Tragic Local Accident, Myspace And The Media..

[Msterbeau]

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID...EWS04/804090314

This is just sad. And the driver lived... I don't imagine he'll have a pleasant life any time soon.

Something I noticed in this story and in other recent ones is how the media is using MySpace profiles to try and get a glimpse into the life of news subjects, especially younger ones. That's a bit scary when you consider the kinds of images and information often put into those profiles. For me, this is yet another reason to keep my profile private.

[freydis]

My family used to know a family by the name of McGuire (the family who owns Guernsey Dairy), I wonder if it was the same folks.....

[Fierce Critter]

Marc, you've struck a nerve in me with that.

My Myspace was set up as a lark. I really had no super interest in doing so, but one reason I went ahead and did it was a means of publicity for my music.

But then I kinda changed and just started using it like most people do. Networking, and an attempt to have some kind of journal, which I've never been really good at otherwise.

But I grew bored with it. And if you read my blog, you'll see a bunch of stuff about my depression, and then, nothing.

Most people would read that and, if they don't know me, would interpret that to mean, "Oh, she got SOO depressed, she even stopped blogging! Maybe she KILLED herself!!!!!!!!!!!"

But what really happened was I started feeling better and was able to do real-life activities more, so I didn't have time to sit around moping at a computer.

Totally the opposite.

[Msterbeau]

Marc, you've struck a nerve in me with that.

My Myspace was set up as a lark. I really had no super interest in doing so, but one reason I went ahead and did it was a means of publicity for my music.

But then I kinda changed and just started using it like most people do. Networking, and an attempt to have some kind of journal, which I've never been really good at otherwise.

But I grew bored with it. And if you read my blog, you'll see a bunch of stuff about my depression, and then, nothing.

Most people would read that and, if they don't know me, would interpret that to mean, "Oh, she got SOO depressed, she even stopped blogging! Maybe she KILLED herself!!!!!!!!!!!"

But what really happened was I started feeling better and was able to do real-life activities more, so I didn't have time to sit around moping at a computer.

Totally the opposite.

Precisely what worries me. It's potentially a VERY out of context document. Some people use MySpace for silliness, but it could be construed as serious or "real" to people who don't know you. It has the potential to completely misrepresent a person.

[Miranda]

It is indeed tragic what has happened with all of these people in the accident. When kids die you are seeing the media will try to locate their My Space profile. It's really ridiculous. I know it is public information unless you have your set to private, but to base a persons life on one page is really pushing things. People want to know all about other people's lives when they expire to a point where it is really twisted.

[CandyQuackenbush]

L'Anse Creuse North is the Highschool I graduated from.

Every year, we lost a student. No graduating class had a "good year". We always used to say that our school was cursed.

There are RxR tracks behind the school on Fairchild toward Hall Road *M59*, and if you are going toward M59, you can jump the tracks. Actually, I've cleared those tracks in my old Escort.

My friend Cassy lost her Father in our Junior year *2001* from a kid jumping the tracks.

*sighs* I could post alot more about that area, but it really does bring up alot of bad memories. When my Daddy was Fire Cheif of Chesterfield Fire Dept. he used to tell us of the kids he'd pull out of cars, dead, because of that "cursed area".

[Rayne]

I used to live very, very close to there ... My ex towed cars for Ballor Towing out of New Haven for a year out of the two years we lived there. He'd often come home with just horrible stories from accidents when we lived up there.

[Destroit]

This one hit my Boshy more than anyone because....one of those kids was a student of hers, literally, this semester. Well...I guess not anymore. I'm not sure which one it was, I'll have to ask, but she's gonna have to look at that kid's empty desk for the rest of the year.

She called me the night it happened and to let me know. She ended up talking to Raven though.

[Msterbeau]

This one hit my Boshy more than anyone because....one of those kids was a student of hers, literally, this semester. Well...I guess not anymore. I'm not sure which one it was, I'll have to ask, but she's gonna have to look at that kid's empty desk for the rest of the year.

She called me the night it happened and to let me know. She ended up talking to Raven though.

It happened yesterday... I saw it on the news at a car dealership. What a mess.

[Destroit]

It happened yesterday... I saw it on the news at a car dealership. What a mess.

DOH!

Wow...I must've had some crazy stoner moment right there . For some reason I thought she had called and told us about it on Monday night, I even called my ex because he was hanging out at my house when she called to ask him and he was like "Uhmmm...yeah...I was over your house that night...and it was definately yesterday not two days ago."

[sass_in_the_pants]

Do you remember a few years ago that runaway bride? She was from Georgia and she said she had been kidnapped, but really she just got cold feet?

Yeah, I totally looked up her bridal registry. As I recall, her china pattern was quite lovely, but it clashed horribly her with table linens. I mean, seriously, NAVY tablecloths? With gold rimmed dishes? Her fiance should count his blessings that she ran away!

But I digress.

My point is, I looked up her registry because it's public information and I could. And if I am interested in a person in a particular news story, I look them up online, too. I think the news people are really doing what any other curious mind would do.

And, well, like marc said, if you want to keep your business private, maybe you shouldn't post it on the world wide web. Someone might actually read it.

[Oh_My_Goth]

MySpace IS THE DEVIL

[jadnifer]

This is a sad story it really is. To hear that so many young people lost their lives is just horrible. I heard about it the night that it happened. I can't even begin to imagine the pain that these boys' friends and families are going through.

I also graduated from Lanse Creuse North. I remember that the year that I graduated a kid was killed pulling out of the Townhouses and got hit by a Smartbus. Those busses scared me before but they scared me much more after that incident. I believe there is a bench with his name on it at the school in his honor. I know that there was a tree planted in the Townhouses from him in his honor.

It's just so horribly sad to hear about young people that are just "beginning" their lives, have lost them so quickly.