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Is It Any Good?

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Nicktropolis.com has all the trappings of kids' entertainment -- games, video, customizable avatars -- but the site was clearly designed to offer a safe place for kids to do what they love best: hang out and shoot the breeze. The good news is that several safeguards are in place to keep kids protected from would-be online predators. First, parents must approve their child's membership and level of chat capability. The highest level limits kids to chatting with pre-written messages they select from a list. It's a nice idea, but there's nothing stopping a kid from using an alternate email address to masquerade as a parent and turn that setting off.

But even if a kid fiddles with the chat settings, the site still offers a heavy level of protection against inappropriate talk by using its own dictionary. The chat software won't allow red-flag words, or even certain combinations of everyday words.

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