Information for parents

Hi, I'm Matt. Courtney's father and the creator of CourtneysLocker.com. This website is a direct result of my desire to help keep my daughter safe while online. With so many dangers on the internet today, I didn't want my daughter Courtney on those other sites. Sites like Myspace and Facebook are very popular, but not really intended for children. In fact, they don't even allow children to join, which has a lot of kids lying about their age in order to participate. Considering this social networking phenomina is so popular and doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon, I thought it would be nice to have a website where my daughter could enjoy this stuff and where I didn't have to worry so much about who was interacting with her. If I owned and built the website, I could control who was online! I built courtneyslocker.com myself and invited her friends to participate. It was a hit with her classmates and friends.. and within 10 days spread throughout her 5th grade class! Proving that kids really are interested in this type of social interaction and I'm sure are tempted by myspace and facebook. They enjoy using courtneyslocker.com and soon I receieved various emails from parents saying it's great because they had the same concerns as I and now felt a bit more at ease. I decided this would be a great place to not only let kids play, but maybe teach them a few very important lessons about how to navigate the internet safely. What to watch out for.. etc.. so when they do grow up a bit and end up using these other larger sites, they may be better prepared not to fall prey to the creepy stuff! After a while, I decided, why not open this up to all kids. I also learned that there are some pretty strict guidelines and laws governing what you can collect from children, etc. So I made the appropriate changes to the website to comply with these laws and voila! Here we are.!
 
If you are considering letting your children participate and join courtneyslocker.com, here is some information about what we do on the website. If you would like to see the website in action and ask me anything, feel free to email me at matt@courteyslocker.com anytime. Courtneyslocker.com works basically the same as myspace. But much easier. I kept this website simple which allows the kids to enjoy using it without getting bogged down with the complicated stuff. Basically it works like this;
Kids sign up with an email address. We collect this basic information from them;
 
email, first name, last name, a password, country, state, zip code, and gender.
 
This information is used basically to identify them on the website. The email is their login, name, dob and gender simply to let us share birthday suprises! state and zip is really just to add a simple geographic reference to the users. If the child is under the age of 13, we must get permission from the parent to collect this information and store it in our database, so there is a simple authorization form for the parent to fill out. We keep that information also. Once they are signed up, the user is given their very own locker (profile page), where they can use special codes from the internet to make it look unique. they can upload photos, post comments, add friends, send email to other users, even add videos and music free from the internet! there is a chat room where they can chat with other users. it's actually quite fun.
 
It's also very important to note that this website is locked down. So the only way anyone can interact with a user on courtneyslocker.com is if they are an approved member and you can only become an approved member if you are someone who was approved by an existing member, or if you are a parent or gaurdian of a member. If a child wants to join that was not invited by another child on the site, they must request approval from me. I will review their info and put them on a "watch list." this basically means, we monitor their activity more closely for a while to make sure it wasn't just a creepy person disquising as a child. so you can rest assured that the information they are posting to their profile is not open to the public. Anyone seeing this information has to be on our website as a member and therefore screened like everyone else. We try hard to keep the site clear of bad words, mean comments, rudeness, etc.

CourtneysLocker is about fun, education and safety. A safe place for children to learn what social networking is all about, how to navigate online safely, what to look for and beware of. It's a place that kids can be kids and not worry about creepy people in their business. What makes it interesting is that kids can feel safe and secure and keep the "grown ups" out. The site is popular because it gives kids their own space, much like the playground at school. Grown-up's show up and the fun stops! And just like the playground, there are teachers and parents watching over the kids so they can play. We add educational excercises and messages to help kids learn about whats safe and what to avoid. So not only are kids monitored by parents or "hall monitors" as we call them, but they police themselves and help identify if anyone may have slipped in! The standard messages like never meeting anyone in person that you met online, or being carefull about what you post, images and of course cyberbullies! We could use your help. Sign your child up today and join us in these different ways to ensure our childrens safety and promote the learning experience:

  • Become a Hall Monitor! You can become a hall monitor and help us keep a close eye on the kids activities on the site. You'll be given special access to a group of kids and can oversee the emails and posts they submit. You will recieve special material to help you identify suspicious activity and how to best handle things without turning kids off to the site. We want them to learn and feel as though they can play without being scrutinized heavily. So it's a fine line between simply telling a child STOP THAT, and explaining why it is safe, etc...
  • Create your own profile! It's fun to connect with new CourtneysLocker friends from all over the world, so create your own profile and be involved with your childs activity. Some parents have created profiles for their pets and play that way. It is a fun way to interact with your kids and their friends in a non "grown up" way. Spending a few minutes each day sending your child a comment or email onthe site or play a game with them is a great way to show them you want to be involved.  
  • Help with site content We would love more ideas on how we can improve the experience for children. What messages should we convey? What lessons can be incorporated? Games? Shows? give us your ideas. If you are qualified and would like to get even more involved with managing particular areas of content, let us know!
  • Spread the word! Help spread the word to parents and kids all over! It is good to know there is a safe place for kids to get involved with social networking without visiting myspace or facebook which are geared more towards adults. The more users on Courtneyslocker.com, the more kids will want to stay away from the grown up sites!