There have been times where I have checked out some of the user created rooms. When i go in I expect something fun but what I find is disturbing. I know that admins dont have moderation access to the rooms due to the rules, but do you think there should be rooms on the site where people are talking dirty and doing stuff like getting emails for cam and stuff? I completely love the option to have a chat room with the option to be operator, but do you guys/gals think admins should not have any access what so ever? I believe if isketch was to monitor the rooms and get these people off the site it could narrow down the cheats, and trolls. Not just that but I belive there is a huge security risk with these users. Not only that but there are little kids on this site that could click on a room and see stuff like I saw saying “Suck this big d**k” There are so many problems i can see with this and thought what other fellow players might think. please comment!

I understand your complaints.. But thats exactly what the public rooms are for. What's the point of having user created and operated rooms if the users cant have total control? Whatever information users exchange amongst themselves in private rooms is their own business. If the cheats/trolls are in user created rooms, then hey, all the better for the public rooms. The internet is not, and will never be 100% child-proof. A kid could accidentally come across an adult website and accidentally click yes i am over 18 as well. These things can't always be prevented.

I can't be certain, but I think this topic has been discussed before. It is an interesting and ongoing discussion though I believe, so why not discuss it some more :)

I think the main issue with this is the prevention of rudeness and lewdness from younger players.

If you do create a user-created room (UCR), you and your fellow room operators (ops) will have full control over what happens. To be honest, if you create a room, most decent players will welcome newer, and possibly younger players who could well be under the age of maturity in their respective countries. A good player will attempt to make sure that nothing appears in their room that could be harmful to other players, including images and/or discussion of a rude nature. Unfortunately, not everyone is as good as this, especially in the Cyber room.

The only challenge with this is that people have varying tolerances of rudeness, so getting it right can prove quite difficult. Although a lot of the time we play with our friends who we have known for a while, so we can have a much better judgement of this.

However as much as us players and the admins try, it is practically impossible to prevent people from creating this lewd and/or possibly offensive rooms, as there is no definitive way of ensuring the age of each and every player. People can choose whatever age they want to be online. Even if registrations were open to verify the age of players, they could still lie about their age.

If you are joining a UCR, although the rules don't explicitly state but possibly implicitly, you do so at your own risk. The main reason is what I've stated above; that you as a player joining that room will have no control at the point of entry to the UCR at all.

I firmly believe that iSketch should be a game for everyone of all ages to enjoy and have fun with, but in my opinion it is everyone's responsibility to ensure the safety of younger members, not just the administrator's :)

I'd have no real issue with iSketch wanting to have a "clean" image and having a rule against cyber rooms etc. At the moment, however, I think it would be rather hypocritical, given that iSketch provides "XXX" and "Lewd" in their wordlist choices.

I'd be interested to hear more about the security risk you mention though.

I will soon be working on some reaserch for the security risk out there i know there has got to be one with the stuff users are posting i just have to dig a bit.

And to be added, when an op in a room leaves and comes back they are not admin so it would be intresting to see how many times rooms like cyber have an admin.

/me prepares to crack open google.

Some of the main cyber issues that could have a security risk of them sharing emails, professional hackers can easily get into their emails and easily trace their location. Which could go as far as a member being stalked, to raped, to even killed.

iSketch is for all ages - the internet is simply not suitable for young persons unless supervised by a parent/guardian. There are many options that parents can use for younger players including censoring and ignoring.

I work with all these cyber issues and the best thing to do is educate. I propose that someone (SHOTGUN NOT) send in an email to Rob and ask him to put some kind of warning for sharing personal details. An "AcroBot"-type message in the chat box every 5 minutes or so?

(SHOTGUN NOT)

This made me laugh. Said it all the time when I was younger.

If iSketch didn't have the ability for players to create their own rooms, the chance of cybering would go up in the public rooms. Yes, they are policed by admins, but surely it would be better to move them into UCRs, so as to direct them away from the main areas of iSketch. It seems to be all about allowing choice for those who are "of age", while educating (I like that word Snackeh :smile:) younger viewers. That's probably why quite racy wordlists are allowed on iSketch, but they can be used only in UCRs.

I work with all these cyber issues and the best thing to do is educate. I propose that someone (SHOTGUN NOT) send in an email to Rob and ask him to put some kind of warning for sharing personal details. An "AcroBot"-type message in the chat box every 5 minutes or so?

Lol at shotgun not :razz:
I think this is a great idea. The likes of MSN has something similar. All you'd need persay is a message in the chat box saying something like,

Please be aware that this room is not admin assisted. Do not give out personal details that could potentially be misused.

I also reckon that explicitly stating in the rules that UCRs are to be entered at the player's own risk, would not be a bad idea either.

I will soon be working on some research for the security risk out there i know there has got to be one with the stuff users are posting i just have to dig a bit.

