Rob’s Blog

We read an article recently that discussed the issue of online safety.  Many adults see the Internet as a dangerous place  full of people waiting to pray on children.  These parents most likely have not greatly experienced the internet and have only heard bad things about it.  However what they fail to realize is that the internet gives children a method to fight back against these people.  Online forums frequently come with rules and moderators who enforce them.  Children aren’t as much in danger on the web as they are walking down the street.  In the real world, the only thing seperating you from a predator is how fast yo can run.  Online getting away is as simple as clicking the mouse.  Children simply need to be educated in the danger signs that show thata certain person has bad intentions.

Using the article I have completely re-arranged the format of my widgets.  I have moved the everything around so that the important things are where the visitor is most likely to see them.  As such I have moved the recent posts and archives to the top left corner and my voki avatar and blogroll over to the right sidebar.  Hopefully if this stuidies findings were correct then it should make any visitors to my site have an eaiser time finding what I have written.

I had heard about this two weeks ago via rumours at school and I decided to find out what exactly had happened.  To my dismay I found that this is only the most recent case of this kind, another case of the same thing occured back in January and another in November. 

For the statement Mr. Stengel has asked us to give our opinion on I think that it is true that the internet provides a lure for violence to achieve fame (or rather infamy).  However I do not feel it is Youtube’s fault that this occurred and it provides and able scapegoat for angry families.  I feel sorry for the girl and her parents, I truly do, but it is not the fault of youtube that a group of people are criminally insane and desperate for attention.  The people to blame are the girls that committed this horrible crime, and to an extent their parents for not takeing care of their kids proplerly or for recognizing the signs to their children’s psycotic desires.

 If we want to make sure that the internet will not be used for such things in the future we need for greater filtering abilites in order to make sure something like this can’t be posted online.  If it can’t be posted then kids will lose intrest in this.  However electotronics are malleable and most likely some kind of work around would be developed or specific sites would open up for just these sort of things.

An article we just read was on MMORPGs and their influence on human socio-interaction.  This article stated that scientists are finding that MMOs are a good form of interacting as it allows for people to build relationships.  I know from personal experience that MMOs are a good way to make friends with people all over the world and are a great way to learn about other places and cultures.