The web can be a scary place....

I've been thinking about this, and I guess that 2:25 on a Saturday morning is just as good a time as any....

I have really concerns in my mind regarding MySpace.... Let me be straight up, I don't have an account, don't want one, won't get one.... It's the "Hive" mentality that gets me. Basically, unless you have a "MySpace" you're not real...

BULLS%$&

If you are not familiar with this little community, surf the site, and the members pages, you can check out most of the people there.

If you ARE familiar with this little corner of the net universe, I'd be interested in your thoughts....

Ok, it's a real possibility I'm drunk at 2:25 on a Saturday morning... It doesn't make me like the aforementioned home of web-pages any better....

It just means I'm drunk...

(And TX let me use his boards to say so. )


Ize

(AND it took me 10 minutes to type it out )

I'll probably piss some people off by saying this, but IMO, if you are old enough to drink legally, then you're probably too old to be using MySpace. If you are single, then maybe an exception.
So, I'm guessing that most members of this forum aren't members of myspace.
If you are, then I apologize for my candor. Just answering the post.

i just found out about myspace about a month ago. and... no... i don't have an account and I've never visited the place. my ultra immature sister in law just told me about it.

I just want to say that I love logging on Saturday and Sunday mornings to see what kind of REALLY drunken ramblings have been posted...

Myspace is great... for pedophiles.

Ive got a myspace account but i never use it. I got it because i work with a lot of really young people and they made me get it.

desiderata said:

I'll probably piss some people off by saying this, but IMO, if you are old enough to drink legally, then you're probably too old to be using MySpace. If you are single, then maybe an exception.
So, I'm guessing that most members of this forum aren't members of myspace.
If you are, then I apologize for my candor. Just answering the post.

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Hey don't apologize- you're just speaking your mind. I do it all the time here- probably too often. Sometimes i'm surprised at the fact that i'm not kicked off here yet. BTW I've never heard of MySpace before, but from what I've read here it sounds like a hook-up site for teenie-boppers and old perverts.

My wife has a site, I think; I never visit on the offchance she's talking sh*t about me. Doesn't do anything for me.

I have a myspace account- only to check up on my teenagers' myspace! My youngest at 14 has to have his set at "private" and I have to be his "friend" to see it. My 16 year old has a little blog on hers. About twice a week I look at their pages just to make sure it's all ok. I have a fear that they'll give their phone number or something, so I look at it. (My kids' pages are actually pretty boring, but I didn't tell them that.) I fear that it is a place for pedophiles or other sickos to take advantage of kids' openness.

Otherwise, if you're over 22 (arbitary number, I know, but generally out of college then) it's pretty lame and immature.

Just my .02.

Lorena

I just setup my myspace account about 4 weeks ago. I think Ive checked it 5 times since then. SWMBO had her 10 year high school reunion a month ago. She had her friends over, and it took them all of 5 minutes to figure out we weren't on myspace. Well after a minor freakout, and some insanely fast typing, we both had an account shortly after.

The funny thing is, is that its basically a MSN or Yahoo messenger, but with pictures and a bit more detail about your friends. I have found two old friends though from when I used to live in Virginia. That was kind of cool, but for the most part, its a complete waste of time if you dont care about being an attention whore. Take my sister for example, shes in High School, and well I think her world revolves around myspace. Updated every other day with a "rate my new picture" message sent to everyone.

David Spade did a bit on Myspace a while ago on his new(er) show. He had the most popular girl on (she has like 1 million friends) And then he showed some people that go by the name 'David Spade' and then showed his own account profile. It was pretty funny.

lorenae said:

I have a myspace account- only to check up on my teenagers' myspace!

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Very smart move! I hate to think about what the hot thing is going to be when my girls are old enough to get themselves in trouble, but I know one thing for sure - I'm going to have to find a way to keep an eye on it.

I have an Intranet heavy job, so I'm pretty up on technology; however, I've always considered MySpace a waste of time for teens and every guy with a band that thinks they're going to be the next big thing.h

Honestly, I can't think of a single person I'd want to connect with from my past that I haven't kept in touch with anyway - it's a small list.

Like a lot of people, I have a myspace account I hardly ever check. There are sickos and teenagers on it, but I never really ran into either. I guess I never went searching for pages using the keywords "bald and gross" or "ohmygoshhe'ssooooohotandheaskedmeout!!!"

I basically use it to keep in touch with friends from high school. My old water polo team is scattered to the four winds, half of them in the military and constantly deployed/returning home. It's an easy way for us to show each other pictures of the new baby, the new house, the new wife, etc. Also, they can attach their little blogs if they're in the desert and feeling like writing home to everyone at once.

