MySpaceSafetyTips.com

MySpace has changed a lot in the past six months. Several of the changes were related to the age that is implied by the birth date you enter when you join MySpace, or that you later enter by editing your profile. The birth date that you enter at sign up time determines which set of rules will be applied to your account. You must be at least 14 years old to join MySpace. Do not join MySpace if you are 13 or younger! It’s not the right place for you, yet. We urge all MySpace members to report underage users. If you are 14 or 15 years old, your MySpace profile is “private” (or “friends only”) by default. This means only only people on your MySpace friend list can view your full profile page. This in itself provides a lot of safety. If you are 16 or older, and you would like the added protection afforded by a private profile, you can reset your birth date to date that makes you 14 or 15. Alternatively, if you’d like to reduce the chances of your profile turning up in search results, you can select a birth date that makes you 100 years old. From scanning MySpace pages, it’s clear that many teens and young adults have chosen to do this.

That is some great advice, but people can get deleted by posting the wrong age. If your 16 and you want your profile to be private, you can change your age to 14 or 15, because no one will suspect that you’re actually 16. However, if you’re 26 and you pose as a 14 or 15 year old, you can definitely get deleted for that. If you change your age to 100 (or anything around there), and you look alot younger, you can be deleted as well.

If anyone chooses to post the wrong age for privacy reasons, I recommend NOT posting your real age on your profile anywhere. Anyone can see that and report you. Last year sometime, I posted the age 100, and got deleted soon after.

Posted by Kate on 31 May 2006 - 09:02

This is the first time I’ve heard of someone being deleted because they posted an incorrect age. It is true that the MySpace Terms of Service state that you must enter your correct birth date when you sign up for MySpace. But then, they also let you change your birth date any time you want after you’ve already signed up. In that sense, they’re inviting people to set their birth date to an incorrect date. To invite people to post an incorrect birth date, then delete their accounts when they do so, doesn’t seem fair.

I don’t suppose you were actually told why your account was deleted, were you? As far as I can tell, they don’t warn you that your account will be deleted, they just delete it.

I think the best solution would be for MySpace to give people the option to make their profile private regardless of what age they are. Then people wouldn’t be changing their age to try to have a different level of privacy.

Posted by Kevin Farnham on 31 May 2006 - 23:24

how might one go about changing their myspace birth date?

Posted by something on 09 July 2006 - 02:04

To change your birth date in MySpace:

1. Go to your home page
2. Click “Edit Profile”
3. Click “Basic Info”
4. Click the “Edit” button
5. Enter the corrected “Date of Birth”
6. Click the “Submit” button

Posted by Kevin Farnham on 11 July 2006 - 01:38

If I delete someone from my friends list and make my profile a private one after it, can that person still access my profile if him/she has posted any comments that are still on my profile?

Posted by Jorge Cruz on 11 December 2006 - 22:17

Jorge: people should not be able to view your profile if you have made it private and deleted them from your friend list. Having posted comments previously, when they were on your friend list, should not make a difference.

If the person doesn’t have a private profile, you can select “Block” on their profile, to block them from being able to contact you using emails and through other methods.

If someone is causing trouble, you can contact MySpace. They often do respond to problems of this kind.

Posted by Kevin Farnham on 16 December 2006 - 03:58

I have a real issue with giving age on my space that should be choice if one is over 18 years of age if I want my residence or age known I will inform those that I wish to have it that information.

Posted by Darlene Roberts on 16 January 2007 - 05:17

Can someone tell if you have viewed their myspace page if you are a non-registered user?

Posted by allison on 21 January 2007 - 17:26

Allison: it’s possible for someone to detect your IP address, which would tell them which internet provider you used to connect to the Internet. They can figure out which browser you’re using. Normally (unless they know a lot about web programming) that’s about all they’d see.

So — if they have some kind of “tracker” software, they can see that someone visited, but they normally wouldn’t be able to identify you individually.

Kevin

Posted by Kevin Farnham on 17 February 2007 - 18:26

Kevin: Furteher on Allisons question: Apart for your IP adress, would someone be able to see you ‘computer name’/who the PC is registered to if you visited their myspace profile as a non-registered user?, or other information like e-mail adress etc.?

Posted by Gavin on 16 March 2007 - 15:13

I think that it is kind of weird that only users ages 14 and 15 get protection, such as a private profile. Older users should also be able to receive that same protection. I think that fighting the battle against underage users is pretty pointless. Sure if you report someone thay will get deleted, but what about the thousands of other mangly thirteen year olds that think “they’re so cool because they’re talking to HSers?” I mean, how many are really out there? And what are really the chances that all of them are evergoing to be kept off? Not a lot!

Posted by Hannah on 19 April 2007 - 12:45

is it true that if enough people block you on myspace your account will be deleted? i’ve heard of this but never known if it was true..

Posted by Nikki on 11 May 2007 - 00:27