ukchat.co.uk

Initial View

I found the site via google, it seems to crop up a fair bit in google searches and so I assumed it was a long established and well managed site. On arrival at the site the layout seemed clear and concise and the menu was very easy to follow. There appears to be two sides to the site, the chatrooms and the message boards.

The message Boards
I have spent a few days reading through the messages which ...
...cant however post any messages unless you sign up. This is good as it helps to control the message content. Reading through the many threads it would appear that the moderators have a tendancy to delete threads and accounts at will and there isnt always clear reasons why a thread or account has been removed. Some people appeared to be able to say or do pretty much as they pleased others seemed to have their posts or accounts removed for little or ... more

Initial View

I found the site via google, it seems to crop up a fair bit in google searches and so I assumed it was a long established and well managed site. On arrival at the site the layout seemed clear and concise and the menu was very easy to follow. There appears to be two sides to the site, the chatrooms and the message boards.

The message Boards
I have spent a few days reading through the messages which can be done without the need to sign up. You cant however post any messages unless you sign up. This is good as it helps to control the message content. Reading through the many threads it would appear that the moderators have a tendancy to delete threads and accounts at will and there isnt always clear reasons why a thread or account has been removed. Some people appeared to be able to say or do pretty much as they pleased others seemed to have their posts or accounts removed for little or no reason. I could see how this would lead to arguments and disputes and I personally ould not like to be part of a message board where your freedom of speach was determined but who liked you and who didnt.

The chatrooms
To be fair I decided to try several of their chat rooms and I also recruited the assistance of my 16 year old daughter to test their teenzone room as it is stated that this room is for people of 16 and under.
first room was the teenzone room, my daughter entered the room with no checks being madeas to who she was or how old she was, there was a warning saying you have to be 16 or under but at no point was she asked to supply date of birth or to sign up. The first strange thing noticed was a person using the name Eddie18 . This seemed to indicate that he was 18 and no one challenged him. There was no visible signs of a room moderator and the conversation consisted of talk about drugs, knives and bunking off of school. At this point a moderator entered the room and the conversation returned to more mundane things like which music people liked. Someone then said that my daughter was over 16 and she was removed from the room without any checks being made. This clearly shows that they have no clue how old people are and will just guess so if you are 30 and they guess wrong I assume you get to stay.

A few days later we did some further testing the Next room we tried was hangout. This room is targetted at the 16 to 25 yr olds and strangely the access to it is via the teenzone section where it states "if you are over 25, you are not welcome in here and anyone found to be so will be removed and their details passed over to the police!" I am not quite sure what hte police will do about a 26 year old person talking to a 25 yr old in this room but they must have their reasons. Again in this room there were no checks or attempts made to verify age and no requirement to sign up.Sadly in this room you have the ability to whisper other chatters and within a few minutes of being the room my 16 year old had been asked the size of her chest , if she was sexually excited and asked if she would like phone sex. At this point I was going to switch off and go elsewhere but I decided to try some of the adult rooms myself to be able to give a complete review.

Having dispatched my daughter away from the pc I took a deep breath and entered the room UKCSingles-Marriedflirts. They should rename this room UKCKnockingshop. I used a name that made it clear I was a mature married person and that just seemed to encourage the less desirable element. Withing minutes I was asked if i fancied cheating on my husband, if I liked group activities of an adult nature and whether or not I had a web cam and liked to show my body on it. I left and decided to try UKCMusic, nothing remotely sexually orientated about that name. The first person to speak to me in this room was called SLu*_Master (sorry for the masked T) who very politely asked if I liked to take it where the sun doesnt shine. That coupled with another couple of very obscene question forced me to leave the site I would have reported the incident but frankly I just wanted to go and have a shower and then disinfect my keyboard.

Whilst checking the userlist inbetween visiting these rooms I did notice that there were the following people listed as in the under 16 room
incomplete_pot-ed
fit_lad_on_cam
hot_teen_lad

none of which I feel should be in a room for the under 16's

Conclusion
This site makes many claims about the level of protection it supplies to its chatters and especially to the under 16's. In reality there is much said and very little done. I saw one moderator during my visits to the site I and they can obviously only moderate one room at a time. I saw no evidence that any valid checks were being done on the age of people in the age restricted rooms. I saw one person removed from the under 16's room for being over age when they clearly weren't. The 16 to 25 room was like a sleazy sex club and the other rooms are mainly populated by predatory males and females who seem to pounce into your private messages as soon as you arrive. Based on my personal experience over a few visits I was asked if I wanted some sort of sexual activity 10 times for each one time I was asked a friendly question like where are you from.

judging by the volume of people using the site it is clearly popular and if you wish to have overtly sexual conversations or want to meet people for adult activities then this is probably the place to go, if you want some friendly banter and maybe even some harmless flirting then this is a place to avoid because if you show the slightest interest they pounce and assume that you will be in their bed by nightfall.  

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