minishorts.net is for a mature audience only
This is a serious post.
Fong MC says:
June 24th, 2005 at 10:02 pm
Dear Ms Khoo,
I am writing to you as a parent of two young adolescent children regarding the recent article in the Star newspaper regarding your blog and the follow-up ‘discovery’ of your web-site by my children.
I was initially glad my children developed a keen interest in finding out more about the web-logs phenomenon. In addition, I have never make any attempt to limit or censor websites as I believe my kids should have the freedom to discover what is wrong or right following discussion.
I have no reason to suspect the newspaper may have overdone itself this time. I was flabbergasted to discover your blog contained profanities and unsuitable materials for children. Perhaps this is an oversight on the part of the Star newspaper but the cat is out of the bag.
I feel you do bear some of the responsibilities for this. By allowing yourself and your website to be highlighted in a national newspaper, you have knowingly and willingly allowed children to have access to your website which you clearly know contained unsuitable materials for young minds.
Perhaps this query should be directed to the newspaper and not to you at all. After all, I accept your right to have your own personal opinions and your private space. It is not in my place to judge you; in fact, I have no interest in visiting your site. As you have said, I am not even welcomed here.
Be that as it may, kids will be kids. In fact my daughter look up to your blog as a role model blog. Hence, as a parent to my loved ones, I would like to implore you to re-consider your approach to your blog now that you are known nationally. I am not asking you to change. But please think of the young ones. Do not sacrifice simple decency on the altar of individual rights of expression.
Sincerely
Fong MC
Fong forwarded an e-mail to the editor of The Star as well, expressing his hope for the daily 'to scrutinise the contents of blog before allowing the URL to be displayed so prominently on a national newspaper.'
Dear Fong (and concerned people who have no regards for loose use of expletives),
Not withstanding the fact that the newspaper article clearly stated that,
Minishorts.net is a direct, emotional, sometimes raunchy but always honest and insightful blog about the life and thoughts of a young Malaysian woman and her very wild imagination.
… I do accept the fact that contents in minishorts.net are not suitable for immature minds.
HOWEVER,
I maintain while the popularity (or dispopularity, depending on how you may like to see it) of my site has been boosted by the publication of that article, I also wish to inform you (and other concerned individuals/groups) that the targeted audience of this site has always been the mature crowd.
For your benefit, and to ease the responsibilities of concerned parents, mentors and guardians, I will be putting up a disclaimer (in bold, nothing less) that repeats the published title of this post.
Thank you very much for writing to me.
minishorts @ Claire
June 25th, 2005 at 12:29 am
the ‘perks’ of being discovered eh? I wonder how old are the ‘kids’ anyway.
Next thing you know, we have to ‘U’, ‘18SX’ , ‘18SG’ the whole entire INTERNET FOR CHRIST’S SAKES!!
shesh. I’d know how you feel.
June 25th, 2005 at 12:30 am
I’d like very much to say something in this case. In the case of children in the process of growing up, should know right from wrong. With a parent/parents by their sides, with all due respect, I believe it is upbringing that makes a person the individual in the future.
If you to the very least believe that minishorts has content not valid for children, you should do something about it. Not taking it to such a big scale but from starting from the home itself.
Quote noted … “In addition, I have never make any attempt to limit or censor websites as I believe my kids should have the freedom to discover what is wrong or right following discussion. ”
Since you kids are in your hands, you are supposed to lead them to right discussion. What minishorts can perhaps do for you and your kids is set an examplified scenario of what could be with the fact that that you and your kids are aware of the real world.
Thank you
June 25th, 2005 at 12:33 am
Maybe Malaysia will implement a rating system like for the movies and then our censorship board will have more to do as in snipping parts of blogs that they consider inappropriate. Eer if thats the case many of the pics you guys and gals took during the PPS bash would have to be blackened out XD So your site should be rated what? 18 SX? Cheers
June 25th, 2005 at 12:45 am
1) Internet has got no rules.