However...I totally understand how annoying MySpace is. For one thing, it's so incredibly "Pop Culture". It's one of the ultimate "everybody's doing it" things right now. And, frankly, *I don't want to do what everyone is doing.*
Secondly, if you randomly search around on the site, you'll find all sorts of annoying people, the very people you normally try to avoid. So...I can easily see why people don't want to use it.

just my 2 cents.

monk

ANYTHING kids do on the computer needs to be monitored! I have 4 boys at home and I'm always checking out what they're doing on the computer. I did have one kid complain that there's no privacy, and I said "you want privacy, you got privacy from EVERYONE for 2 hours". Then I shut the computer off while he was on it. Sent him to his room. Does this make me a hard A@#? HELL YES! It's my responsibility to be a parent, and I'll do that job as much as I have to.
My soapbox.....

according to the smartest man in the world, Colin Cowherd, MySpace is for kids and if your girlfriend has a MySpace account....... run!
Michael Vick's girlfriend threw a picture of him on her MySpace account, no big deal except he was holding a joint!

I have no interest in having a M.S. page. Mostly because I'm just too damn lazy to even create an account. There are quite a few people I work with who have a page though. Most of them have them set up as family pages, with family photos and such.

A few of the people I work with have the typical hookup pages though. Check out Baby Playa. WTF? She doesn't really talk like that and it is truly painful to read. My wife created an account once just so we could look at the pics on some friend's/co-workers sites.

Well I dont know too much about it outside of that girl that got sent back home after meeting somoene from the middle east and started her trip there. Not sure why it's a big deal. You have to be smart when meeting someone you met online. I'm not sure if I mentioned this here, but I am an online romance success. My wife and I met online at a dating site (www.socialnet.com) and this October will be year 5 for our marriage. We are certainly one of a very very few who have a success online to share with people. What can I say.... it's another way to meet people.

Well, I'm another of the "very few." My wife and I met through Yahoo! personals seven years ago. We've been hitched for three years now. Worked out well for us!

the_bird said:

Well, I'm another of the "very few." My wife and I met through Yahoo! personals seven years ago. We've been hitched for three years now. Worked out well for us!

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Wow! Cool. I tried them for a while. What's nice about the one we met in is that there is a search for how far you want to be from them. I put in 20 miles and I found her

Beer Snob said:

I am an online romance success. My wife and I met online at a dating site (www.socialnet.com) and this October will be year 5 for our marriage.

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Is that a picture of your wife in your avatar? If so, I think I ran across her on a totally different website.

-walker

Colleges and companies have started searching MySpace and those sites to see if their candidates have a page to see what they are really like.

What I find funny is that major companies are now starting to have their own MySpace pages. I'll see the address for them on commercials. For some reason I'm wanting to say Burger King has one.

Very cool about the successful online hookups. My bro-in-law has had some pretty successful relationships from online dating.

fezzman said:

My bro-in-law has had some pretty successful relationships from online dating.

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I'm hoping that either:

A. the most successful was your sister, or
B. he's not STILL having success (unless they're open and all - that's cool).

Slightly more sober since last night's posting...

That doesn't mean it'll make more sense....

In the end, it's probably a flash in the pan. And knowing the web, the next new thing is right around the corner. It just bugs me because it seems to me like everyone is joining myspace... That "Hive" mentality... it just seems like something that's supposed to be fairly harmless can turn into something that most people wish they hadn't heard of...I heard an interview with one of their founders saying it was desinged for the "under 21" crowd... Then why the hell are there 50+ year olds preying on the young there?

To me, Lorena and Radar have the right idea for dealing with their own "under 21 crowd" in their own homes. Unless the kid buys it themself, it's not "Their" computer....

The net can be a freaky place, populated by those more freaky than what they are posting.....

And of course to keep The Bird on his toes....

Ize

I thought the "really" cool people were on Tribe.

Myspace is for twinkies.

Do you know some major companies are waging huge marketing campaigns now on youtube!

No nothing at all about Tribe. Like I said, MS hit the newspapers which is the only reason I know about them.

the_bird said:

I'm hoping that either:

A. the most successful was your sister, or
B. he's not STILL having success (unless they're open and all - that's cool).

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Actually, it's my wife's brother. I guess I used 'successful' in a loose manner when referring to him. If he managed to stick it out for a few months then I considered it successful. Then he would find a reason to dump her so he could move on.

I think he was actually addicted to hooking up online and so he wouldn't let himself get too attached. We really liked most of those girls too. Well, except for the one who ate dog biscuits.

Option "C" was that it was your wife's brother, not your sister's husband - but there's no humor in that!

Were the dog biscuits literal or methaphorical?

fezzman said:

I think he was actually addicted to hooking up online and so he wouldn't let himself get too attached. We really liked most of those girls too. Well, except for the one who ate dog biscuits.

