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Forums & message boards
What are forums and message boards?
Internet forums and message boards enable online discussions about a range of topics – people post comments on them and they’re often managed by moderators.
You might take part in online forums and message boards yourself, on websites like Mumsnet, for example.
What do I need to know about them?
Your son or daughter might also enjoy forums and message boards. It’s a great way for them to talk to other people, express their opinions, and discuss a particular hobby or interest, for example.
At the same time, they need to be aware that the internet is a public place and their messages could be seen by anyone – fellow students, teachers and even strangers. This, in turn, could lead to:
- Cyberbullying – someone might respond to your child’s post with an offensive or threatening message or you child might harass someone on a message board
- Inappropriate content – they might be at risk of seeing posts, such as sexually-explicit messages or offensive language, that aren’t appropriate for their age or maturity
- Online grooming – someone could get your child’s personal details, such as their name, age, school or email address from a message board and contact them with the intention of establishing a sexual relationship
- Damaging their reputation – anything your child publishes on the Web now could be there forever and seen by anyone
- Receiving misleading advice about health concerns – there are some forums on the internet that promote eating disorders, for example
Many of the leading internet providers have strict Terms of Use when it comes to message boards and offer moderated message boards for younger users (where a professional moderator monitors the forums and takes action against disruptive or offensive behaviour).
What can I do?
- Set up Parental Controls and Safe Search based on your child’s age and maturity so that they can only access age-appropriate online content – but remember that they might not be 100% effective and they aren’t a substitute for parental supervision
- Find out whether your internet or mobile provider offers moderated message boards
- Sit down together and look at the message boards your child visits or would like to visit
- Recommend that your son or daughter doesn’t use their real name or photo on any internet forums or message boards
- Explain to them that they should be careful who they trust online and they shouldn’t give out personal information (like their mobile number, address or name of their school) to strangers
- Encourage them to come to you if they feel uncomfortable about something that has been said on a message board
- Report offensive content or inappropriate contact to the message board provider – go to their ‘Help’ or ‘Safety’ areas to find out how
- If you’re worried that your child, or another child, has been approached inappropriately by an adult in a chat room, report the incident to the relevant law enforcement agency in your country – it’s the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre in the UK
- If you think a child could be in immediate danger, contact the police
- Read our articles about cyberbullying, exploring sexual identity, health & wellbeing, identity theft, inappropriate content, managing reputation, online grooming and privacy
Where can I go for more information and support?
- If you’re worried that a child might be being groomed via a message board, report it to CEOP in the UK and, if you think they could be in immediate danger, contact the police
- Chatdanger offers useful internet safety advice
- Visit the Thinkuknow website for guidance on how to protect your child online
FAQs related to this article
Find out more about Parental Controls
How old are your kids?
What you need to know to get started
- 5-7 years old
Technology is part of your child's life before they start primary school. They're probably using the computer, the internet and interactive TV for fun - watching programmes on the CBeebies channel and website or taking part in the Club Penguin chat rooms...but they still need adult guidance and supervision.
- 8-11 years old
If you have 8-11 year old children, your house is probably full of technology - PlayStation, Nintendo, iPod...the list goes on. In fact, research shows that 8-11 year olds in the UK have an average of four media devices in their bedroom.
This is a crucial age for young people to embrace new technologies and develop their ICT skills both at home and at school...and it's a crucial time for you to take control when they start exploring the digital world as well as the real world.
- 12-14 years old
They're at secondary school and growing up fast. It's a time of change and their digital world might seem as important as the real world to them. They might spend their evenings on Bebo, Facebook or MySpace ; watching videos on YouTube and uploading their own for others to watch; or doing research for their homework.
You want to encourage their technology and social skills, of course, so it's useful to understand what they're doing with technology and to get involved with it.
- 15+ years old
Once your children are teenagers, it might be tempting to think that they're tech-savvy and dealing with everything the virtual world can throw at them. You probably watch in awe as they switch from chatting with friends on Facebook to updating their Twitter profile; playing against someone on the other side of the world on their games console to downloading music on their mobile.
It's all great fun but, as they get older, the things you need to help them to cope with in their digital world are ever more challenging. Far from leaving them to it, you really need to keep communicating with them.
How much do you know?
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