2) It’s freedom of speech.
3) If you as a parent who cares about your child/ADOLESCENT so much, you should, it’s your responsibility as a parent to teach them what is right and wrong.
4) People are just expressing themselves. You are NOT Ms Claire’s parent.
5) If a child/adolescent doesn’t picks up the wrong things from the internet, you can’t point fingers at the internet. Why don’t you point finger at the internet when your child scores an A for a subject?
6) Come on FongMC, live outside the box, internet has got no culture.
June 25th, 2005 at 12:45 am
psssstt….don’t even tell people about 5xmom hor? Her 12 yrs old kid drank whiskey, her 8 yrs old son play mahjung and all of them can cuss in few languages plus her toddler can say ‘asssholllle’ before saying please. This is Penang Faces, the prim and proper blog with no profanity signing out.:lol:
June 25th, 2005 at 12:46 am
18SX for our blogs….coming to a cinema near you, boys and girls!
June 25th, 2005 at 12:56 am
IMHO, if parents are concerned about what their children are coming in contact with, whether on TV, radio, the internet or any other forms of media, it is their responsibility to guide their children. We’re not a censorship board here, you know. The idea is simple, you do your own private censorship, if you don’t like something, make sure your kids don’t read it. The world doesn’t revolve around you just because your kids are young and impressionable.
June 25th, 2005 at 1:16 am
The school and the parents will be a total failure if the children turn bad because he/she read the blog.
Many parents didn’t realise when they start pointing finger, the other 4 are pointing back.
June 25th, 2005 at 1:22 am
Hey Claire Khoo,
What Fong is saying, in other words, is that he doesn’t want his daughter to grow up TO BE LIKE YOU! BWAHAHAHAHAHA. But, seriously, you’re famous. Like Wacko Jacko. Everyone wants a piece of you. No need to make a kerfuffle out of this. Trust me.
June 25th, 2005 at 1:31 am
Tt’s about goddamn time some of those kids learn to grow up too. You’re just merely doing them a small service in preperation of the brutality and sexuality that’s gonna greet them with open arms all of a sudden when they leave primary school or something.
June 25th, 2005 at 1:52 am
yo.
ignore them
If I am to loose freedom in expressing,
I would rather stop writing.
If you succumb to those people,
you wont be able to be yourself.
those ppl are too demanding,
as if they blame the site owner when thier children surf unsuitable website, and it is THIER responsibility to watch over thier children activities.
If you need to label your blog as 18SX or whatever, there will be such signs all over internet. DON’T SUCCUMB TO THESE PEOPLE !
a blog reader
- Life Feel
(minishorts deleted URI: hey you can fill in the URI there and I WILL CLICK ON IT ANYWAY).
June 25th, 2005 at 1:59 am
haiyah…these parents ah…you know…my parents never even bothered asking me whether I blogged or not when they saw that BIG BIG article there. They don’t even care whether we watch movies full of profanities because they know that they’ve taught us well and they know that we know how to handle ourselves and well, learn the good things and TRY to ignore the bad.
Mr. I-am-concern-for-my-daughter should instead guide his kids and explain to them the reason to your style of blogging and all. I mean, heck, you dun wanna discourage your kid from visiting this site but instead want the owner of the site to accomodate your children’s lack of maturity?
I am not surprised if one day the blogging community would have rules to adhere in order for a post to be posted online. Some Malaysian parents, just like the Malaysian Censorship Board…they treat us like we’re never gonna be able to differentiate right from wrong.
June 25th, 2005 at 2:01 am
seriously, i wonder what’s that diclaimer(of sorts) bit in the newspaper article is for? tsk…
i think i speak for most when i say to you: just keep writing the way you write…
June 25th, 2005 at 2:05 am
Is there CONSPIRACY of trying to reduce the freedom of speech in the world of BLOGS?
what will they do next?
give a slap to jeff ooi and ask him to write like Mr sweet mouth?
we bloggers wont take thier nonsense man..
