95 replies to this topic

[Solartide]

Ones that could be easily confused as programmers.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

John, do you think it would be beneficial to submit a statement to the Bulldog newsletter regarding MyFolsom, the moderating, etc.? It would be a shame if people avoided the site based upon misinformation. This could be a good opportunity for you to promote what MyFolsom is all about.

[cybertrano]

We send you in Debb to represent myfolsom.com.

[FolsomBarb]

John, do you think it would be beneficial to submit a statement to the Bulldog newsletter regarding MyFolsom, the moderating, etc.? It would be a shame if people avoided the site based upon misinformation. This could be a good opportunity for you to promote what MyFolsom is all about.

I agree with this idea..... Contacting Mr. Richards directly also sounds like a good idea. If he has never been to this site, he only knows what he's been told, and it's probably only the info about the fight after the dance. As far as he knows, that's the kind of stuff that goes on all the time, when, in fact, it's an extremely small percentage of the board activity. If he were asked to join, he could see for himself that this board is closely monitored, and most unacceptable posts are handled appropriately. He could see that it encourages dialogue between students and adults on the forum, as well as a good resource for advice, jobs, etc.

I worry that if this isn't addressed, all of the parents who get the newsletter will automatically think this site is all about the bad things in the big bad world, and that their kids shouldn't participate. I would hate to see this happen, as I believe this is a great forum.....

[Steve Heard]

I agree with this idea..... Contacting Mr. Richards directly also sounds like a good idea. If he has never been to this site, he only knows what he's been told, and it's probably only the info about the fight after the dance. As far as he knows, that's the kind of stuff that goes on all the time, when, in fact, it's an extremely small percentage of the board activity. If he were asked to join, he could see for himself that this board is closely monitored, and most unacceptable posts are handled appropriately. He could see that it encourages dialogue between students and adults on the forum, as well as a good resource for advice, jobs, etc.

I worry that if this isn't addressed, all of the parents who get the newsletter will automatically think this site is all about the bad things in the big bad world, and that their kids shouldn't participate. I would hate to see this happen, as I believe this is a great forum.....

I sent Mr. Richards an email, and I suggest we all do the same. Although it is true that anyone can post on this site, there have been very few problems, and it's not the kind of place a predator would cruise. What for? There is no way of knowing who you are talking to, and most of the topics are adult in nature.

Write Mr. Richards at

prichard@fcusd.k12.ca.us

(edited to fix the email address)

Edited by john, 30 March 2006 - 03:04 PM.

[cybertrano]

I work with the Internet and I must say the anonymous nature of public Websites do make me feel nervous a little. It can take one or two incidents to really ruin things. Mr. Richard has a point in concerning though. How can anyone of us warranty that nothing bad can happen?

[zach5]

But what makes it different from the rest of the internet? He probally shouldve just said keep your kids away from the internet.

[cybertrano]

Anyone, even in China, can logon and pretend to be nice for awhile to gain our trust. How do I know most of you guys - even the regular posters here?

but myfolsom.com and myspace.com are the two most popular local websites.

But what makes it different from the rest of the internet? He probally shouldve just said keep your kids away from the internet.

[john]

I sent a couple of emails in to the editor and principal. We'll see where it goes.

For the record, MySpace is not a local website. It's a national site. It's also not moderated. Their target demographic is teenagers, ours is adults...

Yes there should be better controls over the ID's - there have been a ton of newbie ID's lately here which are nearly just as bad as anonymous ID's the way they are setup

There should be a "signed" agreement something like the following here when people are setting up new ID's:

While the administrators and moderators of this site will attempt to remove
or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is
impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts
made to this site express the views and opinions of the author and not the
administrators, moderators or webmaster (except for posts by these people)
and hence will not be held liable.

You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful,
threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any
applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently
banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all
posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. Creating multiple
accounts for a single user is not allowed. You agree that the webmaster,
administrator and moderators of this site have the right to remove, edit,
move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. As a user you agree
to any information you have entered above being stored in a database. While
this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your
consent the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held
responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being
compromised.

This site system uses cookies to store information on your local computer.
These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered above,
they serve only to improve your viewing pleasure. The email address is used
only for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending
new passwords should you forget your current one).

By clicking Register below you agree to be bound by these conditions.




That sounds perfect! - I see nothing wrong with asking for information like that to validate legitimate users

This is our TOS when you register:

Please take a moment to review these rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser.

Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.

The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, slanderous, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.

You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board.

You agree not to hold TomatoPages.com, MyFolsom.com, its owners, employees, moderators, bloggers, or photographers responsible for any comments or actions made on this message board.

MyFolsom.com and TomatoPages.com reserve the right to remove posts, priveledges and posting rights from any user for any reason at any time.

[watstein]

I can see Mr. Richards concern, especially in myspace.com, lets compare myspace and myfolsom.

Most of us in myfolsom talk about things that are related to and concerning the town and has a community theme were myspace is were kids talk about any random thing they want. For example, a friend of mine showed me yesterday a dissussion board at guild-wars.net which is suppose to be a dissusion of just guild wars and in their board they have a subsection called "SERIOUS DISCUSSION" which is supposed to be general discussions that are not any random thing, but in there is hundreds of conversations about Breast's and other useless information which to a high school student is dangerous.

