INTERNET SAFETY

Comments

• Mileysmybaby

  October 2010 72.2.165.201

  oh im sorry i posted my grade =0 i wont again

  
  I Keith Urban!
• RoyalRaccoon

  October 2010 75.84.62.221

  By VP's definition what is a personal website?<br>I know many people link to places like DA, photobucket, or flicker, so is that against the rules?

  I'm done with VP. I'll just be around until I get all my dogs and lines placed in good hands. If you want to contact me, please do so through deviantART.
• Lonleycarrots

  October 2010 24.56.229.109

  Uh ohz! I posted my grade 0= sorry bama
• Alabama

  October 2010 74.240.126.214

  PrinceSushi wrote:

  By VP's definition what is a personal website?<br>I know many people link to places like DA, photobucket, or flicker, so is that against the rules?

  <br><br>Art sites, like DA etc, or sites for hosting pictures, while for the artist, aren't considered a "personal" website. They generally aren't considered places people, especially ones with bad intentions, go to try and meet someone, but about people displaying their artwork. <br><br>A personal website, by VP's definition, is one a player creates that is about themselves and gives information about themselves.

  <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Along for the ride!</span><br>
• RoyalRaccoon

  October 2010 75.84.62.221

  I see, so it's mostly for things like social sites.<br>I also wanted to know why VP is banning so much, rather than letting members make some choices at their own risk. I can completely see why specific details like full name, address, city, school name, email, photos that show identify features, etc. is dangerous to release, but what about non-specific statements like teen, adult, young, old, high school, junior high/middle school, student, etc.? They all seem like fairly broad, and somewhat safe statements, which at least give other members enough information to relate to each other. Just look at the vent I made the other day, in which you responded. Since you did not know what level of school I was in, the advice you gave was not applicable. If one member says "I hate being young." then another member can't possibly say "Me too." or "When I was younger it was hard, but when you get older it gets easier" without revealing that they are similar in age, or older. However, neither of the statements reveal specific details. I am extremely careful with the details I write, but It's kind of stressful to have to second guess everything I type due to these rules, because it might in one way or another reveal my age or level of school. Even something as simple as "I'm learning to drive" or "I got a job" or "I'm tired of my parents bossing me around" or "I hate algebra" or "Can't wait for graduation/spring dance" can give an idea of age or grade level. So, what is specifically banned, and what won't get us in trouble?

  I'm done with VP. I'll just be around until I get all my dogs and lines placed in good hands. If you want to contact me, please do so through deviantART.
• Alabama

  October 2010 98.83.145.125

  PrinceSushi wrote:

  I see, so it's mostly for things like social sites.

  <br>Social sites and websites people create themselves such as on free website hosting sites for the purpose of giving personal information, links to other games, etc. We've never had a problem with players creating websites for VP, such as to display layouts or banners or give help with game play, as long as they don't contain a forum, chat link, links to other games or "blog" type area or personal information.<br>

  PrinceSushi wrote:

  I also wanted to know why VP is banning so much, rather than letting members make some choices at their own risk. I can completely see why specific details like full name, address, city, school name, email, photos that show identify features, etc. is dangerous to release, but what about non-specific statements like teen, adult, young, old, high school, junior high/middle school, student, etc.? They all seem like fairly broad, and somewhat safe statements, which at least give other members enough information to relate to each other.

  <br>There hasn't been a ban for personal information on either game or forums in months. Most of the time, we don't even give warnings, just a request to remove the too personal information or we remove it ourselves. Now, there have been warnings and bans given for X-rated conversations, which started with the general, not-too-personal questions and advanced from there, but those really don't fall into the category of what is personal information. <br><br>We've been kinda lax lately, letting some of the less personal things slide and the info keeps getting more personal. Saying you were in school led to being in middle school led to being in 8th grade, which means you have more or less given out your age, since the majority of 8th graders are either 13 or 14 and the next, most natural question, "Oh, I'm in 8th grade too, how old are you?" "Really?! I'm the same age, when's your birthday? (if it's not already listed on the birthday list, in which case I am already pretty sure how old you are)" Which in turn leads to a sense of comradery and friendship with someone who may really be a 50 year old man looking for something more than just being friendly. <br><br>If this game were comprised of adults, we probably could/would let people make their own decisions about what they feel is safe to give out. However, it isn't, and when a younger player sees an older player giving out what they feel is safe for them, they will do so as well, however, without the foresight to compare their information against the older persons. For instance, for me to say I'm 29 (not my real age) years old isn't nearly as dangerous as someone else saying they are 13 on a game that has a lot of kids and may draw pedophiles. I'm not going to be taken as easily with someone pretending to be my age or liking the same things or as drawn to the excitement of doing something without my parents knowing.<br><br>

  PrinceSushi wrote:

  Just look at the vent I made the other day, in which you responded. Since you did not know what level of school I was in, the advice you gave was not applicable. If one member says "I hate being young." then another member can't possibly say "Me too." or "When I was younger it was hard, but when you get older it gets easier" without revealing that they are similar in age, or older. However, neither of the statements reveal specific details. I am extremely careful with the details I write, but It's kind of stressful to have to second guess everything I type due to these rules, because it might in one way or another reveal my age or level of school. Even something as simple as "I'm learning to drive" or "I got a job" or "I'm tired of my parents bossing me around" or "I hate algebra" or "Can't wait for graduation/spring dance" can give an idea of age or grade level. So, what is specifically banned, and what won't get us in trouble?

