Stardoll.com
Category: Tool / service
Topic: kids website
Year created: 2007
Recently I came across mention of the Stardoll site on TechCrunch and immediately thought of a young person who would love the idea of dressing up dolls online with all sorts of accessories. I noted that there were privacy controls for younger children (all of the community features could be disabled) so I thought that it would be OK.
I should have checked further
At the top of each page there is a message shout out box which displays messages from other members. Whilst I’m sure that they filter it for swearwords and so on there were definitely “adult concepts” being discussed that were completely inappropriate for kids. For example there was a message whilst we were logged in to the site about a 53 year old man having a relationship with a 14 year old girl. Not pretty, not pretty at all. Also there seemed to be no restriction on who could invite who as a friend so younger kids, whose judgment perhaps isn’t as good with these things, couldn’t tell who they were talking with. On top of that the email that gets sent to the child’s parents informing them that their child has joined up (provided the child adds the right email address during registration) has no way for the parent to say “No” and cancel the service.
Yes this is all par for the course with social networking sites but this site aims itself at the tween age group and yet provides insufficient protection for children of that age.
Definitely not recommended.
Tags: website kids unsafe chatroom web20
GeoURL
Subscribe
#1 by Eb on June 14th, 2008
| Quote
stardoll is safe, if you are under 13 u need a boxed checked that you’re mom or dad knows ur signing up and give them you’re parents email
also if some one swears at you in you’re album or diary or something…. then all you have to do is block them and delete them then report them to the staff..
over with..
now a next thing stardoll filters the langugae… so half the time you wont understand what they are saying.
Stardoll will take right action to get pervs away.
just easaly report them to thing and yeah basically
#2 by Rayven tottally cool on June 16th, 2008
| Quote
listen it’s safe and fun im only 12 and been on forever i haven’t seen any bad languge just people selling there clothes they bought on the website for cash and no not real cash for stardollars if your really that clue lessa bout us teens these days go oon myspace everybody has one im pretty sure most everybodys kids do !
#3 by it is safe but...... on June 17th, 2008
| Quote
I go on all the time and it is safe! But if you search for the wrong people, they are gross! I was searching for a friend and I clicked on the wrong person! Her name was rawr.bite.me she was disgusting! We all need to report her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#4 by Ellie on December 13th, 2008
| Quote
I love Stardoll! Sometimes it can be a real pain in the bun and some people on it are nasty and sometimes very rude. Sometimes your password doesn’t work but 90% of the people are kind and the staff deal with things very nicely. Superstar is the best thing to have but having the normal membership is also a good thing to have too. Please visit my suite. My username is ellie-tiastar and if you become a member, please join my club! I think it is a good oppertunity to be a member of Stardoll and most of my friends have joined it also. I recommend this website and there is 23,548,796 members on Stardoll so please join!
#5 by Heather on July 11th, 2009
| Quote
Star doll needs to be monitored by parents….trouble is that I didn’t monitor my teen close enough. They have a whole “pretend” world going on and I find it disturbing. Teens/tweens in my opinion might think that is how the world is. Get a real life teens/tweens–the computer is awesome just don’t take it for real or spend that much time on it. Clubs were you invite everyone and anyone just isn’t right-you will get perverts. Yeah you have to check a box saying your so old and your parents know….like all kids are gonna do that. Monitor monitor monitor….
#6 by sambhavi on November 28th, 2009
| Quote
facebook is not for kids!!!!!!!!!
#7 by marty on April 28th, 2010
| Quote
worry about your self. if the parents want to send their kids on that web site then let them. its a free country here peoples!!!!!!!!!!
#8 by marty on April 28th, 2010
| Quote
not wat were talking about but i agree!
#9 by yellek on April 28th, 2010
| Quote
Facebook isn’t for kids but there are a lot of kids under 13 on Facebook. My wife has a compromise with our 12 YO whereby they share a Facebook account so we can see what is going on.
#10 by Emma on August 27th, 2010
| Quote
In my opinion, stardoll is safe for mature children who aren’t stupid enough to “date” on a doll website. And they have recently improved their monitoring, so it has become a lot safer.
#11 by Telma on October 27th, 2010
| Quote
In my opinion,Stardoll is not a safe site for kids. While monitoring my daughter activities on Stardoll, i came across some really inadequate, inapropriate language; to be more specific: filthy descriptions of sexual acts. This goes on in Stardoll.br (we are portuguese). And i’m really sorry, but i don´t believe in reporting to the staff: the “staff” is just a computer sending pre-written answers. I sent a personal message to the “staff” and what i got in return was a robot-like answer.
Parents have to be aware that nothing is safe and must monitor; unfortunatelly most of the times is always too late.
