A step in the right direction....MySpace has removed 200,000 objectionable entries to help quell fears of online teenage safety....to read more, click http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3f8a53d4-c01c-11da-939f-0000779e2340.html

It's good new indeed.....so let's hope it becomes the trend and admins/owners of similar type sites follow suit.

you hit the nail on the head I HATE myspace

I like to consider myself a responsible mySpace user. I'm 13, and I know that you're supposed to be 14 (Fourteen or sixteen? Whichever) to have an account there, but I hold myself above the others I know that use it, and consider myself more mature than a few choice people more than five years older than me. I don't have any of those ugly, cluttered, third-party layouts. I have the default, ugly, cluttered layout. I don't have any stupidly angled pictures, or my name anywhere on my profile. I do have a photo in grayscale, which I'm not particularly fond of, but, hey, whatever. I don't have an annoying emo song that plays when the people looking at my profile are listening to music on their PC and interrupts them, and I only have people I know as friends, aside from a few bands. Heck, I've denied friend requests from people at my school who I've never even talked to. Go ahead, bash mySpace all you want, I did before I got one. But I would like to say that it is a perfectly safe place, if you know what you're doing. Good post, by the way.

But I would like to say that it is a perfectly safe place, if you know what you're doing.

I think that is the crux of it there. Like the internet in general, there are far too many who don't know how to use it, yet they use it still.

Sounds like your MySpace page might actually be tolerable.

Sounds like your MySpace page might actually be tolerable.

I like to think that it is.

i admit, I have a myspace account. I. like Chapter 93, have it looking very bland. I don't even use my own pic - I use a pic of my favorite author, Miguel de Unamuno! It does come in handy to talk to those who use it, though.

I think that your mom did not spanked you like she should have. You just so full of yourself. Is there anyone else in your life that can consume some of your time. So sad to see someone who can do so much do so little. Yes I have been giving you shit over things you write although I do not believe that is the real you. I think you actually have potential so do not waste your life , make something good of yourself. I know you can do it , so do not prove me wrong.

I have a myspace...and I'm encouraging any single, young, good looking girls over the age of 18 to go ahead and track me down...I won't struggle too much.

Myspace isn't necessarily the problem...it's the people. They could hijack any other site and use it for their stupidity, it just so happens that Myspace is convenient.

~Zoo

There is just something about MySpace that attracts the ultra-attention whoring types. Teenagers, and not even teenagers, post all about their sexual conquests on MySpace, post ridiculous photos of themselves, and it really seems like a dangerous site for youth. Something about it just screams "sexual predator playground". There is an intangible about it that just pushes it over the edge of a normal blog site. Oh, and it is ugly as hell. Seriously, the pages are so poorly designed and laid out, so cluttered with crap, so full of refuse. Perhaps I am just being snobbish about the aesthetics of many of the Spaces. But there is just something about it that seems "off" to me.

you really don't get myspace. myspace isn't a blog site. you can blog if you want to, but it's not a blog site.

it orig. was a site for artists to freely display their work. it was started by some of the same people who started MP3.com. the format was set up as "pure personal democracy" as anyone who wanted to, even if they had no music or art to offer, could participate. the creators avoided some of the pitfalls that MP3.com presented, but in doing so, unintentionally created a spot where anyone could express themselves any way they wanted,,sans nudity. it was an easy and free way to get one's own page on the web.

mypspace is frequented by people of all ages. there are some safeguards that most teenagers utilize. they can set their profile to private, meaning , you have to know them or request "to be their friend" for someone to even see the page. of course, some kids don't utilize that stuff, but i believe that is more of an issue for their parents.

also, beyond privacy, the minor (or adult) with the private profile can require the "friend seeker" to 1st know the private profile person's last name or regular email to even ask the person to see their site. otherwise, no contact can be initiated.

again, not all kids take advantage of these safeguards, but many do.

of course, in "randomly" checking sites, you probably wouldn't see any of those kids. you would see the ones that ignore the safeguards.

also, the "freeness" of the site allowed everyone to be their own webmaster. some are good at it, most aren't. but that doesn't make the site bad, just honest, actually.

myspace is kind of the combination of MP3.com and AOL's "homepage." neither are a cancer, and the combination isn't either.

it's just something you don't understand.

do ya think it's more dangerous to set your kid up with a private, you have to know who i am to even talk to me site or send your kid to the mall or movieplex or whatnot, unescorted, where the perverts can snatch them away in an instant?

i'll take a parentally checkable and supervisable website.

it's kinda like seatbelts,,,they are there for one's protection, but not everyone chooses to use them. and when they don't, Gm or Ford or whomever made the car isn't responsible.

it's just something you don't understand.

You don't even understand your own incoherent ramblings.  Learn to read in context, and learn that you can't even begin to fathom what I do or do not know based on a single, random blog entry.

And maya: Many thanks for the continued publicity to some of my older articles.  Your genius, insight, and ability to know what I have or have not done with my life after reading a couple of articles is truly incredible.  That is to say unbelievable. 

In other words: bullshit.

I've never been there, and I won't give them the +1 on the hit counter.

same here...but im 19 so it kind of makes me an outcast, but i find it amusing when they struggle to answer the question "why do YOU have a myspace page?"

@ this thread stop overthinking about it - myspace is just an output of mainstream society and of those who wish to be associated with mainstream society...its the "cool" thing to do.

I am so glad I'm not "cool" enough to have a myspace. I'd rather dye my hair blue than to be associated with that nonsense. It drives me absolutely crazy seeing people in class on their laptops browsing myspace. I feel like banging my head on the desk (that and also because they're all using the default XP theme, haha). Do they have nothing better to do, things like paying attention? Honestly since we all have to fork out money to be there you'd think that paying attention to the lecture would be more important. *shrug*

I just think it's sad that so many people feel the need to jump on the bandwagon and make a myspace site (or anything else all the "cool" kids are doing) in order to "fit in." I'm personally content with being an outcast in that regard.

and I'm encouraging any single, young, good looking girls over the age of 18 to go ahead and track me down

Hmmm, I was thinking the same about girls under 18...   

Perhaps my comments are bullshit but you are hiding my friend and you miss the point. Yes I think you are incredible inteligent I just would like to see that you accomplish better things to do with your time. You see I am not healthy and out of work on disability. What would I not give to have my health back instead I am here trying to see if I can help someone with potential like yourself. When was the last words you spoke with your mother? How about your father? Without lecturing you take a good look to see how you are doing. Do you know that nothing happens without a reason? Well that is perhaps what is happening. There are many things in your site that I have found helpful for my own reasons. It is also you who put yourself down not I. Take a closer look my friend and you'll find the answers

Maya....there's a thin line between quasi-sociologist/philosopher and wanker.

I think you seem to want to keep crossing it.