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Hi guys

I have decided to follow up my shame on Dmoz post with an update, I didn’t realise what kind of a response I would get from such a post.

I really didn’t expect the kind of negative views and abuse that I have received, although Alucard on Digital point was helpful so I would like to thank him for his time.

Why Single Out Dmoz

The object of my exercise wasn’t to single out Dmoz, Dmoz are the biggest directory on the net, that is why i targeted them for chat room safety and i wanted to make a point that some of the sites they have listed are not safe.  They have a lot of influance on the net, much more than I could ever hope to have.

If Dmoz were to remove these sites I had hoped it might set some kind of precedence to webmasters who don’t care about chat room safety.

This is certainly a problem for lots of directories and not just Dmoz, so my intention wasnt to take pot shots at Dmoz, but since I had targetted them first, I had to approach it from a strong position.

Did It Work

NOPE, seems Dmoz just list sites, they dont actually care about the content of the sites at all, never mind safety, so my safety campaign didnt work at all, if your site meets their criteria you might well get listed or not lol !

I also got a lot of negative comments which I was quite shocked about, after all chat room safety is a good thing is it not ?

Seemingly not, the problem with somthing like this, is its only important when it happens to someone you are close to or who you know.  This is a problem that will begin to grow slowly as more people get online.

As Admin at World of Chat, we have often talked about this issue, the conclusion we reached is that nothing will be done about this, until somthing bad actually happens, in the same way that if somone gets knocked down on a certain street, then they put a speed camera there to try to make sure it doesnt happen again.

So the sites i suggested that shouldnt be listed are still there and will continue to be listed and World of Chat will not be listed simple as that !

Woc

Tags: Chat room News // 2 Comments »

Hi Guys

I’m sure some of you don’t know what Dmoz is, Dmoz is a massive directory on the net, that is owned by AOL.

Dmoz is unique as its run by volunteers, you would think that would be a good thing, unfortunately it isn’t, I have various issues with Dmoz its really hard to know where to start.

My main issues with Dmoz is chat room categories on there which are out of date and the sites are in my opinion unsafe, you would think with World of Chat being one of the safest rooms on the net, this would automatically get us in there, you would be WRONG to think this.

Why would I be upset about this so much, the problem with the chat room section on Dmoz is that most of the chat room sites have no safety information, moderation or any security at all, which is frankly asking for trouble !

Dmoz by listing these sites is promoting these sites and sending visitors to these sites, yet decent sites like World of Chat cant even get listed !

I emailed Dmoz with my concerns which was of course ignored, and I’m pretty sure i will never get a reply, as the problem with something being moderated by volunteers, is there is a hidden agenda, which is that people are promoting their own sites via there and their friends sites.

Whats even more amazing is Dmoz answer to no one, you can email them but you wont get a reply, you cant query or challenge a decision, even if its legitimate how can this still be happening in this day and age ?

Why is Safety Such an Issue

The incidents of sexual exploitation via chat rooms has grown, the last official line was 2 a day, which is frightening !

Admittedly you cant stop anyone under age from getting into a chat room people can lie about their age, the only thing you can do is try to deter people and have all the safety information available on your site, some sites don’t have this, this should be a minimum on all sites, especially so if your site is for people under the age of 16.

This undermines everything we are trying to do on World of Chat, we put a good deal of time into moderating the rooms, it also gives webmasters the free run to just create a chat room just to make money and gives them no incentive to make their chat rooms safe, this is surely wrong !

I did an unofficial review of most of the chat rooms within one of the categories and emailed this information to Dmoz, i even applied to tidy up their chat section, with no reply !

Ridiculous

Here is my list of sites that are in dmoz and in my opinion shouldnt be there !

Aol chat – No Safety information, Doesn’t even work !Big bobs chat - No safety information, out of date hasn’t been updated since 2005Blackboard - No safety information and doesn’t work !Buzz chat - - Again doesn’t even work and terrible site with very poor navigation.800 chat - No safety information Irc channel that doesn’t work!

Chat Valley - Is more of a games are than a chat room, as the chat room isnt even listed on the links !