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That is the problem. Attachment. Most of the women I talked to online and set up to meet stood me up.

lorenae said:

I have a myspace account- only to check up on my teenagers' myspace! My youngest at 14 has to have his set at "private" and I have to be his "friend" to see it. My 16 year old has a little blog on hers. About twice a week I look at their pages just to make sure it's all ok. I have a fear that they'll give their phone number or something, so I look at it. (My kids' pages are actually pretty boring, but I didn't tell them that.) I fear that it is a place for pedophiles or other sickos to take advantage of kids' openness.

Otherwise, if you're over 22 (arbitary number, I know, but generally out of college then) it's pretty lame and immature.

Just my .02.

Lorena

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Lorena you are a smart woman. Its not just a dangerous place for women, but for men as well. Very dangerous. The first woman I talked to seriously online was very nice. We exchanged pictures and must have talked for a good 3 or 4 weeks. We set up to meet... I always let the woman decide where to meet and she picked a coffee house at a busy time 9pm (was a colleege city so 9 was a very busy and safe time to meet). Well she stood me up... was not surprised really. Next day did not get an email from her.... following day... nothing... next day I decided to email her and just make sure she was ok... that I did not say anything to make her not want to see me. Nothing....2 days later I got an email from a Mrs..... whatever her name was. It was a very nice email. She first appoligized to me for the situation, but apparently I have been talking to her 14 year old. The picture she sent me was her older sister. Apparently she saw this situation on an episode of the Simpsons and thought it would be 'fun'. She again apoligized and told me that she had read through the emails (her daughter saved them thank God) and understood that I did not initiate anything.

Understandbly this could have been VERY BAD for me had several things been different. Dont know how in the world I started up again online after that one. Kep thinking the police was going to arrest me for a while. Online is very dangerous for everyone involved if your not putting your witts about you.

fezzman said:

Well, except for the one who ate dog biscuits.

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Wah! That's grody. Once new a guy who worked for ALPO dog food and ate his own product. "It's real meat!" Yeah right, dude. Ground cow lips, I reckon!

Beer Snob said:

Lorena you are a smart woman. Its not just a dangerous place for women, but for men as well. Very dangerous. The first woman I talked to seriously online was very nice. We exchanged pictures and must have talked for a good 3 or 4 weeks. We set up to meet... I always let the woman decide where to meet and she picked a coffee house at a busy time 9pm (was a colleege city so 9 was a very busy and safe time to meet). Well she stood me up... was not surprised really. Next day did not get an email from her.... following day... nothing... next day I decided to email her and just make sure she was ok... that I did not say anything to make her not want to see me. Nothing....2 days later I got an email from a Mrs..... whatever her name was. It was a very nice email. She first appoligized to me for the situation, but apparently I have been talking to her 14 year old. The picture she sent me was her older sister. Apparently she saw this situation on an episode of the Simpsons and thought it would be 'fun'. She again apoligized and told me that she had read through the emails (her daughter saved them thank God) and understood that I did not initiate anything.

Understandbly this could have been VERY BAD for me had several things been different. Dont know how in the world I started up again online after that one. Kep thinking the police was going to arrest me for a while. Online is very dangerous for everyone involved if your not putting your witts about you.

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Holy snappers, that is scary. The world is a crazy place. Thank goodness you got out of that one cleanly. Being a man is pretty dangerous, nowadays. The cuckoos jacked it up for us.

I have a MySpace account and use it regularly. It's a great place to keep in touch with my British family, since one can post and comment on other people's photos. I really don't see how it really differs all that much from this place: you can send and receive messages from others or network with people that have common interests. The biggest difference is that you *can* (but don't necessarily have to) post a lot of private information about yourself, but I could do that here, too, if I wanted. A lot of people treat it like it's the central hub of their social lives, which is where I see the problem. But older adults tend to look down their collective nose at it as if it's some silly fad for 13-year-olds, when it has some legitimate uses.

Beer Snob said:

Lorena you are a smart woman. Its not just a dangerous place for women, but for men as well. Very dangerous. The first woman I talked to seriously online was very nice. We exchanged pictures and must have talked for a good 3 or 4 weeks. We set up to meet... I always let the woman decide where to meet and she picked a coffee house at a busy time 9pm (was a colleege city so 9 was a very busy and safe time to meet). Well she stood me up... was not surprised really. Next day did not get an email from her.... following day... nothing... next day I decided to email her and just make sure she was ok... that I did not say anything to make her not want to see me. Nothing....2 days later I got an email from a Mrs..... whatever her name was. It was a very nice email. She first appoligized to me for the situation, but apparently I have been talking to her 14 year old. The picture she sent me was her older sister. Apparently she saw this situation on an episode of the Simpsons and thought it would be 'fun'. She again apoligized and told me that she had read through the emails (her daughter saved them thank God) and understood that I did not initiate anything.

