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Online safety.
I was just wondering, because I know a lot of people make friends online and then meet up offline, and I've done it myself quite a few times.
Do you think that the type of forum or chat room you meet people on helps determine whether they are really who they say they are or how likely they are to be a paedophile?
For instance, do you think it's less likely that someone you've been talking to on a Christian chatroom/forum would be a paedophile than on a secular one?
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Want to answer more questions in the Relationships category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Friendship?
hey, you would be more likely to meet a rapist in a sexual chatroom. being in a christian chatroom does not make you a 100% safe either, so dont think that. theres always that chance of meeting the wrong person. be careful.
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nope. well, you can VERY SLIGHTLY increase your chances of the person being who they say they are on school forums. i met a person in a college group on myspace, and met her offline about a month later. but, i met her in the common room of her dorm, so if anything, she was the stupid one. then, there is a person who randomly added me on myspace. heres where i was stupid, i met her as well. but it was in a public place. also, i am a 20 year old guy, i can take care of myself. ironically enough, the first girl i met was going to be my emergency call if the second ended up being dangerous.
anyways, this is a case of do as i say, not as i do, especially if you are a younger girl. it is generarly a bad idea to meet someone offline. however if you must, you should definitely meet in a public place. also, take someone with you. it should be a guy friend, someone who could actualy do something if things go south, and not say, another young girl who would just get abducted with you or tossed aside.
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Well, flat out, when you are talking to someone online, you never know who they really are unless you actually know them.
For instance, if you look at my column, you see my picture, my age, my gender, my occupation, etc. Now, all of that stuff is honest, I am who I say I am.
BUT... how do you know that for sure? What if my picture was really somebody else? What if I'm really a 67 year old male who works in a machine shop instead of a 28 year old female who is a homemaker?
Like I said, I promise I am who I say I am, but you don't know that for sure. You can't know that for sure.
That's a way predators get to you. Lie about who they really are.
Predictors feed on chat rooms where people are real trusting. Youth/teen chats, even christian chats. A lot of them will try to make you think they are just like you. Then, when they have your trust, they start prodding you for information.
NEVER give out any personal information that could allow a predator to know who you are, where you live, or how to get ahold of you in a private setting (such as calling you, or meeting you at the park).
Don't give anymore information to anyone other than MAYBE your first name (never your last name) and MAYBE your age.
When talking to people you really don't know personally, it is always better to protect yourself than to be a victim.
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Honestly? No.
My reasoning is simply that a paedophile might target those sites specifically BECAUSE people would tend to be less suspicious of them. I'm sure that not all of them would, but I wouldn't consider it any safer.
That said, several people I know online have my real address, and I've even met one of them. However, that had nothing to do with where I met them and everything to do with the fact that I talked to the majority of them for literally years. Add that to the fact that many of them know each other, and it's about as safe as it can be.
But no, I don't consider where I met them to be of any major influence over whether or not I trust them (although obviously if I ever saw them on a "I'm a murderer!" site, I'd run--but I don't think such a place exists. ;0))
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