To be honest, rather than working to find this potential security problem, personally I'd first let Rob know any information you might have so that he can work on it. After all, he's the one that made the game, so he must know the complete ins and outs of it. He'd probably appreciate the help as well.

And to be added, when an op in a room leaves and comes back they are not admin so it would be intresting to see how many times rooms like cyber have an admin.

Sorry to be awkward but can I be slightly picky about your wording?
A room operator (op) is an overseer of a user-created room who moderates and controls their room only and has no official bearing on the game itself.
An administrator (admin) is an officially appointed controller of the public rooms of iSketch, ensuring that the global rules are followed.

That said, I believe that any players who could be attempting to hack the server can be dealt with by admins, as this can bring a detrimental effect to the entire game. Hackers could be using public rooms, but I imagine it would be common they join user-created rooms as they are not normally overseen by admins. Although I can't be certain about this, it seems logical and it might help asking Feedback.

As my sons have been growing up, I have been involved in what they have been doing on the internet. It's called parental supervision (to check and watch for the sites they're playing on or interested in) and education (teaching them to not share certain information, and some of the dangers that abound on the internet highway). It is the responsibility, I believe, of the parents to initiate this education and supervision, and most schools do things similarly, here. It is the responsibility of the parents to investigate if particular sites have tools for the protection of their children, and iSketch does have some - but needs the parents to activate them...like filtering bad language in the Settings. As far as the UCR's are concerned, parents should be watching which rooms their children enter and give them clear instruction - this is not the responsibility of the site owner, I believe. If parents have gone through the rules of the site, they will realise the risks they run for their children, simply by seeing that some people DO draw porn, though iSketch does monitor this - some people DO use bad language - some people ARE offensive. The initial answer, I believe, is in how the parents educate and supervise their children into becoming responsible users. My sons are older now, and they are very discerning young men. I am proud of how they behave on the internet and in life in general. Some may say that some children don't have this opportunity, well that can fall back on the parents lack of due interest in watching what their children may be getting up to on their computers, which in often cases, are being used as babysitters so that parents can be doing 'their own thing'.

Parents (and schools) teach children about 'stranger danger' in the streets and environment, and I see it no differently on the internet.

Thanks for all the imput guys. isnack, that is such a great idea! db good example and yes someone needs to step up and email rob. I think I will.... can you guys pm me with anything extra that would help in the email if you think of anything not listed? SoulAngel, i do agree..but sadly some kids are rebellious so they dont listen and some parent(unlike you) never have or will put in time to do the suggested...thanks again, keep posting and happy sketching!

SoulAngel, i do agree..but sadly some kids are rebellious so they dont listen and some parent(unlike you) never have or will put in time to do the suggested...thanks again, keep posting and happy sketching!

I agree on both points, Arris. The rebellious ones need their computers taken from them for a period of time as a consequence. The parents who don't bother with input will have to expect that their children could end up in tricky situations - but let's hope they don't! I have always been told that iSketch was made for adults. In my view, then, this is just like a relationship...children, at some point, will happen along! :lol: And iSketch has taken that responsibility in hand and provided the tools to assist children to stay safe. Their physical parents need to activate those tools! I don't find it the fault of the site that the tools are not being utilised.

can you guys pm me with anything extra that would help in the email if you think of anything not listed?

If you want to check out the thread where this topic has been previously discussed, you can view it here (http://www.isketchforum.net/time-ban-open-t3439.html). Not sure if there's anything particularly different in there that may help you but worth a look anyhow.

Do u guys know a direct email for rob, maybe rob@isketch.net??

Ah yes, I thought it had been discussed already, thanks Medsies :)

Yes, Just look at what happened to db when he strayed into one...

He was never the same.

Someone pass me a bucket :razz:

Do u guys know a direct email for rob, maybe rob@isketch.net??

Maybe, I'm not sure. The only way I know of is through Feedback. I guess Rob reads those.
Edit: Although to be honest, these discussions can be viewed by guests, so chances are, he knows about the forum and he may well already know that we're discussing it.

duhn duhn duhn duhn.... :lol:

Hey guys, i just wanted to let you know that i have talked to rob on isketch and i sent him an email!

Just a lil point, while im not a fan of SOME user created rooms either, the positive side is, if there were no user created rooms, all those 'rude' players you are talking about would be invading the public rooms.

Is that what you want?

Just a lil point, while im not a fan of SOME user created rooms either, the positive side is, if there were no user created rooms, all those 'rude' players you are talking about would be invading the public rooms.

Is that what you want?
Great point nuka, that is a major concern we saw with this idea, so that is why we (mainly db) came up with the idea of posting this in them every so often and the rules thing...


Please be aware that this room is not admin assisted. Do not give out personal details that could potentially be misused.

I also reckon that explicitly stating in the rules that UCRs are to be entered at the player's own risk, would not be a bad idea either.