child in 1st grade be posting on this form? I know first graders are computer savvy - but are they able to write full a complete sentence?

The reason I originally posted this thread was because I contacted the moderator/administrator and it appears they only moved the thread that I question to another board. I thought I would raise some awareness with.

 

[CRB#33]

Originally posted by CAMICKEY
OK - Am I a child, teenager, or adult? How can you tell? If you can not tell, how can it be monitored? I think as parents, we need to monitor our childen ourselves. Oh I guess I gave away the answer. LOL - Mike

Exactly.

They are monitored for following posting guidelines for language, etc. NOT for finding out who the people are.

 

[CRB#33]

This is the post that is being referred to:

my little sister and her friend are going on the disney cruise sept. 11 and they want to make new friends!!
she loves lilo and stitch both 7 years old


if you want to talk to me, (her big sister) -13- talk to
tinkerbell710

or send a private message to our mom, fredascrapper thanks bye

I haven't done a search on fredascrapper, but if this child is in first grade, she has had help writing this post.

As a teacher, I can tell you that no first grader I have ever come across knows how to use parenthesis. ()

*okay*edited to add

The child who made this post is 13 years old. And she is making the post for her 7 year old sister.

 

[jfs9900]

Originally posted by CAMICKEY
OK - Am I a child, teenager, or adult? How can you tell? If you can not tell, how can it be monitored? I think as parents, we need to monitor our childen ourselves. Oh I guess I gave away the answer. LOL - Mike

I completely agree. However, when a user posts in their profile that they are under age 13, this would be a violation of (COPPA). Under that law, no website is allowed to obtain identifiable information from any minor under 13 without express, WRITTEN CONCENT from the parent.

So that means all users POSTING to the board be at least 13. Teenagers over 13 can register and post but I think as a community we should prohibit teenagers to see other teenagers on the forum. I am sure these young adults can defend themselves more so than a young child, but they could still be vulnerable.

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

So what was the original post and where was it moved to?
If there is some inappropriate behavior happening on this board then we should be aware of who is perpetrating it.

 

[CAMICKEY]

I think I'll just monitor my own child. I really do not trust anyone else doing this for my child unless he is at school or after school care. As far as Computers are concerned, I would highly recommend purchasing tracking software if you feel you must monitor your childs computer forays. You can not only track but limit what sites thay can go to. I'm not disagreeing with making our children safer in Society, but just feel it is is my responsibility and don't want to make the Dis-board responsible for this or legally liable for it as well. Just a different opinion - I think we are striving for the same thing. - Mike

 

[ruttie]

Thank you to the original poster..
As a parent I am thnakful to you for bringing this up.. while I never allow my 6 year old on boards.. I can always us eth ereminder. I apploud you for it!!! This is a great reminder that we can never be to careful and yes even on a disney board..