  <br><br>Advice, when given because of age is always chancy, which is exactly why dating/relationship advice isn't allowed because there's no way of knowing how young/old or mature the person asking for advice is. Young is a relative term, as is old. To me, young can be anything in the 20's or younger. Young to you may be 13 or younger. Old to me is probably anything over about 60, while old to a 13 year old may mean any adult over the age of 20. So these types of statements are vague, the problem being it leads to less vague statements, "You can't be old, I'm older than you" etc.<br><br>Being extremely careful because of details is exactly what we want. We would rather players avoided posting anything that might give away this information. <br><br>Where to draw a line is something Ops discuss quite a bit. We don't want to be so rigid people can't even share excitement about their first job, getting a driving permit or their first major dance, but at the same time, we don't want them to degenerate into discussions about age. It's more or less a given that most of our players are still under their parent's roof, so complaining about parents isn't something we get too concerned about unless again, it starts going down the path of how old people are. So these types of topics are something we just monitor unless they start going into discussions that are personal.<br><br>Immediately bannable would be anything we request that you remove and you don't or you repost something that has been removed. Posting very personal information such as address, e-mail, phone number, full name, where you go to school (this would not include higher levels of education such as state colleges or universities because the chances of someone finding you among the thousands of students isn't very likely unless you also give out other, bannable information), or asking for that information of someone else. But even these bans are usually able to be removed as soon as we can have a discussion with the player and feel they understand why safety is important. Of course, if they do it again, it may be another matter entirely.<br><br>Internet safety is something all the Ops are big on. Most of us have children and we became Ops because we wanted to help make other kids as safe as we hope ours are, at least in our corner of the internet. We are passionate about keeping predators away from Virtual Pups and making the game as inhospitable to them as we possibly can, so kids can play at least one game that is safe on the internet. The only way we can do that is to have rules about personal information and enforce them. If a predator is reported for asking personal information, most times, just us contacting them about it will be enough to make them move on before something bad can happen. If they don't, we keep watching and if they continue, we ban them from the game. If there weren't rules about personal information, they probably wouldn't be reported until the worst happened.

  <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Along for the ride!</span><br>
• RoyalRaccoon

  October 2010 75.84.62.221

  I see, that definitely gives me a better understanding.<br>The lasy question I guess I have is about this:<br>

  ...where you go to school (this would not include higher levels of education such as state colleges or universities because the chances of someone finding you among the thousands of students isn't very likely unless you also give out other, bannable information)...

  <br> If it is okay for someone to say what state college or university they do to, then does that mean it is safe for them to just say say they go to college or university?

  I'm done with VP. I'll just be around until I get all my dogs and lines placed in good hands. If you want to contact me, please do so through deviantART.
• Alabama

  October 2010 98.83.145.125

  Yes, saying you're at college in most situations would be okay, such as you responded to me on that vent topic.

  <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Along for the ride!</span><br>
• RoyalRaccoon

  October 2010 75.84.62.221

  Thank you for being patient with me, and answering my questions~

  I'm done with VP. I'll just be around until I get all my dogs and lines placed in good hands. If you want to contact me, please do so through deviantART.
• Alabama

  October 2010 98.83.145.125

  You're welcome. I never mind questions that helps people understand things better.

  <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Along for the ride!</span><br>
• Mileysmybaby

  October 2010 72.2.165.201

  WARNING: scammers may try to steal your account by sending an official-looking email with a link to a fake craigslist login page that looks like this page, hoping you'll type in your username and password.<br><br> Look carefully at the web address near the top of your browser to make sure you are on the real craigslist login page, <a href="https://accounts.craigslist.org"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">https://accounts.craigslist.org</a><br><br>The safest way to login is go to the craigslist homepage directly by typing in the web address, and then clicking on the 'my account' link.

  <br><br>I think this will help for other sites...its what I think might have happened to me if i hadnt read that first

  
  I Keith Urban!
• RoyalRaccoon

  October 2010 75.84.62.221

  Your e-mail, link to your personal website or phone number.

  <br>So, I just realized something the other day while editing my forum profile. We aren't allowed to post our email, and what now, but our profiles have slots to put them in if we want(for IM and stuff). Should we avoid doing that?

  I'm done with VP. I'll just be around until I get all my dogs and lines placed in good hands. If you want to contact me, please do so through deviantART.
• Alabama

  October 2010 98.83.132.219

  I would, if I were you. We don't have a way of removing e-mail option, so this is probably the only place in game you won't get into trouble for having it listed, but it's still not suggested.

  <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Along for the ride!</span><br>
• RoyalRaccoon

  October 2010 75.84.62.221

  Thanks.

  I'm done with VP. I'll just be around until I get all my dogs and lines placed in good hands. If you want to contact me, please do so through deviantART.
• NickelbackLuver

  October 2010 174.59.253.122

  I would certainly suggest avoiding putting your IM on here. I put my IM on another website's forums, and I got a creepy stalker from it >.> They are never offline, and, had I not blocked them, they would probably still talk to me every single time I sign in. They are rather creepy xD<br><br>SO from personal experience, I definitely agree to not putting e-mail/IM information up publicly.

  All good things must come to an end. All endings will begin new good things.