Hi people, I'm new so forgive me if I make any embarrasing mistakes. I joined just to be able to post on this topic, as my kids are probably older than the average here.
I have just come across the littlegossip site this week following a mention by one of my 16 yo daughter's friends. It is much worse than formspring. It is utterly cynical in targetting teens. It has a weak disclaimer to cover their behinds that it is for over 18's but seems to cover every secondary school and sixth form college in my area. As already said, it is a format that encourages abusive, anonymous postings, and then others can anonymously agree or disagree with any gossip/lies/libel started. In order to remove a comment, the victim has to post two new comments, thus ensuring an ever increasing number of contributors.
I assume the business thinking is to capture a big audience, then sell advertising space. There is no concern for our kids.
I contacted parentline already and this was their response
It does say on their terms and conditions that it relies on users to help moderate the forum and that users should be 18. However, I am not sure if there is any form of moderating or policing of this website. Perhaps, it might be worth mentioning this to your daughter?s school or college. They might be able to let the children know that they run the risk of getting into trouble with the police if they do post anything on this website. There are laws in the UK which can be used against people who upload abuse about others on this or any other website. The first is that using the phone system (which includes the internet) to cause alarm or distress is an offence and if there are a number of postings that can also be harassment which is another offence. The website does say that it will remove comments if people complain so that is something people can do as well as make a complaint to the police. Other than that, I am not sure what else can be done as this website is based in the USA, although if enough people start to make complaints to schools, local press, internet service providers etc, after a while the small murmurs of complaint will hopefully become a roar and eventually be heard.
In the meantime, please take a look at the links below.
^www.iwf.org.uk/^
^www.ceop.police.uk/^
I suggest complaining to your local schools, as they need to help protect their pupils. Contacting MP seems like a good idea too, as suggested by Willow.
Btw I'm not ranting because either of my daughters have been named on it (they have not - yet, trust me it will spread like wildfire), but as the Mum of older teens (19 and 16) and a teacher, I can see the damage this site will cause. I honestly believe if unchecked that it won't be long before we are reading about this being linked to a teen suicide. The vitriolic comments, the anonymity, and watching the number of people who "agree" with the abuse increase will ruin children's lives.
I know there will always be other sites trying to tap into this profitable market, but that is no reason not to fight.