Chat Web - Advertised as a teen chat room with no safety advice and doesn’t even have a chat room, just links to another website with chat rooms !

Chat Attic - Awful site with no quality, and a clear attempt to get people to donate money to their chat room.

Chatglobe - Not in English and no safety information, cant use it properly as there are so many pop ups on the site, plus the chat room doesn’t work !

ChatWeb - Decent site, but the chat room isn’t even a chat room, its just a script that runs like a chat room, outdated probably about 10 years old.

English Chat - No safety information, doesn’t have a chat room, and has keyword stuffing at the bottom of the page. No safety information and again doesn’t work, and just generally of poor content and quality

Fire-house58 - No safety information, outdated script must be 10 years old, not even a proper chat room, poor quality content.

Hip Planet Chat room - No safety information and site is corrupted as all the image files are missing.

Joe Hollywoods Bang  - No safety information, outdated script that simulates chat room activity, but isnt a chat room !

Leahims Java Chat - No safety information doesn’t have a chat room !

Mikes2000chat – Hasn’t been updated since the year 2000, outdated !

Shophub - No safety information, another outdated chat room, not been updated since 2000

SHAME ON YOU DMOZ !

Woc

Tags: Chat room News // 12 Comments »

Hi Guys

Its nice to have my own say on the goings on in and around the room over the last few weeks, the room had been picking up and was getting busier, but now that’s changed.

The goings on of the last few weeks are frankly embarrassing, after linking up with Time 2 Dance Radio over the last few weeks, I had hoped things would pick up even more, but no people had to spoil it, and I have to apologize to the people of Time 2 Dance Radio for other peoples behavior.  Fortunately they have been understanding.

It never fails to surprise me how selfish people can be, as World of Chat brought most of you people together, but when things go wrong the room is the main thing that suffers, because some of you can set your differences aside and that is to everyone involved in the problems, I don’t care about who started it or who said what, your supposed to be adults and a community.

That means supporting your community and helping resolve issues, not by saying oh im not coming in now until it gets better!

What’s even more frustrating is that no one even mentioned what was going on, to any admin and then when asked, the common response was “I aint mentioning any names” well if you cant mention any names, don’t mention it at all.

What is even more amazing, is after all my warnings yesterday about people hiding banned users in the room and not mentioning them to Admin, someone still managed to do this yesterday, as a old quote once said, “ if you not part of the solution your part of the problem” and there wont be a room to chat in if this continues.

Woc

Tags: Chat room News // Add Comment »

Hi guys

As some of you might have noticed, world of chat has linked up with Time 2 dance radio, to bring you music while you are in the chat rooms.

The djs will mainly be working from the Woc lounge for the time being, and taking live requests on certain nights of the week, so please do your best to support them.

 They will take requests for birthdays and things like that as well !

Woc

Tags: Chat room News // Add Comment »

Hi guys

Yes its official spammers are complete idiots, I constantly get people trying to spam our chat rooms, my blog and our forums.

I can tell spammers now its a complete waste of time, so I dunno why you bother, for starters my blog comments are no follow links, secondly i moderate all the comments anyway, so you are wasting your time.  As for the forums, it takes me about 2 seconds to remove your spam, i moderate every thread as well, so again another pointless exercise !

Woc

Tags: Internet // 2 Comments »

Hi guys

Last month one of the very first Uk chat sites finally has closed it doors, Uk chat was one of the first chat sites that many people can remember, it just shows how competative chat rooms are.

I never really used Uk chat, but i think its sad that they have had to close, they mention on their site that a move towards social networking sites has affected their numbers.

I am not sure if this is true, although there is definatly more people on social networking sites now, im not sure this means the end for chat rooms.

I think its very apparent you have to keep sites up to date, and change with the times, who knows somone might take over Uk chat yet.

Woc

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Hi Guys

It was quite funny to hear that the msn live AI intelligence bot has been withdrawn, as the program had run into problems.

The program that people just chatted to via msn messenger, was supposed to be a bit of fun, and something kids could chat to safely online.

Seems the Santa bot had been a docker in a past life, as its language turned with such phrases as dirty bastards and describing sex acts.

