Shoutbox

I've downgraded again.  Not that I think it's going to make much difference.  The way I see it, if you are on someone else's msn and they have upgraded they will still see your full name.

What gets me is that when I was younger, say when I was 15-17 I was constantly in chat rooms and making new 'friends', they were strangers that I could enjoy a chat with.  Once getting to know them a little you might have added them to your msn so you might have a number of contacts that you know only online.

When you're a young impressionable person you might tell them you're real name, but it was drummed into me from a very young age there are scary people out there and you should never use your real name.  Hell I don't even use my real name on Facebook, just because.

What about all these younger people (my neices that are only 12 spring to mind)?? They have over 100 contacts on their lists, half of them they have no idea who they are.  Any one of these people could be the wrong kind of people, and telling them information like your real name is a no no, and it should be up to you to choose who you want to tell your real name to.

Now most of us on here are adults and we all know the risks of talking to random strangers online.  But so many young kids out there don't know the dangers.  I was extreamly techy savvy, but lots of kids are not.  They are young and naive and might not realise what they are doing.  Surely Microsoft have missed an important parental setting with this????