My thoughts on MySpace:
It has great potential if used properly. It was originally established as a way for bands to create profiles and network. A great idea, IMHO. But once all the wannabe slutty teenage girls got ahold of it, it turned bad. It is not MySpace's fault that people get raped or assaulted by someone they met on MySpace. It also isn't their fault that pedophiles found their way there.
Personally, I must agree with
Encyclopędia Dramatica on these few things for which MySpace should be congratulated:
* Autoplaying video clips in profile that never work properly and have to spend 5 minutes disabling.
* Autoplaying music which inevitably starts by surprise at maximum volume.
* Eye-searing color schemes that makes people's text impossible to read, and you'll have to highlight everything in order to read it easier but then realize that it's all s*** nobody cares about.
* Dialup user patience initiative - the bigger the w****, the more hours the page will take to load on dialup.
* Sitewide custom of sending friends requests to strangers without ever contacting the person beforehand.
* People pretending to be television or movie characters, which has never been done before anywhere.
* People who add the fake television or movie characters to their friends list and say "OMG lewk I em phreands with Morpheus LOLZORZ OMG!!!!!!!!!!!111
* Is always b0rked when you want to use it. Always.
* Patented "browser crash upon visit" technology.
* Fun "click the stop button" game on every visit!
The entire article basically sums up everything I believe about MySpace (with some snark thrown in). It's not entirely PC, but it is, of course, Encyclopędia Dramatica. To read the full thing go
here.
RE: The girl that was mentioned in the first post of this topic:
It is the sole responsibility of the parents and the girl, especially since she was TWELVE YEARS OLD! I mean, that's well below the minimum age for MySpace, I believe. Yes, it's unfortunate that there are some terrible people out there, but parents can at least protect their children as much as they can by monitoring their children's internet access.