I never added the bot, but i have experienced bots before, and they are not clever enough to choose their language carefully, so it isn’t really a surprise.

There is a serious side of course, most parents would be mortified if the Santa had spoke to their child like this.

After hearing a Microsoft representative on the radio, he said the program didn’t behave how they wanted it to behave, too bloody right it didn’t lol !

Woc

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Hi Guys

Ive not been blogging so much lately, as I haven’t really had much to say, but i saw Watchdog last night and it was nice to see our old friend EBay on there.

 Have You Ever Been Ripped Off on EBay ?

I would like to bet that most people who have used eBay for a while have been ripped off in some way, even myself, i did get my money back, after a series of baffling emails by some bloke who I can only describe as thick as too short planks, who didn’t want to give me my money back and was more interested in arguing the toss !

It never fails to amaze me how people say things on emails, as they feel they can say what they like because its not face to face.

I’m sure many people have had good experiences on EBay, people I know have, but they too have had some truly awful experiences.

One Tip Don’t Buy A Website On EBay

I have never bought a website via EBay, but I do know a lot about websites, whatever you do if you ever see a website on EBay don’t buy it ! 

Never under any circumstances, I have looked through the listings extensively, most of the websites are things that many webmasters know about, not what I would call clear scams, but they are websites that overinflated evaluations, false promises and plainly just rubbish. 

The chances are if you do buy a website, there will be another website being sold the next day, exactly the same as yours just with a few different colours, as many of the websites for sale are free templates anyway !

The Feedback Loophole

There are so many issues with EBay and how it works to mention, but really its a scammers heaven, there is also a feedback loophole which is what Watchdog pointed out yesterday, the story usually goes like this :

• Honest user wins item
• Honest user receives item, realises its nothing like advertised and is complete cack
• Honest user emails to complain
• Dishonest seller says you can have your money back, so long as you don’t give me negative feedback !

This is clearly a breach of how EBay works, but you are forced to agree, as you just want your money back, and clearly makes a mockery of the feedback issue, as the people who want to give negative feedback cant, as they fear they wont get their money back.  So when you see someone with no negative feedback, well you cant trust this, so its more or less makes it irrelevant.

Is EBay Any Good anymore ?

Nope its awful, in fact its worse than awful, they are so big, they don’t even care about the singular customer, and how do i know this, because i have experienced it, I get pretty fed up of hearing how big companies push people around, and EBay is one of them.

I wont be experiencing it again, as I will never use it ever again, and until other people start doing the same it wont change.

Why Do the Problems Exist ?

There are many reasons why EBay has so many problems, one of the main problems is because you cant actually see the person, some people expect something for nothing for example, someone selling a diamond ring online for £5, the winner once receiving their £5 diamond, wonders why the diamond isn’t real ? it was £5 what do you feckin expect ?

Some people are just never happy and some people just like to cause trouble.

I wish someone would challenge EBay’s side of the market, I don’t think it will ever happen, as the likelihood would be EBay would buy any competitors out anyway,

The real problem is EBay are just not up to the job, if they were an employee, they would have been sacked a long time ago, they fail their own customers in so many ways, even when you think common sense will prevail, EBay will manage to get it wrong, they simply don’t care its as simple as that ! 

until then good luck with your Ebaying, your going to need it !

 Woc

Tags: Internet // Add Comment »

Hi there

As some of you may have noticed the arcade has now been made into a play as you post area, in other words to keep access to the games section you need to have at least 10 posts and make 2 new ones a day.

The reason for this is people were not contributing to either the chat room or the forums, and just using the games, doing this doesnt help the site at all. 

Woc

Tags: Chat room News // Add Comment »

Hi there

We have seen some frustrations on the forums, by the lack of chat in the rooms lately, I think everyone shares the frustration of people entering the room and not saying anything.

I have labeled this chat room apathy, as that’s exactly what it is, it was nice to see people are just as fed up by this as the admin team, but there seems to be very few solutions to this problem, in fact if mentioned the problem seems to be exasperated by people searching for excuses to not do anything, which i find baffling.

So does anyone have any good ideas, other than just moaning ?

 Woc

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