Chatterbox: Chirp at Cricket

INTERNET PRIVACY

Now recently I've seen a lot of people posting personal things about themselves on the website, and that is both a good thing and a bad thing. The good part is that people are making friends fast on this website. The bad thing is that anyone in the world can read it. As soon as you press the "Submit" button, it goes out on the Internet for all the world to see.

I hope you all read this post and take it to heart. 

P.S. Administrators, please back me up.

P.P.S. Grace's Great Idea was brilliant, but people started overshooting on it.

Timothy, we don't post last names or street addresses. We agree that personal ID information should not be posted.

Admin

submitted by Timothy C., age 11, PA
(March 26, 2009 - 8:04 pm)

back to the Chirp at Cricket

Yeah, Tim! (Can I call you that?) I think that's a GREAT idea!!!!

Wanna be friends?

submitted by Jenni T, age 12, Nowhere
(March 27, 2009 - 8:45 pm)

Not giving street addresses is a good idea, but you should also not give the name of your town unless it has a huge population. Museblog says a million. Posting your state is okay (if you live in the US, that is).

The other problem is that in Cricket, the actual magazine, your last name can be printed, so therefore any Chatterboxer who is published in the mag then has that much less safety. I don't want to name names. And the Admin, bless their hearts, sometimes make mistakes and publish last names (like the new Lilly, luckily she lives in NYC, which definitely has a population of a million plus)  

The posting format is right when it says (I'm pasting here), general location only, example: "Chicago, IL", "Idaho", "England". However, it needs to be more specific. Any newcomer might think they could post the name of their little town with only 600 people. 

The age box. I guess it's okay to post your age as long as you don't post any other material.

Oh, and pen names are always great! :)

submitted by Willa
(March 28, 2009 - 11:13 am)

I agree with Willa COMPLETELY.

submitted by Lena G, age 11
(March 28, 2009 - 4:05 pm)

Sure. All my friends at school call me Tim, so I guess you can, too. Nice to meet you!

submitted by Timothy, age on the bac, 11
(March 28, 2009 - 11:48 am)

I agree with that, but Paige accidentally let her last name slip once and you never caught it. Also, I don't think you should have a Location bar. Even if you don't post street adresses, if you live in a small place you can find someone. I think Timothy is right. The Admin are great; don't get me wrong, but I think you should be a little more careful.

submitted by Lena G, age 11
(March 28, 2009 - 7:14 am)

Well, Lena, the Location bar is fine. Look at what I'm doing, telling the world that I'm being taken across continents at Mach 3 on a giant pig? Who the heck could track me down from that? As long as you don't say "I live at 123 Maple Avenue, Jonestown, PA" in the location bar, (and there might be a hundred different Jonestowns in Pennsylvania, all with Maple Streets) you're probably okay. You might be surprised by how people don't know each other as well as they might in a small town.

submitted by Timothy, age 11, British Isles,
(March 28, 2009 - 6:51 pm)

I guess you're right. However, not EVERYONE says stuff like that.

submitted by Lena G, age 11
(March 29, 2009 - 7:02 am)

OK, definitely, but like what kind of things do you think people were posting that was too personal? :)

submitted by Grace♥
(March 28, 2009 - 7:56 am)

I was thinking just the same question, Grace!

submitted by MaggIe S., age 13, St. Paul, MN :D
(March 28, 2009 - 4:21 pm)

I agree, Timothy. Just the other day, my school had an assembly on Internet safety, and some things you think wouldn't be such a huge deal to put out there can be.

submitted by Allison P.
(March 28, 2009 - 11:04 am)

My school had an assembly about "cyberbullying" a while ago. Not that it wasn't important, but it was just plain boring.

submitted by Timothy, age 11, British Isles,
(March 28, 2009 - 6:46 pm)

I can imagine. :)

I think you don't have to worry too much about internet stalkers on this website -  if you put in your last name by accident you shouldn't worry too much that you're going to get kidnapped or anything. Most things happen like that when you form  a personal relationship with someone, they ask if you want to meet, and you know the rest. They're not just going to go online and find some random kid's location to kidnap them - why don't they just go to a house in their own city, right? But it IS importent not to give out too much about your location, and also smart to avoid giving out your last name cause it still isn't worth the risk.

submitted by Grace
(April 12, 2009 - 4:04 pm)