MSN Chat - Problems With MSN Chat

Problems With MSN Chat

There were many documented problems from users about the MSN chat function. Most were directed to the “chat host.” This was a person who would enter the chat room under the name “host”, and act accordingly regulating the room. This service was useful for controlling the room, making sure that everyone was behaving accordingly, answering users’ questions about the rooms, and other assorted tasks. While the idea of a supervisor would put a lot of users at ease, there were reported disagreements between the two with what was considered appropriate.

A claim was that there were a multitude of rules which the host didn’t make clear to the users, so many people were booted out of the room for breaking a rule they weren’t aware of. Any content that was viewed as offensive or sexually explicit was immediately removed and the person who wrote it was expelled from the room. Asking other chatters to press certain keys, displaying any kind of URL, or displaying what location you were from were all punishable offenses by temporary banishment. The convenience of an automated system for MSN led to problems for its users, problems solvable by a person able to interpret positive and negative content.

A big reason for MSN chat shutting down was that it provided another opportunity for pedophiles to have access to underage prey through the chat rooms. As shown on the popular MSNBC programming, To Catch a Predator, a show about catching pedophiles as they meet up with who they thought were children from online interaction, a majority of the child molesters first made contact in a MSN or AOL chat room.