A blog reader
-Life Feel
June 25th, 2005 at 2:20 am
While I do understand Fong’s concern, I feel to throw the blame on Claire per se is unreasonable, and stinks of a witch hunt mentality. Why take her blog as an example, for she personifies what youths, especially girls should be, i.e. strong willed, principled and willing to stand by her beliefs. True, she’s a witch when she blog (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) but if one was to surf the internet, this lass and her blog not even close to softcore standards.
I would not criticise Fong’s belief and perceptions though, because if we truly want freedom of expression, we should be able to take the flak that comes along with it. I think some of us are defending a tad bit hard on the freedom of expression thingy, and we cannot take it as if we are free to say anything we like, for there are boundaries attached.
I however am impressed by the way Claire handled the issue, which displays a fair amount of maturity and that should speak volumes in her defense.
One thought, I am 34 and at times pretty immature, am I allowed to read the blog?
June 25th, 2005 at 4:48 am
Dignity in the face of adversity. That’s what I have always maintained.
Claire, you handled that very maturely period
June 25th, 2005 at 7:35 am
Hoh!!!! u very very bad girl. As penalty, you should go write ten more blogs with the profanities as described and must contain 10 “F***” words in each entry
If kids can so easily get “excited” over this, wait till they discovery those “adult” Japanese sites :shock:…. chee wah!!!
June 25th, 2005 at 7:39 am
I guess they(the parent)need to understand is, the internet is an unrestricted zone of knowledge and fun if with proper guidance or at least, a good mind.
I’ve been reading but nah, I really dont find anything ehh. improper, unsuitable for ADOLESCENT. I tell ya, even in secondary school now they’re talking about such stuffs openly like its everyday routine.
Moral of the story: “Do not sacrifice simple decency on the altar of individual rights of expression.” <—- this, simple decency depends on the mindset of the reader, and its not in anyway a author fault huh?:lol:
June 25th, 2005 at 8:38 am
Sigh. got big price to pay for fame hor.
*muaks*
June 25th, 2005 at 8:43 am
It’s the end of civilisation as we know it.
June 25th, 2005 at 9:16 am
Well, I don’t think Fong MC’s concerns are entirely baseless, but this is what I think:
If some kid can be influenced simply by viewing a blog, even without the internet, it wouldn’t take long for him/her to be influenced anyway. For example, if I jokingly write about “killing myself”, and some kid decides to commit suicide after reading my blog; even if he didn’t read it, how long do you think it would take him to do something like that anyway?
So the finger shouldn’t be pointed at you.
Just my 2 cents.
June 25th, 2005 at 9:32 am
Oh dear… in the future, would a name change for my site be in order?
(Thank God I’m not femes… :razz:)
June 25th, 2005 at 9:47 am
AFAIK, I’m all with April’s suggestion. Kids, if you’re below the age liable of thinking straight and maturely, please ask your parents to surf the net with you. I can’t blame Fong for what he did because maybe The Star should’ve just placed a direct translation of their big words for kids, “contains unruly behaviour that should only be read if above 18 years of age”. LoL!
And if the Malaysian Government even implores bloggers to run their blog through a censorship board before going live, hell, I’d rather not be a Malaysian citizen. Even wanna take away freedom of online expressionism.. phbt! you’ve gotta be kidding.:evil:
June 25th, 2005 at 10:00 am
minishorts, you do your thing.
as a parent, it’s his responsibility to “discuss”
“what is wrong or right” for his kids.
pls don’t change anything. i love your blog.
June 25th, 2005 at 10:37 am
if you label your blog as 18sx or what so ever,
i guess that will pull more young kids to your site… those little curious creatures…
i wish i have read your blog when i was 10 yrs old, then i would have knowm more real facts about life by now …..
June 25th, 2005 at 10:57 am
June 25th, 2005 at 11:05 am
Good response, minishorts.
