Moshi Monsters? internet safety

[misdee]

dh has let dd2 join up to this game site for kids. we have had a chat about internet safety etc.

i browsed the site last night, but couldnt find anything to worry about. is it heavily policed like that club penguin game? would i be better sending her to club penguin?

y dd has been on this a few weeks and we are impressed so far. We have said she isn't to go on any chat forums but she loves doing the puzzles, earning rox and spending them. We've just looked into club penguin too and imo they seem very similar in all senses.

Oh dd is 6 btw if that helps. I think your dd2 is similar...

yes, dd2 is almost 7 now. she loves it.

have set up hector the dolphin on the girls log in so if anything does get through they just click on it, and it hides the page until an adult comes (though we are usually in the room).

have been browsing moshi again and so far nothing has popped up that concerns me.

I posted on here a little while ago about Moshi Monsters - my ds age 7 loves it, and the games are educational. He sends and receives messages which I check, they are all completely innocent. Our PC is just outside the kitchen and I am always around.

Excuse my ignorance - who is hector the dolphin? Sounds like a good idea!

its on thinkuknow.co.uk (i think?) under the 4-7yrs section. you download a little dolphin avi which swims in the top corner of the screen. if anything pops up which the kids dont like or arent sure of then if they click, it will hide the screen until an adult checks it. their school use it and sent outinfo about it.

hector

My ds loves Moshi Monsters, he's been playing for a couple of months, and he asked me to sign up and 'adopt' a monster, which I did, and I put my adult age. The site actually has a section for adult 'Monster Owners' and they don't discourage adults, parents of younger monsters in particular, but make it clear that it is intended for children. My ds' schoolfriends are on it as well, and they know it is me and they have added me as a friend. However, I get requests from a number of people who I don't know at all to be my friend, mostly between the ages of 9 and 13. I ignore these, and don't accept. I don't know why I get friend requests from children.

Initially, I was very happy with it - it seemed to be well moderated. What seems to happen is that forum posts are moderated for 'X' number of times a member posts, and then if the member is deemed to be decent and respectful, their posts are allowed to go live straight away. However, my ds alerted me to the fact that there was bad swearing going on the forum. I couldn't believe a couple of the threads - the thread titles are obscene as well. There is a button for reporting bad behvaiour, but all it seems to be there to do is to report a member and get them banned, but their offensive post is still visible!!

I wrote to Moshi Monsters complaining about the fact that there is obscenity and swearing on this otherwise excellent site, and they STILL haven't removed the threads in question, after 2 days.

I am really angry and upset about it. I have banned my ds from going on the forum there. PLEASE keep your dc's away from that forum, until they sort out how they moderate it.

My granddaughter was "friended" by several people with names like xxhotchicksxx and xxsexygirlxx, within minutes of joining MoshiMonsters.com. This site may have filters in place, but not in real time. I closely monitor my granddaughter's visits now. I also bought an online software subscription to SafeEyes. Well worth the money, as it also blocks trashy Youtube videos. Do not TRUST MoshiMonsters implicitly! Monitor any child's visits!

I thought this site was OK, but it is only lightly monitored, if at all. However, my 12 year old granddaughter broke the rules and gave a "boy" her phone number, and he gave her his as well. When I found out, my granddaughter and the "boy" were booted off. Moshi did NOT catch that phone numbers had been exchanged, and numerous long phone calls ensued before I found out. I do not know if this person was a kid, or man. My granddaughter said he was 14 and to ME, that is bad enough. MoshiMonsters is now blocked in our household. It is TOO easy for predators to use this site to troll for victims. BEWARE.

Greetings from Monstro City!

My name is Mags and I'm the Parent and Conduct Team Leader with Mind Candy, the company behind Moshi Monsters. It's great to see parents having a real discussion regarding the safety of children's sites online, and I'd love to address some of the issues that have been raised with Moshi Monsters.

All postings within the Moshi Monsters site are run through a filtering program to block inappropriate content, and our pinboard messages are text limited to 140 characters. There is no private messaging function, and all messages are publicly visible. While some children's sites allow for private messaging between users, Moshi Monsters believes that there is no topic suitable for discussion within our site that cannot be discussed in public view.

Children can only send or receive receive messages from those they accept as a friend, which provides for another layer of protection against inappropriate content. To block further contact from another user, all you have to do is remove them from your friends list and they can no longer send you messages.

