Predators On IRC

Spent some time reading discussions on blogs today.

One was a ding-dong argument over hurricane Katrina. One guy (Ben) was saying that those who stayed behind and died or got into trouble deserved some of the blame. Another guy didn't agree and took several personal pot-shots at Ben. Reading through the whole thing, I feel that Ben's arguments were reasoned and factual. The other guy was just shooting is mouth off and hitting below the belt. How to have a meaningful discussion like that?

Another issue was about sexual predators on IRC. Basically, these guys are sick. If you need to have sex, just go to Geylang, pay for it, and get it over with. Instead, these guys look for naive girls on IRC to trick into having sex. They're not quite interested in the online prostitutes (those looking for money), although these are slightly different from the ones in Geylang (younger, less experienced, higher risk of VD). The bottom line is that many naive girls exploring the internet make the mistake of getting on IRC because it's interesting to chat to strangers. They don't realize the dangers (ignoring parental warnings, if any) until it's too late. These girls need protecting, even if they are over 16.