Habbo caught up in child sex scandal / Habbo Mute

[FlyingJesus]

Uhh, we have pedos on HxF? Name and shame, we need them banned.

Could well do, it's not something most people would openly admit to. However, paedophile =/= child molester, the former is a mental state concerning the characteristics of attraction, but not all such persons (by a long shot) act on those attractions and become the latter

[lawrawrrr]

Are there actual stats for this or is it another brilliant assumption? To my knowledge there have been what like 4 or 5 girls who've had topless/naked pictures go around, and quite literally countless of the same with young boys. I don't know if it was before your time but certain members of upper management in the past had folders dedicated to sorting the various penis photos (mostly of young DJs) that they'd either been sent directly or had passed to them as they made the rounds in the community. It's more logical, if we're sticking with assumptions, to suggest that due to the internet's general acceptance of homosexuality that young gay men are probably the most targeted as they discover a place where they can express their sexuality in relative safety

Educated estimate. I've been looking at past news reports, and of the one's I've read there's about a 40-60 split b-g.

It was before my time but I've heard about it. From what I've experienced boys (especially the older they get) are much more willing to get naked on cam, for example on chatroulette, for reasons unbeknownst to me.

[Niall!]

Could well do, it's not something most people would openly admit to. However, paedophile =/= child molester, the former is a mental state concerning the characteristics of attraction, but not all such persons (by a long shot) act on those attractions and become the latter

I don't think the courts see it that way. Child molester is just an evolved form of a pedophile in their eyes.

[Storking]

You'd think after all this that moderation would have been told to improve, I just reported something unrelated to the mute and was sent a reply regarding why we're muted? Eh?

[jasey]

That isn't the point. Habbo shouldn't have dating and strip rooms.

habbo isn't creating the rooms. habbo didn't start encouraging the whole online dating thing until way after it took off many years ago. they realised that is what kids wanted on the internet. i was cybering on habbo along with many others when the most enabling furniture in this area was a inflatable red heart for valentine's day. it really bugs me that people who have been on habbo for like three years are getting in to this acting like habbo is doing something terrible. i remember kissing booth rooms made out of red plasto and the limited valentine's line at the same time that habbo had no encouragement for the online relationship thing. kids were pole dancing then. this is the time when people said habbo had better moderation as well. the source of this is society, the environment. kids hear songs by their favourite female pop singers getting more and more blatant about how they want to be rammed and used and touched and pleased. i don't know about the uk but no news outlet was in uproar that enrique ilgesias' song "tonight (i'm ******* you)" was all over top forty radio and youth-accessible media outlets with poor censorship. everything kids buy in to is filled with sex. this is not habbo, this is about modern society. welcome to modern day, whiny parents. kids don't have to hide their normal curiousity about sex anymore. it's everywhere and they are free to explore it as they wish. i have to reiterate that the pedophile thing is so minor and not limited to habbo that it is just undeniable that they added it in to the story to make it valid and not a stupid attack piece on whomever they felt was popular enough to get ratings.

[peteyt]

It's because this report was strictly on Habbo, hence they only briefly mention other sites because they haven't done a report on them either. This report is showing off how bad Habbo really is underneath. Habbo is directed straight at children and underaged teens and is the regarded as the largest teen hangout, so all other sites like ClubPenguin are irrelevant for the time being as they do not have as many users AND Habbo has a history of poor management and moderation - two paedophiles in half a year is pretty bad. You're trying to defend Habbo by trying to bring in other examples when those examples could well be just as bad, but for the time being Habbo has been exposed as a badly run website.

Wait until Channel 4 discover where the moderators are from and why they do not operate on Habbo as effectively as they should be - the international community will go crazy, and it's all Sulake's fault.

I believe they're also aware that it happens to other sites. The Child Safety expert seems to know his stuff - a moderator should of come in during their exposure to Habbo, because on many other sites it's what is to be expected under EU guidelines. it wouldn't surprise me if a mod didn't come in because they simply do not have a system in place that puts words into context and alerts them.

2 pedo's - think of how many more are out there.

I'm not trying to defend Habbo. I think if anything Habbo should be used as an example to create better strict rules on sites all over the internet e.g. for the club penguin site (never heard of it).

My point is instead of saying this site is bad what should we do, they should be looking at creating ways of avoiding this in the future for multiple websites.

If Habbo does close, the problem won't be gone, all the people causing the problem will just move to another site - so just focusing on Habbo alone in my opinion isn't what is needed here

[VelvetClover]

Some of you may remember me, most of you won't.
Anyhow, I left Habbo ages ago because, well, it's crap and there's nothing to do. Plus the customer service is awful.
Frankly, I find this quite amusing and Sulake are only getting what they deserve for having such awful moderation. However many of you protest "Habbo isn't just a kids game!" Well, sorry guys but it kinda is - anyone who has ever played will know of the perverted conversations that go on all the time - this shouldn't be happening and it is disgusting. Call For Helps are either ignored or the person who called for help is told they are abusing the system... it's awful.
This is what Sulake need - EU/government/media involvement to finally force them to do something about it. If they get shut down...well, that's no less than they deserve either although I'll feel sorry for those of you who still play.

So someone bring me quickly up to speed on what's going on in the game... have you all been muted until further notice?

[FlyingJesus]

I don't think the courts see it that way. Child molester is just an evolved form of a pedophile in their eyes.

Certainly is true since without an act there is no legal ramification you can't be arrested for thinking something

[Storking]

habbo isn't creating the rooms. habbo didn't start encouraging the whole online dating thing until way after it took off many years ago. they realised that is what kids wanted on the internet. i was cybering on habbo along with many others when the most enabling furniture in this area was a inflatable red heart for valentine's day. it really bugs me that people who have been on habbo for like three years are getting in to this acting like habbo is doing something terrible. i remember kissing booth rooms made out of red plasto and the limited valentine's line at the same time that habbo had no encouragement for the online relationship thing. kids were pole dancing then. this is the time when people said habbo had better moderation as well. the source of this is society, the environment. kids hear songs by their favourite female pop singers getting more and more blatant about how they want to be rammed and used and touched and pleased. i don't know about the uk but no news outlet was in uproar that enrique ilgesias' song "tonight (i'm ******* you)" was all over top forty radio and youth-accessible media outlets with poor censorship. everything kids buy in to is filled with sex. this is not habbo, this is about modern society. welcome to modern day, whiny parents. kids don't have to hide their normal curiousity about sex anymore. it's everywhere and they are free to explore it as they wish. i have to reiterate that the pedophile thing is so minor and not limited to habbo that it is just undeniable that they added it in to the story to make it valid and not a stupid attack piece on whomever they felt was popular enough to get ratings.

You might think it's "ok" to be exposed to sexually explicit content on Habbo but the fact is children should not be exposed to this crap, they're 13 years old and they should not be allowed to have cyber sex on Habbo!

Parents let their children go on Habbo with the assumption that it's safe because Habbo has won safety awards and signed up to safety programmes, but the reality was pointed out by channel 4.

[MKR&*42]

Really can't wait till Channel 4 find out where mods are from, someone tell them please? lol x

*Sigh*, wonder how long till this all eventually dies down (never?).