Understandbly this could have been VERY BAD for me had several things been different. Dont know how in the world I started up again online after that one. Kep thinking the police was going to arrest me for a while. Online is very dangerous for everyone involved if your not putting your witts about you.

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That's what you get when you do a search for:

"Loves: Boys
Hates: My parents, algebra class"

Seriously, good thing you escaped from that safely, without appearing on Dateline NBC. There were a couple of young 'un who had put up profiles I responded to, but they both said pretty quickly that they were only 17 or whatever and that they had to lie to be able to post.

[Delete] [Delete] [Delete]

the_bird said:

Option "C" was that it was your wife's brother, not your sister's husband - but there's no humor in that!

Were the dog biscuits literal or methaphorical?

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Oh, most definitely literal. Quite an odd one, she was. She was trying to 'bond' with our dog by sharing biscuits with her. And this was before us humans had dinner. That was the last time I saw her............

Beer Snob said:

Lorena you are a smart woman. Its not just a dangerous place for women, but for men as well. Very dangerous. The first woman I talked to seriously online was very nice. We exchanged pictures and must have talked for a good 3 or 4 weeks. We set up to meet... I always let the woman decide where to meet and she picked a coffee house at a busy time 9pm (was a colleege city so 9 was a very busy and safe time to meet). Well she stood me up... was not surprised really. Next day did not get an email from her.... following day... nothing... next day I decided to email her and just make sure she was ok... that I did not say anything to make her not want to see me. Nothing....2 days later I got an email from a Mrs..... whatever her name was. It was a very nice email. She first appoligized to me for the situation, but apparently I have been talking to her 14 year old. The picture she sent me was her older sister. Apparently she saw this situation on an episode of the Simpsons and thought it would be 'fun'. She again apoligized and told me that she had read through the emails (her daughter saved them thank God) and understood that I did not initiate anything.

Understandbly this could have been VERY BAD for me had several things been different. Dont know how in the world I started up again online after that one. Kep thinking the police was going to arrest me for a while. Online is very dangerous for everyone involved if your not putting your witts about you.

Click to expand...

Wow, that could have been very ugly. What she thought would be 'fun' could have turned into a huge mess, had the mom not been understanding. Whew!

OK, I'm going the other way on this one. I have a MySpace account and I check it regularly.

Last year, I started to get more curious about my friends from high school. I'd grown apart from a lot of them and I've been trying to find some of them for years. One night I was bored and googling and found one on MySpace. I signed up for an account and we swapped a few e-mails, then I forgot about it.

A few months later, I got an e-mail from someone from MySpace. I thought it was SPAM, but I checked it anyways and found it was a long-lost girlfriend. Over e-mails, we caught up with each other and she finally got to tell me some things about how I hurt her.

Then I found a guy who I grew up with but hadn't talked to in forever. He's in a band in San Fran.

Then a guy who was my best friend found me. He's married in Texas and HUGE in the SubGenius organization.

Then I found the girl I lost my virginity to. She's an artist in L.A.

On and on. I've re-connected with about a dozen friends who I lost along the way. After high school, I went to college and most of my friends went into the millitary. Now we're all connecting and catching up with each other. I still like the reactions my friends have when they find out I'm married and have a son. I was the hard-core punk pot-head drug-lover of the bunch.

One of the people I found is a guy I was great friends with until he decided he wanted to be an MP, which meant that he had to cut ties with me. A few months ago, I found his lil sister on MySpace and swapped a few e-mails with her. Next thing I know, their mom (who was like a mom to me, until I slept with her sister) was e-mailing me and begging for baby pictures.

It's a great way to meet up with old friends, but I have to say that my age group seems to be the upper-bounds for it.

Beer Snob said:

Understandbly this could have been VERY BAD for me had several things been different. Dont know how in the world I started up again online after that one. Kep thinking the police was going to arrest me for a while. Online is very dangerous for everyone involved if your not putting your witts about you.

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Funny. When I was 20, I was playing some pinball at a movie theater while waiting for our movie to start. Out of no where, a girl taps my shoulder, hands me her phone number and says "You're cute, call me - I gotta go" and then takes off.

I saw her for a moment and she was attractive, so I'm thinking "S-C-O-R-E".

I called her the next day. We were talking for a few minutes when she asked how old I was. I told her I was 20. She told me she was 15. I thanked her for the compliment, but told her that was too young.

Besides, the 16 year old I was dating at the time would have gotten jealous.

I heard a joke once about MySpace:

"The bad thing about MySpace: lots of predators.
The good thing about MySpace: lots of prey"

One of the people I work with spends 6 of the 8 hours at work on my space, while the other two are spent at lunch. At least if they are going to waste time they should learn to brew and join a wonderful forum such as this.
OH Wait, then they may learn something useful and be productive in something.
Silly me, what was I thinking?