Cults Ruining the internet

VANCOUVER -- A teenager missing for more than a week was reunited with her parents after she was found at a Vancouver restaurant by a security guard, the RCMP said Friday.

RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said an examination of the family computer showed Josephine frequented Internet sites about satanic cults and corresponded in chat rooms.

Terri TheodoreCanadian PressFriday, February 04, 2005
www.canada.com...

Quick Tip for parents of 16 year olds: Keep your computer in the living room or another public area. Use the password system, this is what its for.

The internet is barely governed.
We get many things for free that we would have to go to the store to buy normally.
People who want to control you are on-line and maybe chatting with you.

I've never heard of any satanic cult in Vancouver. Anyone know about it?

I would have to disagree with the title of your thread, just to say that I think worrying about cults is ruining the internet. Cults and whackos have been around as long as we have, and we gained the ability to communicate en masse, they did too. Common sense and good parenting should far outweigh legislation and regulation when it comes to the internet. For the first time in the history of man kind we have an open forum for the exchange of ideas and information, let's not let a few bad apples cause the decease of an incredible turn in man's history. I have learned more in the past decade because of the net than I ever could have hoped to have learned in several life times of formal education.

Originally posted by twitchy
I would have to disagree with the title of your thread,

I'm going to second that; there are many people using the internet for research and educational purposes. There are many science forums available and they are frequented.

The internet is populated with good and bad alike; caution is prudent for parents however.

Ironically, I have to agree with MemoryShock (:wow and twitch (sorry if that should be ironic, too, but Memory's avatar is memorable), though I expect I was coming here to point out a different ruiner, not to defend cults (kiddy porn ain't good...).

It's a great idea to keep your compy in a public place, though. Personally, I think that if you're not willing to go to a site where people could see you going to that site, you should't go to that site.

Now, I don't claim to practice this, but I am in the process of moving my computer to a public spot in my house to force that on myself. I just have to figure out how to sleep without having a family guy, simpsons, or futurama episode playing while I lay down.

P.S. You better forgive the lack of caps on those titles, I'm typing with one hand, forgot, and don't want to make the effort of editing for that.

I completely agree with both of you. Minus the point of the title.
Just as you, I have learned so much on the net. I feel the net is an excellent source of information. It is in fact my main source of info.

The reason I say Cults are ruining the internet is this.
How many people in Vancouver now will freak out in fear that their child is going to be seduced on the net.
"worrying about cults is ruining the internet." This is exactly true, and is how cults are ruining the internet.

Fear will always keep a person down.

Originally posted by junglejake
Ironically, I have to agree with MemoryShock (:wow

and twitch (sorry if that should be ironic, too, but Memory's avatar is memorable),

I've thought about changing to a more user friendly expression based on the blatant nature, however, I keep it as a symbolic protest. Those who want to take it seriously can if they want, but I would hope that the quality of my posts(which I believe is there) would detract from "the shock value"