I am sure by now most of us know there was a sex offender here on gather. Much to my horror I was connect to the sick ba****. I disconnect as soon as I found out.
I am very proud, at how gather has handel this. I am not sure if the time frame it took was too long or not, but I am very happy with the outcome.
I know have a question, how do we stop this from happening again? Does anyone out there have any ideas on what they should do to help keep us protected? I know face book and myspace have a policy up.
I am not sure where gather would go from here, but I am very grateful to you for moving and deleting that person account.
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Comments: 84
The question is, does Gather now routinely search our content and profiles and names to weed out offenders? Or wait until there's admission or suspicion?
I'm glad he's gone, though, but I'm not niaeve enough to not think he was the only one here.
The fact that I was connected to and had interacted with him prior to knowing his history makes me sick to my stomach.
After all gather has access to the information on members we dont and they have to have a valid address to send Gift cards to.
This has been a real eye opener.
there are also many people on the sex offenders list who were wrongly or unjustly accused of things many years ago. is the 18 y/o man who slept with his 16 y/o girlfriend & accused of rape; not allowed to join a social network? how many serial rapists are out there who don't get caught? which would you rather have a conversation with? the 18 y/o or the unprosecuted rapist?
You need to check the laws of your state but just because someone is underage doesnt automatically mean that having a bf or gf that is 18 is a crime.
I think pediphiles and republicans use that as a scare tactic.
i'm not defending what fred did 23 years ago. i'm not defending sex offenders. where is the line drawn & when is it drawn?
This is really bad since we all have our children and grandchildren posted on here....along with FB, and twitter, MySpace.
I am to understand from another member that it's now a federal thing about them not being allowed on social networks
I hate to say it, but that's not going to stop them from signing up under an alias
someone made mention about an address to send gift cards, but a true predator isn't here for the gift cards so will care less about a true address or receiving cards.
this has gotten way out of hand....how many thought he was a nice gay guy before his confession in a post after he tried to join facebook?
some never even get convicted...even after caught!
and, for the record, I live with child molestation every day of my life.....my daughter's father (my husband--now ex of course) molested her at the age of 3. She is now 13...he's been in prison for 10 years and has 10 more years to go.
I think all of this turned into a witch hunt and I am sorry to be connected to some of the people on this site moreso than the person who admitted his mistake of the past (20 or so years ago). Furthermore, had he really been a pedophile who went around looking for children he would have continued getting into trouble with the law and wouldn't have the time to spend on facebook or gather or anywhere else. He would be incarcerated or is that something that y'all do not understand??
I am ashamed at the behaviour of some. I really am. And NO I don't condone people who are having sex with children or who are convicted or unconvicted pedophiles.
If you don't like what I have said then just disconnect from me. I am a big girl and can handle it. I hate troublemakers!
I was no friend of Fred's although I was connected to him. As a matter of fact I believe that in the time that I was connected to him, I may have only commented two or three times because as a Christian I felt sorry for him.
To his amazement, he soon learned it was a lewd conduct of some kind, and he had to register.
He thinks it was because he was riding his Harley, has a pony-tail, and the cop didn't like people like that. It was out in the boondocks too off a highway, not even in a population/city area. Opened my eyes... I've had to pull over before too on a long drive!
Anyway, I agree that should be handled different.
Unless this site or others are willing to run a background check on each person on that particular site there is no way of knowing what if any offenses any of us have committed.
I don't think the person that your post is referring to was asking for anyone's forgiveness but I can not be sure since I did not read his post. However it is not up to me or any of us to forgive him. The forgiveness must come from his God and perhaps his victim. Forgiving himself might also be part of the equation.
I know what pedophilia is and this was not pedophilia it was a sex crime as per the book but not really a pedophilia case as one would think it to be.
Shame on those who judge. Ever hear of the old saying about people who live in glass houses??
I guess I won't find an answer to my earlier question.
I know I am overprotective of my kids, and I agree if you are going to delete on you should delete them all.
So you think that some sick idiot who, after God knows how long, let everyone know he was/is a sex offender makes him the only felon on this site that you're connected to? You feel safer now? God help your kids.
I will have to say that I am glad that he is off of here. We had a neighbor who was renting and the neighbors found out he was a registered sex offender. My husband called the landlord (a friend of ours) to let her know. He moved out very soon. Pays to do background checks.