Habbo caught up in child sex scandal / Habbo Mute

[Xedia]

I'm not expecting anything to have changed after the mute is lifted. Habbo will always be full of bed rooms, strip clubs etc. Sulake don't care about safety enough, all they see is money money money.

I just seen the slogan for Fast Food Lol.



Hmm, What does that remind me of?

[Niall!]

But it's not fair to blame everything on Sulake. When I was younger (i know things were different then), my mum used to make us use the laptop or computer so the screen faces inwards (so we can't hide things). Parents who are that concerend about paedos on the internet need to teach their children about it, it's just incompetence. They see something like this on the news, they can google, call help lines or even go straight to Habbo (or even call the school, i think schools should teach more about internet safety really) - there are so many books teaching about dangers of the internet. Webcams imo should be STRCITLY monitored by parents. I very very rarely use mine, and when I was younger, we had a webcam but we were only allowed it so they could see what we were doing.

I'm not putting 100% of the blame on Sulake, not by a long shot. There's only so much that can be done to stop sexual comments/activities on habbo (yes, even with the moderation of old it still went on in droves) but outsourcing your moderation and relying on an imperfect filter system is not the way to begin doing so. That said, that's all that Sulake can really be blamed for and probably what the news will focus on.

The thing about teaching kids about online safety in schools and via parents has just one problem; in school when you were younger did you honestly listen to anything your teacher said not to do? Infact, didn't it just tempt you to try it because it was taboo? Parents are the same thing. I never listened to my parents because of course I was a teenager. There's nothing that can be done via these methods I'm afraid unless you're planning to get graphic and show them the direct results of these goings on. That would scar them for life however so it's a shaky path at best.

[MKR&*42]

It is not on the front page. The article on the front page is talking about a report from the Deputy Children's Commissioner. The Habbo bit is not on the front page and was likely added after the original article was written. The placement of the article is a bit inappropriate but that is what you get for reading terrible publications like the daily mail.

I unfortunately went on the Daily Mail website and found the online version of the article you posted and found it next to a big message in blocks caps saying "BLOCK ONLINE PORN". Totally seems non-biased.

Seems a bit disappointing that a news reporter can't see through the obvious tricks the newspaper is using and why they placed the article about Habbo where they did.

I do not often read the daily mail (only newspaper i read is my local one and the "I" now and then) and I was simply posting it for the sake of what this entire thread is about? It's clearly over-exaggerated and the "Block Online Porn" is placed inside as well directly below the image of Habbo lol. The bit about Habbo itself is mainly what has been repeated from channel 4 tbf.

[lawrawrrr]

I agree, parents can't be ignorant to dangers online, however when their child signs up to a moderated service you assume a degree of safety?
Rules are there to be broken, when I was involved with Sulake the mention of any webcam or cam words immediately flagged up for a team of moderators whose job it was to watch potentially innappropriate chat through a tie-in system known as George, this system flagged up long line numbers (phone numbers), anyone giving out an email address, etc etc. The calls for help and player support efforts were dealt with by different MODs and users could be flagged to be watched by the George team. I think the relaxation of some rules and regs with regards to other social media, webcams, in-game links, is a hot bed for preadatory behaviour and makes moderation complicated as potential flags get lost over many sites - this is where Habbo have gone wrong, Paul said in a statement they discourage people from giving contact details or moving from Habbo onto MSN to chat - then why allow people to give out emails, skype, links etc. Habbo 3-4 years ago was so tight on this area!

You do expect a certain degree, I agree - the mods should ahve done something about the cybering inside the hotel... but i don't see how it's Habbo's fault when a child decides to bare all (literally) on webcam. They already block giving out email addresses in one block, and even numbers, but they can't exactly block every letter that spells 'hotmail', especially if someone decides to ask for help with adding their hotmail account to a Habbo ID, for example. They can't stop people typing numbers either. I do agree links have caused more trouble than they're worth though, tbh.

---------- Post added 13-06-2012 at 02:31 PM ----------

I'm not putting 100% of the blame on Sulake, not by a long shot. There's only so much that can be done to stop sexual comments/activities on habbo (yes, even with the moderation of old it still went on in droves) but outsourcing your moderation and relying on an imperfect filter system is not the way to begin doing so. That said, that's all that Sulake can really be blamed for and probably what the news will focus on.

The thing about teaching kids about online safety in schools and via parents has just one problem; in school when you were younger did you honestly listen to anything your teacher said not to do? Infact, didn't it just tempt you to try it because it was taboo? Parents are the same thing. I never listened to my parents because of course I was a teenager. There's nothing that can be done via these methods I'm afraid unless you're planning to get graphic and show them the direct results of these goings on. That would scar them for life however so it's a shaky path at best.

I didn't mean you necessarily, just anyone. Mods do need to tighten up and if it is true they saw the report and did nothing about it, then it is a bit shocking. But the news has been doing it for years, exaggerating claims and driving perfectly respectably companies in to the ground. I get 'propositioned' on a near-daily basis on facebook, where's the news that it should be shut down eh???

I think teachers saying OLD MEN WANT TO RAPE YOU would probably sink in to children... I think they should educate, not tell what to do. I never listened to my parents either, but I did pay attention when they said to be wary of padeos. I used to be banned from social networking sites, and as I couldn't use the internet alone, I did avoid them. However, when they were out or I got my own laptop, I did use Habbo and MySpace - but I was always aware of the dangers... when they found out and said 'you shouldn't be using them' i simply explained that if i got propositioned i would simply ignore it. I don't understand how an 11 year old thinks it's perfectly acceptable to get naked so someone else can see you.

[Red]

Days and Weeks... Really hope it doesn't last that long. Don't think they should bring back hobbas or xs. Both were flawed systems. They should be hiring back proper moderation though and maybe the return of the filter.

[GommeInc]

Presumably "sort the problem out" means hire moderators?

Possibly more - scrap some features that seem to promote sexual activity (I assume these discussions about vibrating furniture are real ), re-write a system that analyses discussions in real time and probably promote new safety features in the game. It wouldn't surprise me if the Bobba filter is reinstated. Hiring moderators is just one thing out of many, training them how to write and respond to concerns is another.

[TonyBest]

the filter never left though, we just had the option to turn it off

[scottish]

Days and Weeks... Really hope it doesn't last that long. Don't think they should bring back hobbas or xs. Both were flawed systems. They should be hiring back proper moderation though and maybe the return of the filter.

The filter still exists?

Forcing it again would just be stupid.

[Plebings]

are the cards being withdrawn even a big issue? the only main problem with it is that it shows how bad sulake's reputation is, i can't really imagine the cards being a big seller.

once the media have got off sulake's back they can begin to improve their rep.

reminds me of my old job actually, we had to remove all the duck products because there was a documentary on the cruel conditions ducks are put though the night before. didn't take long before they were put back on the shelves of course.

[scottish]

Doubt it i'm sure most people use phone to buy credits any ways.

They must be desperate for news tbh.