GaiaOnline (http://www.gaiaonline.com)

You all say gaia online is this horrible website, where there is porn, cybering, nudity, sexually suggestive content. Have any of you taken the time to turn on your TV to the music station? To the movie stations? Have you seen a PG-13 movie as of late? If you had you'd see that many of the things that are allowed on this website are in those movies, granted yes, there are porn trolls, but trolls don't just exist on gaia, they exist on every forum based website online. Also you should stop blaming the website, stop petitioning it's removal when in fact you need to become more internet savvy, you need to become more aware of what your children are doing, it's not hard to go into your browser history after your child has been on and see what they are up to, and even better, it's not illegal. if you review what they are doing to be wrong you should discuss it with them, you can also buy programs that block the website, firewall it and make it inaccessable to your child unless they have a password. Children are learning about sex in their schools, in what they see on television and what there listening to on the radio, and the books they read. Chances are the things you blame gaia online for are your own short comings, and are things they have known about since they were a child. Hell even when I was a child I knew what sex was before I ever used the internet in my life. Gaia online is a great website, and there are moderators and staff that work as fast as they can to ban people who prey on children and those who post real nudity. All there moderating staff consists of adults and a good amount of those adults are actually parents themselves, I have in my time on the site met many parents who play gaia. Once again I'll repeat it for the mere sake of being redundant, it's not gaia onlines responsibility to safeguard any child OVER the age of thirteen, that's your responsibility. So become more aware, be in your childs business, but not over their shoulder. AZK

I love it!I even have an account.

Okay, let me clear it up for all you irresponsible parents and butthurt Gaians out there. Gaia is a 13+ site, meaning that it caters to TEENAGERS, YOUNG ADULTS, AND ADULTS. If you think Gaia is the place for young children, hit that back browser right now, because it is illegal for them to be on the site. Also, I see a lot of negative reviews about there being rude people on Gaia. If people are just being critical to you, grow a thick spine and stop being butthurt. If people are flaming you left and right, you're supposed to report it using the report button. And speaking of the report button, if you see anything that violates the Gaia TOS, report it. The moderators work hard to make sure that Gaians follow the rules. They can't get all the rulebreakers since there's so little of few and so many members (150 against 23 million users), so that's why they need YOU to report so they can clean up the bad contents faster. Lastly, Gaia is not your babysitter. If your child chooses to take sexual images of his/herself, it is YOUR AND YOUR CHILD'S FAULT, not Gaia's. You should be teaching your child what to do and what not to do on the internet.

It's not a perfect site, i admit. But the reason i give it a 6+ is that with the filter on the kids can't read the swearwords, and what six year old is gonna click on a topic with something inapropriate? some of the topics on the forums make me uncomfortable, but those are the topics you just...ignore!!! or better yet, teach you child to be vocal about things that make them uncomfortable. if you ask someone to stop swearing, chances are they'll stop. plus, once you get to middle school you hear swearwords *constantly*, so kids shouls get used to it.

I don't think the adults in this thread realize what's going on. I'm 13, I have an account, I've been registered for quite a time. We kids love sites like this because it lets us interact with other kids and adults that don't know us, just so that we can be our real selves. Nobody judges us as much, even if there are occasionally trolls, spammers, flamers, and those things. Sure, there are inappropriate people, but they get reported and banned and we know that the moderators are trying to do their best to make the site 13+. We DO need our own privacy and space. It's just weird for a parent to be watching every move we make on a computer. And if you are a parent, your child will know what's right and wrong if you've raised them the right way. Things like sex and drugs don't come up often in Gaia and what a child does also depends on sex and drug education. I've had quite enough of these classes, including computer safety. I know exactly what to do and what not to do on Gaia. Gaia itself is a fun filled, interactive site that really helps bring out what a child has in themselves. Getting items using gold gives them a sense of accomplishment. Just because we're kids, doesn't mean our parents should watch us every move and take our falls for us. Age does not equal maturity.

While there is inappropriate content on here, openly displayed, most of it is in this little thing called Guilds. Firstly, it is against Gaia rules and ToS to discuss mature content or attempt to use the site as a dating network, and there is an age minimum of thirteen now, I don't know if that was always there. Not that children always follow such rules, but parents can find these types of things out easily. So the site is designed for a slightly older age group, as opposed to sites such as Club Penguin or Littlest Pet Shop (sites my younger siblings play on.) Now, the main forums are moderated by people that Gaia has deemed responsible through their actions. Not to mention, general users can report other users for breaking Gaia Rules and ToS. The reasons most of the inappropriate content is in Guilds is because Guilds are user-moderated. Usually, you can tell what type of content is in a guild just by its main page. The larger guilds are harder to self-moderate- don't expect to find good moderation there. When a guild is reported, then moderators step in, but until the situation is bad enough that this needs to happen, people are going to continue with their actions. Gaia tries to maintain a pleasant but open to opinion environment, but with over a hundred thousand people on each day, that can be difficult. As for my little 'Positive messages' icon I have clicked, that's due to the fact that there ARE good people on there that support things like cancer awareness, and places where you can find a nonjudging voice to listen to a problem. There are many, many opinions in this online community- and people are a good deal less shy about sharing them online. So, as with many sites, there will be ideas you maybe don't want introduced to your child- but that's everywhere, and other than not letting them into the world, there's not a thing you can do about it.

