Formspring reviews

Now simply "spring.me" this is a site that essentially encourages bullies to harass people with anonymous questions. And even worse, my bully would ask HIMSELF anonymous questions about me to get away with badmouthing me.

They get one star back for being good about banning such activity... but that's pretty much the only use for the site. Otherwise it's like a poor man's poor man's poor man's Twitter.

The site is mainly a place for kids to hang out and while some of it is useful, it is basically a cyberbullying site. Formspring has worked hard to make some changes so I give them credit for that but the bullying is still way too high. If the guidelines were stronger, it could be a fun place but if you have children this one I would watch out for.

Formspring is another website of concern. While on the surface it seems like a fun question and answer site, there is way too much bullying on the site. However, pressure on Formspring recently has caused them to admit bullying was a problem and to put in stronger filters and monitoring. A year ago (as an advocate against cyberbullying) I would have given it two stars (not good but certainly better than hate sites like Topix), but with the improvements I give it three stars. When people act human on Formspring it does have its merits at times. I will warn other parents and grandparents out there, a lot of kids use the site and it has limited appeal to adults.

With respect to Susan, the previous reviewer, and without taking anything from the message she's sending about the use of such sites, formspring.me does have an abuse contact address and it's plainly displayed. It also has instructions for blocking people who have upset you in any way, and accepting anonymous messages is optional, not mandatory. I leave the debate over how much responsibility a parent should take, to others. I'm not a parent, I'm not qualified for that one.

As to the site itself, the idea is to allow people to ask and answer questions of each other. People may be anonymous, or not, or just ask or answer their friends. Abandoning all sense of security is optional, but if you do then you will get messages from anonymous and potentially unpleasant people. It's your call, as far as I can tell.

The site is becoming very popular, with something like 7 million hits a month or more, and although it would be cool to be an adult there and anonymously find your boss and ask him why he's such a prat, chances are that it's inhabited by teenagers who, as science tells us, haven't got fully-developed brains yet.

Virtual Reality, whether entered by avatar or text or video, is subject to different rules, different morality and different expectations than the Real World. Take a trip out of the Real World by all means, but don't expect Real World mores to apply once you're there. I guess if they did, then Virtual and Real worlds would become indistinguishable, and some of us would be very sad about that.

A similar project may be found here:
http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.anybodyoutthere.com