It’s really hard to educate children these days.
#12 by Sheri on November 9th, 2010
| Quote
Stardoll is not safe and monitered properly people swear curse talk about sexual facts and i started looking at websites if stardoll is safe. I am looking for more facts abput this certain website. Appearantly i am doing this because my daughter has just got her account stolen mby one of her stardoll friends who she doesn’t know. Thelma you know how u said u got a robotic answer im arware tht those messages r just sent by computers alone
#13 by Nici on November 29th, 2010
| Quote
Thanks for this post/blog. I’ve been concerned myself about stardoll and my daughter. She seems to be glued to it, never wants to get off, getting lazy, not wanting to join other kids, not wanting to play anymore, all of this is so unlike her. She has become a new person since on Stardoll. Anyhow, I went on to her acct as she got in the shower tonight. I’m not happy. One guy she is talking to, a Tyler guy, and they are sending emails and stuff back and forth. Can I blocked the chatting from her acct? If I can’t, Im gonna have to close her acct. I don’t know this “Tyler” but I know she turns the computer away from us, she closes the laptop when she gets up/goes to the bathroom, etc. She is only 10. I’ve had it with this website. We have talked to our daughter about not giving names, and how the other person on the other end may not be who they say they are, etc, but still… it seemed to have go in one ear and out the other.
#14 by "Cat" Charlotte Darden Valentine on December 7th, 2010
| Quote
I play on stardoll and it’s comepletely safe! On the “shoutouts” they have things where you can only use words that THEY provide! You guys r tots bogus! I can choose wisely, and i really know what i’m doing. Who even *thinks* about using personal info on a site? Then they’re crazy. I think the community thing should be enabled for any age, as long as they send an e-mail saying they pledge to like, god or something that they will not go against some stardoll code that the Swedish people who own the site make up. STARDOLL IS SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#15 by "Cat" Charlotte Darden Valentine on December 7th, 2010
| Quote
AND I ONLY SAID MY “NAME” BECAUSE IT’S NOT MY REAL NAME! SEE I’M SMART!
#16 by Me on December 19th, 2010
| Quote
Stardoll is safe. That report is lies. you can’t broadcast half the words on that. Seriously, if you’re going to be a reporter at least don’t lie.
#17 by me on February 20th, 2011
| Quote
im nine years old and i agree stardolll is NOT SAFE there is some very bad things but its fun and addictive but dangerouse stay away from kissmebabe if ur on stardoll and evern if ur older STAY OFFF STARDOLLL
#18 by sarah on February 23rd, 2011
| Quote
i think stardoll it’s safe but stupid people make date in one website this is the stupid thing that i ever hear :@ soo i like stardoll im a member about 2 years ago and im enjoy i like to dress my doll and to make some new ideas with my rooms or to desings clothes that’s why stardoll is so safee
#19 by Mum on May 19th, 2011
| Quote
NOT SAFE!!
My daughter is 10 years old. She has completed many cyber safety programs through school, knows she is not to give out personal information. But this is not reality, nobody is asking for her information, just her innocence! And as for the kids safe option -if you sign up and under 13 you automatically cannot access certain things – wrong! In this pretend world she has been ‘accepted’ into clubs or allowed to join in conversations when she acts the part. The part of a drunken teen who goes to the bedroom with her boyfriend and … Lap dancing and skinny dipping may not be explicit language but it’s these adult concepts and the implied sexual references that are an all to common thread. I feel sick that this type of site exists and is masked by ‘dressing up dolls’. I really feel that I’ve learnt the hard way and wish I had of googled star doll before I signed her up! And i don’t understand why these kids that are so intent on proclaiming star doll is safe, are they really kids using the site or as I suspect is the case on star doll, people acting as kids and teens to lure in the impressionable?? If you are still willing to take the risk don’t be fooled into thinking you will ‘monitor’ because I did that for the first few months. It takes a while for new ‘friends’ to build a rapport with one another, to find they like the same things. I think in real life it’s called grooming.
You can’t investigate sites like this, but you can cancel or not join them in the first place!
#20 by MegaStarzz on May 20th, 2011
| Quote
I have NO idea what the person who started this page is talkin about. I have been on stardoll for a year and three months and have never seen anything innapropiate in the shoutout box. When you use the shout out box, you cant type ANYTHING you want. They already have words so you use the words they have (ok, you see an occassional ‘boys visit me!’ but that’s it! By the way, although kids as young as seven can join, this site is not PBS kids or Disney; more teens are members)
And also, it is up to members to report suspicious activity. Sweetie, you cannot shield your child from EVERYTHING. if they dont learn it from stardoll, they’ll learn it from the mouthes of their friends. But I would advise waiting until 12, 13 for a stardoll account. Although kids under 13 will be given a kid locked account(unless they lie about their age) they cannot chat, see other’s chats or presentations. Relax.