Let's be real here.... parents or prudes can't sit back and be aghast at the content Gaia Online or other avatar based sites or social networking sites have in terms of user language. When your kids go to school, they're face with other kids using the same language as you would find on this site or even on the street. People cuss, especially on the internet where you're virtually guaranteed no physical injuries. So unless your world is filled with sunshine and lollipops, I suggest you place that filter on to block out the "bad" language just in case it's too much for you to digest. There is noticeable product placement with this site. They make that known. I've been a member of Gaia since 2006 and donating money for a Monthly Collectible used to be the only option given to help Gaia run the servers in exchange for a pretty cool item. But times have changed and Gaia's userbase has grown immensely since then. Now Gaia users are shown more options to spend their well earned dollars on. In addition Gaia has created a currency system that grants you Gaia Cash when you donate certain amounts. They've created EI (known as Evolving Items), RIG (Random Item Generator), as well as placed a few new shops to their menu that only take the new currency base. This is all to pay for the expenses of running the site. Does this site teach kids how to spend their money? Not at all. If you believe that this site is teaching the children how to spend materialistically, then you need only to blame yourself. What are you teaching your child in regards to financial responsibility? Gaia is not responsible for your child's spending habits. Computers are not babysitters. Gaia has a few issues with security in regards to user accounts. There have been numerous suggestions as to how they can improve account safety. Measures have been taken and are still being made. Gaia does listen to their users, and that's a good thing. With that many people pitching in their ideas, Gaia can take the best suggestions they see and implement that into the site to cut down on the number of "Hack" reports or attempts. Overall this is a really good site. It's not for kids, it's for teens and up. There are grandparents on this site, parents, college kids, high schoolers, and middle schoolers. Once in a while you find out that there was an elementary kid on there, but Gaia ToS specifically states that children under 13 cannot use the site. This is in compliance with COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act) law. Gaia's users can either create really interesting discussion material, or not. This is heavily dependent on the user. If a discussion, post, or user has stepped out of bounds and have gone too far, Gaia has a system in place where you can report anything deemed inappropriate according to the ToS. Also, Gaia provides it's users the opportunity to get involved with their storylines by producing events and creating comics to further the plot. In all, their content is pretty solid and keeps the users coming back for more. In regards to the author of this review: Trolling is a derogatory term used for people who purposely visit a thread just to cause trouble. You might want to make a note that Moderators do not troll the forums. They monitor.

Gaia is really a good site as long as your kid knows some safety precautions such as filtering swear words and blocking people that just don't seem right. o.o One problem is that some Gaians can be really mean. Today I got some really vicious comments on my profile from a girl. I just deleted the comments and now I'm ignoring her. It's as simple as that.. I never really go to the forums so no comment there. If someone or something someone says is really threatening or uncomfortable, you can report them to site moderators and they will give the person a warning or ban the account. Gaia site moderators try to keep everything below a PG-13 level. Gaia is educational because it teaches you to save for things that you really want. For example, right now I'm saving to buy a dress for my dream avatar. Gaia does not force you to buy anything. Buying stuff for your avatar is an option most people choose. It's fun to express your creativity and personality. I think it's better for kids over 10 because even though Gaia has some really good safety precautions, it can still be kind of an iffy site unless you really trust your kid.

Towards those who have admitted to being under 13 years of age: Don't be surprised to one day find yourself banned from Gaia. It will remain banned until your 13th birthday rolls by. By rules of Terms of Service(What all who want to try are REQUIRED to read), any persons under the age of 13 are NOT ALLOWED ON GAIA. Not only is it against Gaia's ToS rules, but it is also against AMERICAN LAW. Remember, Gaia HQ is located in Sacramento, California, which is of course in America. To those underaged users, YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO BE ON GAIA, SO YOU SHOULD NOT BE GIVING ANY SORT OF REVIEW. During registration, if an underaged user gives their real birthdate, they are immediately blocked from joining Gaia. Therefore those kids need to receive a punishment from their parents. And to those parents, the internet is not your babysitter, get of your butts and actually PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE DOING ON YOUR COMPUTER.