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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Moshi Monsters

23 replies

IndigoBell · 14/04/2012 15:38

Can I remind all of you to check who your children are 'friends' with on Moshi Monsters, and what post-it notes they have on their pin board.

It is riddled with adults contacting children :( :( :(

And I can't find any way to stop strangers being able to contact you.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Feenie · 14/04/2012 15:40

We had a cyber bullying case to deal with on Moshi Monsters - Y3 girls.

Original poster

IndigoBell · 14/04/2012 15:54

I stupidly thought it was a safe program. But it really, really isn't.

Luckily it's all sorted now with no harm done, but I'm quite shaken by it.

OP posts:

Bohica · 14/04/2012 15:57

My eldest 2 are always on this site, I have told them not to accept friends or reply to any messages left on their board.

Do you mind me asking how you know it is an adult trying to make contact or is it very obvious?

ToffeeWhirl · 14/04/2012 16:09

My youngest loves this site. You have me worried now. Thought it was safe.

paddingtonbear1 · 14/04/2012 23:30

Dd keeps asking to go on this site - she says her best mate is on there. I'm not sure about it and keep putting her off.

lisad123 · 14/04/2012 23:33

Dd1 knows she isn't allowed to add anyone we don't know in RL. She also isn't allowed to respond to messages.
Dh set all the rules on the site butbim pretty sure you can have more controls

festi · 14/04/2012 23:39

I find it difficult to belive that parents do not look over thier childrens page and stricktly stipulate no friends unles rl friends. The amount of 5+ year olds with hundreds of friends all around the world on this site. It truely baffles me how parents can be so nieve. but the fact they are means your warning should be read, however cyber bulying can occur between rl contacts on websites so that is also something to be vigilant about but much harder to safeguard against or prevent.

catsareevil · 14/04/2012 23:48

My DDs know that they should only be friends with people that they know, and they have annonymous usernames. They do have friends who use their real names and are friends with anyone. Though some of those children are also on facebook, which feels worse to me.

Original poster

IndigoBell · 15/04/2012 07:43

festi - I didn't realise you could have friends on the site! It says it's about 'playing games and looking after moshlings'

I would have told him not to accept friends if I knew that they existed!

Now he's had the talk and it's all fine.

But it never occurred to me that such a popular children's site would be stupid enough to let anyone talk to my children.

I've learnt now. He's only had an account a couple of days! This isn't something that has been ongoing for ages.

OP posts:

festi · 15/04/2012 08:48

I can understand that and its unfortunate but I heavily vet anything my dd wishes to do on the internet and I suggest all parents do, wether it be bbc bite size to gaming sites like this. Lessons learnt I suppose but it just goes to show how much of a problem this is if it has only been a matter of days.

ln1981 · 15/04/2012 18:55

I had to have the talk with dd a few weeks back about this very same thing. I had already told both her and ds1 to only accept people they knew but it turned out she was accepting anybody!! She had lots of people added on it. I have no idea if they were adults or children but I made it clear that I wasnt happy, cue lots of tears but at least she has some of idea now of why she isnt to do it.

baffledmum · 15/04/2012 19:54

I was also shocked to discover that adults can pose as children on here and befriend / ask questions. I cancelled DD's account immediately. The owners / developers need to make it more clear that this is happening on Moshi. The site was outed at a parental internet safety meeting we had at school. The provider was fantastic - frightening enough but gave parents the tools to empower at the same time.

catsareevil · 15/04/2012 20:14

How could they prevent adults posing as children? Unless you have something that required people to actually prove date of birth or that is administered through the schools then there are no guarantees.

Original poster

IndigoBell · 15/04/2012 21:05

You could have to answer a question to befriend someone - ie you have to know them in RL, so they can tell you the secret answer, before they can be your friend.

In Club Penguin the kids can't chat (well the parent can restrict chat, so that they don't have it). Why does Moshi Monsters even have chat if it's marketed so aggressively at young kids. Or why don't they at least have an option to restrict the chat like Club Penguin does.

The problem is that this site is marketed so heavily at kids. Their are toys and trading cards etc everywhere. So there's an expectation that it's safe for kids. When it's not at all.

OP posts:

MrsHeffley · 15/04/2012 21:29

I curse Moshi.I think it's a total,utter rip off.

Have you seen how much they charge for membership which they're desperate to do because it gives them special access? It was £5ish for a month!!!!!All 3 of mine wanted to pay for it with their hard earned savings!!!!Politely told them that only the barking mad would chuck money at a site clearly made to fleece kids.

One of my kids has a friend who got bored of the whole thing but apparently it's impossible to get rid of the e-mails saying the moshlings are sad as they're not looking after them. Aggressive marketing or what.My dc have nagged to go on because they're worried about their Moshlings(they got short thrift).

Then you get the figures which are £££££££ and yet again a total rip off.

Somebody is making a fortune from this.

catsareevil · 15/04/2012 21:33

There is very little on the internet that is safe for kids, so IMO its better to teach them basic precautions and supervise rather than the expect that things are going to be safe.
I get the emails about the moshlings Hard hearted person that I am I just ignore them

festi · 15/04/2012 21:37

but it is safe - if parents take responsibilty for their childrens saftey and are clear on what thier children are doing on the internet, just as they do for thier safety in RL.

Original poster

IndigoBell · 15/04/2012 21:38

IMO its better to teach them basic precautions and supervise - I agree.

They might as well learn not to chat to strangers now as any other time.

I'm not an over-protective mum, and don't want to start being one.

But Moshi Monsters is still rubbish for having chat on it at all. The 'game' doesn't need any chat.

Anyway, lesson learnt today and no harm done.

OP posts:

MrsHeffley · 15/04/2012 21:40

I've given mine the talk and told them if I ever catch them friending anybody we don't know they'll never be on the internet again so not worried about safety(they're good kids and I check weekly).

It's the marketing I don't like.

It's bad enough restricting screen time as it is without having emotional blackmail from moshlings too.I know soooo many mums fed up with it.

There are racks of the stuff in the shops and it's shite. Have told my dc in no uncertain terms that they're not funding Mr Moshi's next mansion.

My dp is a software developer and he said this guy has just produced a license to make money ie a shit site many developers could write/design that you have to do nothing to maintain other than make kids want to to throw money at so they get "special" access-genius.

I've told him to get designing.

iseenodust · 15/04/2012 21:41

Someone on an earlier thread recommended using your own computer to block the Moshi M forum page and I took that advice having perused it.

2kidsintow · 15/04/2012 23:43

I have a Moshi monster registered to me - and have friended my own kids so I can read whatever is posted on their noticeboards.

In a member's profile and on your friend board, it shows the age that people have entered, so I clearly show up as a 38 year old for all to see. There is no way that it can verify if people are putting up their real ages though.

No problems so far, but mine know that they are only allowed to use it if it is transparent to me.

tewhau · 15/05/2012 22:52

I too object to the emotional blackmail of their "Your moshi monster is missing you" emails. Luckily my DS doesn't have his own email account, so they just come to me instead. I note though that there is an "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of them, so I might try that.

Thanks iseenodust for the tip about blocking the forum access on our own computer. DS is all about the games so won't be interested in the forums, but I'd rather make sure he can't get at them anyway just in case. However, it sounds like the content of a lot of the clipboards isn't a whole lot better.

I've never given them any money though, and certainly don't intend to, based on what I've read here.

olibeansmummy · 16/05/2012 18:52

At my school, we sent out a letter recently say a child in the county had been groomed via Moshi monsters and it was in the hands of the police :( parents do need to be very careful with any Internet sites.

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