I even read lasvegasthecommunity.net which is a discussion about the nbc show las vegas and people try there to keep on track with the show and the moderator for that board is always deleting useless stuff. But here in myfolsom I haven't seen the racy problematic problems that other boards have.

In that article I would have been more concerned with open chat rooms, internet porn, meet things like hotornot making the list but targeting only messageboards which I am shocked we made the list, is very weird.

I think we deserve an explanation of why we made the list and maybe someone who reads this board from the HS know of maybe an incident were our board was named inorder to take the steps towards fixing the problem, otherwise there is no way to tell why were on his list.

[forumreader]

But what makes it different from the rest of the internet? He probally shouldve just said keep your kids away from the internet.

You make a good point, zach. A more constructive and accurate statement is that parental monitoring of internet usage should be a top priority.

As both a parent of a high school student and a MyFolsom moderator, I am very surprised by Mr. Richard's statement. In our home, myspace.com is not permitted. Moreover, ALL internet usage is monitored by a parent. (That means a parent is physically in the room!) This can be burdensome at times for both the parent and student, but we would not have it any other way. We consider this a parenting responsibility of the 21st century. -- This, by the way, is a subject which is frequently discussed here on MyFolsom.

In the future, if my student become interested in MyFolsom.com, I would permit him to visit the site, with parental monitoring, of course.

Should Mr. Richards wish to reevaluate his statement and visit MyFolsom.com, I would suggest that he look at some of the valuable discussions related to teens that we've had on this site. Some of the topics have included:

Senior projects, transition from middle school to high school, homework help, applying to college, first year college experiences, summer jobs, FHS activities (sports, drama, music, assemblies, etc.), charitable fundraisers, etc.

We also have an ongoing thread about noteworthy teens, where parents, community members and young people can applaud the accomplishments of young Folsomites.

Finally, perhaps Mr. Richards should be aware that all the moderators on this board, with the exception of two teen/young adults, are parents. Two of us are parents of high school aged students, with a vested interest in keeping MyFolsom a safe site.....In fact, we moderators are often criticized for our rigor in moderating!

[Brett911]

my business employs teens that read/participate/ and contacted me through myfolsom. these kids are honest, hard working and great team members. we're honored they considered our store as a place to work.

i believe the teacher has missed the value that myfolsom brings to our community.

there is not one, and i mean one, better community bulletin board out there for folsom; and i have formed many friendships with myfolsomites as well.

kudos to myfolsom for fostering the spirit of community and friendship in folsom. without it, i would be another faceless drone casually saying hi to neighbors as i glance the other way and go about my small world.

clearly mr. richards has missed the point of what goes on here. he couldn't be more wrong.

You make a good point, zach. A more constructive and accurate statement is that parental monitoring of internet usage should be a top priority.

As both a parent of a high school student and a MyFolsom moderator, I am very surprised by Mr. Richard's statement. In our home, myspace.com is not permitted. Moreover, ALL internet usage is monitored by a parent. (That means a parent is physically in the room!) This can be burdensome at times for both the parent and student, but we would not have it any other way. We consider this a parenting responsibility of the 21st century. -- This, by the way, is a subject which is frequently discussed here on MyFolsom.

In the future, if my student become interested in MyFolsom.com, I would permit him to visit the site, with parental monitoring, of course.

Should Mr. Richards wish to reevaluate his statement and visit MyFolsom.com, I would suggest that he look at some of the valuable discussions related to teens that we've had on this site. Some of the topics have included:

Senior projects, transition from middle school to high school, homework help, applying to college, first year college experiences, summer jobs, FHS activities (sports, drama, music, assemblies, etc.), charitable fundraisers, etc.

We also have an ongoing thread about noteworthy teens, where parents, community members and young people can applaud the accomplishments of young Folsomites.

Finally, perhaps Mr. Richards should be aware that all the moderators on this board, with the exception of two teen/young adults, are parents. Two of us are parents of high school aged students, with a vested interest in keeping MyFolsom a safe site.....In fact, we moderators are often criticized for our rigor in moderating!

[zach5]

Thanks Forumreader!

And to add more to my point, what I am trying to say, is that I can think of 50 sites that are worse than myfolsom that students probally shouldnt be going to. And the truth is, anonymity is everywhere on the internet, even for EGO how truely do you know a persons identity, sure they might be living in that community, but what is not to say that a child molestor isnt living in that community?

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

MySpace has been in the national news a lot recently, citing the inappropriate things many young people are posting, bullying, posting revealing and/or pornographic photos, posting identifying information, etc. It's a predator's candy store, and many stories have been in the news about how young people who post on MySpace (as well as other "online journal" sites like Xanga) are often victimized.

It's unfortunate MyFolsom was lumped into the same parental warning as MySpace, as this just isn't that kind of site. I believe the school had their heart in the right place trying to alert parents to the potential dangers of online activities, but to lump MyFolsom with online journals was a huge faux pas.

[forumreader]

I believe the school had their heart in the right place trying to alert parents to the potential dangers of online activities, but to lump MyFolsom with online journals was a huge faux pas.

I agree.