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More on MySpace
Mon., Feb. 12. 2007 12:42pm EST
 Last week we mentioned that we had recently launched an ApologetiX MySpace site. We received a very thoughtful response from a fan, friend and father in Great Falls MT concerning some of the perils of MySpace. We thought he expressed himself very well, so we're including an excerpt from his email (to which we already responded) and some of our own thoughts:
I'm glad to see you will be back (at Downpour '07 in Great Falls MT) this year. In the last newletter, I was pretty disappointed, though, with your seeming endorsement of MySpace.com.
Our daughter has been denied access to this site after just a little bit of checking up on MySpace. PC Magazine recently rated it the #1 Worst website due to its lack of security and, even after numerous reports of crimes committed using MySpace, their unwillingness to seriously change their controls. These crimes encompass anything from pedophiles posing as 13-year-old boys, to identity theft, to "Cyber Bullying."
The scary part to me about MySpace is, within just a few clicks, you can check on your friends' contacts, their contacts, then BOOM, explicit pictures. MySpace is notorious for resisting any call to try to verify identities of their members, and limit content accessibility for youths.
There are a lot of legitimate articles from Christian/Conservative groups out there on-line that contain a lot of horror stories. I think that the LEAST you should do is point out possible concerns parents could have. I can just see a kid asking his/her parents for access to ApologetiX, the parents saying "Sure", then the kid running through MySpace looking at all sorts of stuff.
I hope I haven't offended you. I know your hearts are in the right place. But there is a huge outcry from concerned parents/citizens about MySpace. Just look for it, and you'll see all sorts of info. Thanks for your time. God Bless You!
Dave Anderson
Great Falls MT
Editor's Note: Dave made some excellent points. The fact that we have set up a MySpace site and announced it should not be taken as our blanket endorsement of MySpace. Furthermore, we are not trying to encourage new people to join the MySpace crowd. In retrospect, we wish we would have clarified that in last week's article.
To be frank, we're not huge fans of MySpace. First, it allows suggestive pop-up ads that we oppose. Second, its email is much slower to read than email we get through our contact form on our website. Third, it creates lots of extra work for us, because we have to maintain two sites.
However, it is the site where today's youth are going, and it's the most-used site for discovering and sharing music, especially independent bands. By making our music available on MySpace we also allow other Christians to be able to use our songs in their profiles.
We also know a number of Christian adults who have MySpace sites. After we ran the story in last week's newsletter, we received an unbelievable amount of "add a friend" requests from ApologetiX fans both young and old. These weren't people who joined MySpace because we told them about it; they were already out there.
Like the Internet and music itself, MySpace can be used for both good and for evil. At this time, we believe we should have a presence there just as surely as the church needs to have a missionary presence in the rougher sections of town. We will continue to approach this subject with caution.
One last thing: If you wish to contact the members of ApologetiX, you'll actually reach us faster if you do so through http://www.apologetix.com
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