Not only is our forum moderated, but all messages within our site have the option to report directly to a moderator. This allows children (and parents) the ability to self-police the postings which they receive, as well as report inappropriate conduct on an other pinboard they visit.

We encourage all parents of Moshi players to monitor their use of the site, or even better, to play Moshi with them! Many parents have found that playing Moshi Monsters with their children has increased bonding, and become a favorite family activity.

If you ever have a question regarding our systems, our staff would be happy to assist. Simply contact us through our contact form at MoshiMonsters.com!

Happy Monstering!

Mags MC,

I have seen some concerning pin board posts like "we should meet"; "what school do you go to" ; "where do you live?". I know these are all innocent type questions but when sent from a "friend" they are of concern.
The friend requests come very randomly and for a 7 year old are very compelling to accept. I think this is a major concern for the game and has nothing to do with nurturing and caring for a moshi monster.

placemarking - dd joined this yesterday...

I have a 7 year old and 5 year old dds who love moshi monsters and have been hooked for a while. My 7 year old was quite upset by a really obscene message she got today which is making me rethink how I let them use it. I don't think i have any choice but to delete all 'friends' who they don't know in real life. She unfortunately deleted the message before we could report it.

I havent ever (yet) let my kids use interactive sites like this

I am somewhat that MAGSmc has posted on here - "We encourage all parents of Moshi players to monitor their use of the site, or even better, to play Moshi with them!"

Well yes! But if an obscene/inappropriate message pops up and the child reads it, its too late really isnt it...............

And to be honest I appreciate letting my ds have a go on certain selected websites (ones I know to be safe) while I do the washing up - in he gets to enjoy stuff in peace without me directly interferring (sink is 2 metres away)

Moshi monsters doesnt seem to be anywhere near safe for me to allow my kids to use!

ok really not happy now
MAGSmc I suggest you get back on here. I am very close to blocking the application and making it known publicly.

btw we have never had, or heard of, any issues with club penguin.

My ds has also joined this site , up until now i thought it was like club penguin , ds does not go onto the forums section but i will be monitoring him more closely from now on .

MagsMC , your site is not moderated, it is outrageous. What I have viewed on there over the last few hours is not acceptable. Kids are on there talking about sex, being gay, touching boys willies, kissing and a whole lot more. I wont let this go. I have worked in IT for over 10 years now, and I know how filters and moderation should work, you are not following you so called moderation at all. Have a look at what is being talked about on your site. I have screen grabbed many pages now, and I'm not some parent who is prudish about sex.

By the way MagsMC, I see you list your press contacts on your site, whom I will be getting in touch with. I cant begin to tell you how annoyed and upset I am at your complete disregard to concerns voiced by parents, and considering I pay for both my children to unwittingly receive abuse such as they have on your site I would expect you to say a little more than you have on this site. Lets see how it goes from here. I have reported a member, have captured all their weird posts to my kids, how long before you take action? What is you policy really?

Club Penguin is nothing like moshimonsters site. I had one issue with them regards a spelling error on the part of my 8 year old daughter, that resulted in her being ban instantly, that spelling error was tshits, instead of t-shirts, I think that says it all.
Club Penguin followed up with emails and communication instantly, they do filter and moderate. After some correspondence they lifted her ban. I was very impressed with the way they dealt with the situation,

ok enough - dd is now not allowed to use moshimonsters and i will be passing this info to her friends' parents.

I think the only way to feel at ease is to only allow your children to have rl friends on their 'friends' tree, and not to accept requests from anyone else.
My 5 year old had a message asking if she was an insane lesbian, both girls have had requests for their password which have been reported - but there's never any follow up. The latest was my 7 year old dd getting a message which said 'will you suck my balls' which she deleted immediately and was a bit upset about. We weren't really quite ready to have some of the conversations we've had to have - so all 'friends' being deleted and no looking at the forums, which seems a shame.

DD has been looking at Moshi Monsters and likes it, but hasn't done much with the messaging and forum areas.

Is it possible to block access to these areas, so she can just play the games without risking any dodgy communication?

MagsMC - if you're still watching this thread can you please come back and talk to us. MN threads stay around forever and are googleable so this is pretty bad PR for your website.

This is really interesting, as my DD set herself up on Moshi monsters, and I said no, Club Penguin is enough. Now I am glad that I did!