Web Paranoid Parents

Anyone who wants to can answer this, but for those of you who live with your parents:
How do your parents feel about you posting on message boards?
How do try to explain the concept of message boards to them?
How have you convinced that you have been "safe" on this message board?

When I lived with my parents...well, my dad was the one who was involved in computer things. He gave me a restricted AOL screen name when I was in 5th grade. I wasn't very adventurous, anyway, though. I was always a very good girl who tended on the side of extreme caution. So my parents' general policy has been to let me be free until I do something stupid. Which I never did. Now I'm in college, and obviously there's no restrictions, but they mostly think message boards are taking time away from homework. Which, of course, they are.

I never needed to explain anything about computers to my dad- he explained everything to me. :)

Updated On: 10/18/04 at 10:38 PM

My parents know I post here. They really don't care, as long as I don't give out personal information. They're cool that I post here, but they still think I should get a life. I'm always talking about the boards and stuff. They're convinced I have no actual friends.
At first, my mom didn't know what it was, and I explained to her that you just give your thoughts on a certain subject, such as Broadway, music, etc. And then there's discussions on it. She didn't really like it at first, but I showed her how it worked and everything, so now she's fine with it.

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I keep it quiet... mine think I'm gonna get raped if I say 'hi'. I just always say I'm chatting on AIM with someone I know from school. My mother is super-paranoid.

I am cautious... but you can actually post on a board without putting yourself at risk.

They don't need to aspire to it.

When I was young enough for this kind of worry to cross my parents mind, there was no internet

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Let's see...

I'm 20 now and I got the internet in 1996 when I was 12. I started message boarding on the Les Mis official message board and my parents were totally cool with it because they trust me completely, they have no reason not to. They knew I wasn't stupid enough to give out personal information like my last name, address, phone number, etc. I always told my first name, age, and that I was from Long Island. Do you know how many people there are that fit that description? A million.

My family has been totally okay with it for ages. As a matter of fact I met two of my closest friends through that message board ages ago. I've known my friend Erin (who lives in Iowa) since 1998 or so on that board and I only met her once, which was in spring of 2003. She has since come and actually stayed at my house for a bit. I met my pretty much best friend Laura (who lives in England) online through that board in 1997. We talked for ages, including the wonderful idea of webcams and snail mail. I met her in person actually only this last March when she came to stay with me for a weekend (having never met before) and then in July I went out to see her family in England and she's coming back here to spend Christmas with my family.

I've also made two great friends in bwaysinger and CJR who I now know personally.

I think posting on a message board can be a great thing but I would never reccommend meeting people on it or even suggesting something like that to parents for a long long time. You can post completely safely if you know what to tell and what not to. I wasn't trying to say woohoo do whatever you want and meet up with the people, because that's not how I really feel about it. I just think that while it may be hard for some people to grasp initially it can actually be a good thing. If your family has rules about it then you'll have to follow them because the way to build trust in things like this is to prove you're trustworthy by doing what they suggest.

Just stay safe. If you talk to anyone long enough you get to know if they're for real or not. People are bound to slip up eventually, you just have to make sure you remember that.




EDIT: Gov, back in the day my mom used to say that to me all the time. However, she's since met all four of the people mentioned above and now knows to never say that anymore.

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Updated On: 10/19/04 at 12:07 AM

They're oblivious

I met my BWW friends "at shows."

"When I was young enough for this kind of worry to cross my parents mind, there was no internet"

Me too. However, I remember the big "evil" thing when I was a teenager was Dungeons and Dragons. I remember ONE kid in God-Knows-Where, Idaho or something killed himself because of something to do with D&D. Now truth be told that kid was most likely screwed-up to begin with and had parents who didn't pay attention to him. So Pat Robertson went on his damned show and claimed that D&D was a tool of the Devil and ANY kid who played was likely to kill himself. So my paents got their panties in a wad and made me throw out all my D&D stuff. So I put it in a plastic bag and took it out to the curb and put in the can on top of the other garbage (as the next day was trash day.) Then I went in the house and, unbeknownst to my parents, called my buddy down the street and told him what happened. He then rescued my D&D stuff from the trash and we just played at his house from then on.

I don't live with my parents but when I go to my mom's and end up online there she alwyas gives me the lecture "Don't give out any personal info, etc" And I tell her every time, "Yes mom I know" I guess it's something everyone has to deal with living at home or not!

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Wasn't Pat Roberston also the guy who screamed about the gay Teletubbie? He probably had a deprived childhool and wants to take it out on everyone else.

Thanks for the clarification, Margo. All the screaming idiots start to sound the same after a while.