#21 by Nina on June 14th, 2011
| Quote
I’m 11 years old and I have a Stardoll account. I agree that there are some very bad and inappropriate thing going on, but that will happen on any website! Its very easy to avoid as well. This is a EXTREMELY safe website for kids as long as they’re not one of those creepy people that haves no life outside of stardoll, and use it to manipulate people, such as blackmailing them to send gifts, give passwords, buy accounts and soon. I’ve been perfectly fine on this website for over a year by just saying NO. Simple as that.
#22 by Meee ;D on June 29th, 2011
| Quote
I agree, i’m only 11 but I was on stardoll for a while and it seemed fine but then I realised that you could join these clubs and create clubs of your own and I realised that ANYONE could join… I joined just so I could observe and I saw very disturbing things.. :/
So today I deleted my account and I would advise anyone with a stardoll account or anyone who’s daughters have a stardoll account to delete too!
#23 by hayhay4au on July 22nd, 2011
| Quote
Stardoll is safe. I swear you people get a freaking grip. I’m 12 and I’ve been on since May of 2010, and I have likke a gazillion friends and NONE of them are “Bad”. And my 10 year old sister is on and she hasn’t ever seen anything bad either. And as for the broadcasts or whatever you people are calling it… “shoutouts” you can only use words Stardoll lets you use. 99% of them are “Vote Me Covergirl” or “Vote My Album” and crap. And the other 1% is random stuff like “The Flying Alien Jumped Over The Bazaar Cow” and stuff.
Parents, believe it or not, you can’t hide your kids from the Internet. And those of you with teens, I bet that 90% of teens WILL tell you if they see bad things.
Clubs. When you create a club, not anyone can join. There is a choice when you are setting the club up, “Anyone Can Join” or “Owner Decides Who Can Join”, and if you click the box “Owner Decides” then (hello) you decide! And if you join a club with inapropriate content, hit the button “UnJoin Club” and you won’t be a member anymore!!! It’s not that hard!
Friends. You choose your friends people! They send you a request, and you go to their suite, see if you want them to be your friend, then accept or deny the request guys!
Album, Guestbook, Scenery, etc. You can close your Album, Scenery, Guestbook, Blog, etc comments for just you or just you and your friends if you want! But if you want to be able to meet new people (like I do) then you can make it for everyone, and if someone comes who cusses or talks inapropriately, you block them and they can’t contact you in anyway anymore.
So, Stardoll is perfectly fine. And for those of you parents who say that your kid got into trouble on it, chances are they didn’t just happen to fall into it. Your child was probably stupid enough to get into it themselves if they got their account stolen, or if they have friends with inapropriate things on their page or whatever. If the kid isn’t dumb enough to say “yes” to everything and is smart enough to say “no” to inapropriate things, Stardoll will be a fun, friendly, site.
#24 by willa on August 15th, 2011
| Quote
well i think it’s horrible i hate it. people are always sending messages to me with mean and unkind words ughhh i just hate it.
#25 by willa on August 17th, 2011
| Quote
i hate it
#26 by gaysexygirl on August 24th, 2011
| Quote
STARDOLL is a safe site for teenagers to learn about sex
#27 by willa on August 25th, 2011
| Quote
#28 by Dani on October 2nd, 2011
| Quote
I hate stardoll. They make you pay to be a super star. Oh well I banned myself from stardoll and all of my family from it. The same thing with youtube. It has many disturbing and very inapproprite things.
#29 by NICHOLE on December 25th, 2011
| Quote
Its horrible im addicted and im doing bad just cause of stardoll plus they make u pay 4 no reason their all jjst virtual and stardoll is 4 girls not 4 boys all of them do gross stuff !!!
#30 by xX-plague-rat-love-xX on January 1st, 2012
| Quote
I had some issues a while bak but that was only because I was friends with the wrong people. They have boosted security and it’s so much safer now then it was when I was on it 2-3 years ago! It seems harmless. I deleted my account cuz I was sick and tired of it bur now I am going ask my mom if I can make a new one!!!! It’s safe! There is inappropriate content EVERYWHERE on the Internet! This is probably one of the least inappropriate websites. Even on clubpenguin a while ago someone invited me over to their igloo, took off their clothes and said “you like?”… There is not one website where it’s completely clean. Chill out. This site is safe. There are monitors. My mom actually talked to one. There might be some mature content. Just don’t be friends with the wrong people! Be smart and you should be fine. Its safe. Chill out