I doubt i would have been as diplomatic as you. The net has all kinds of objectionable content, and it’s the parent’s responsibility to monitor their kids’ usage if they want to be such a stickler for these things. They shouldn’t be blaming you.
June 25th, 2005 at 11:22 am
hmm…guess i won’t be featured in the star anytime soon with this kind of backlash from the public.
June 25th, 2005 at 11:52 am
in a way, i feel mr fong has his points but like mack, i feel it is not fair to single out you because out there, there are more worst blogs or sites that contain lots of expletives. you did very well, with your response, claire.
June 25th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
Like that means some of us also have to put up diclaimers that “…this blog is for dirty minds only.” Where will it all stop?
June 25th, 2005 at 1:43 pm
Fong made a big mistake.
June 25th, 2005 at 1:45 pm
whose blog contains no expletives la?
June 25th, 2005 at 2:47 pm
If Fong is concern, then he should had used filters for his kids. If his kids played with knife and cut themselves, should he blame the knife or the kids? I don’t think it is necessary to put disclaimers la.
June 25th, 2005 at 2:57 pm
Truly diplomatic response.
On our side, we would be the immature ones and reply it with a “Go fuck yourself with a scapel. Repeatedly.”
June 25th, 2005 at 2:59 pm
Good follow up mini. If all other kids can be taught to be more responsible for themselves eh
June 25th, 2005 at 3:21 pm
then movies and books that have words like ‘fuck’ cannot be reviewed in newspapers lah?
then how are newspapers supposed to write about anything? movies like mr&mrs smith have elements of sex. so.. cannot promote in newspapers is it? *lol*
June 25th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
this is your blog…period. you can write whatever the FUCK you want…don’t change a bit the way you write
June 25th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
aiyah. no need to say so much lah…
over. done. next.
(thanks everyone, one big big kiss coming up, MONDAY!)
June 25th, 2005 at 5:02 pm
Big kiss? I will be first in the queue on Monday. Eric, pls move one side hehehehe:twisted:
June 25th, 2005 at 5:31 pm
Why parents like to blame others for their own children’s mischief?
June 25th, 2005 at 7:19 pm
that was a good return letter to the parent though.
alas, we can’t please everybody, can we? I should know that as well as anybody…
June 25th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
WOAH…
June 26th, 2005 at 1:10 am
I thought everything on the net is ‘Read At Your own Risk’.
Or otherwise, block the IP lah. So that his children won’t read your blog :p
June 26th, 2005 at 1:13 am
Coming from Singapore (I come in peace and as a fellow blogger), I’d just like to say that everyone’s a critic.
In this case Fong MC probably had something corked up her arse and felt compelled to write such a letter.
The issue is, who cares if her daughter’s exploring material which may seem unsuitable for someone her age?
Which guy hasn’t visited porn sites whilst being underaged or which girl hasn’t been subjected to alcohol at nightclubs?
For all you know, Fong MC might just be a sex-hungry whore posing as a ‘concerned and frustrated parent’
The main underlying objective is, ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’.
June 26th, 2005 at 1:32 am
Aiya just shut down the site before the authority issues a Warrant to do it!
Migrate to another host and change your name
June 26th, 2005 at 7:57 am
be yourself.
”
minishorts.net is for a mature audience only
”
looks like a big plaster sealing minishorts’ mouth.
I hope that plaster will be removed soon….
are Malaysian bloggers willing to loose thier freedom of speech?
hell NO !
a blog reader
-Life Feel
June 26th, 2005 at 9:48 am
I think it was sometime last year when someone wrote on blogs in the Star and my mom was all hyped about it saying “ooh look!” and when i told her I blogged, she just said oh?
and thats it. Your disclaimer says it all, and no one can should ask you to change ur contents “for the sake of their children”.. parents are not aware of many other things children see/do ^^
June 26th, 2005 at 10:08 am
Blame the reader not the blogger.If you don’t like the blog don’t come near it.Simple as that.
June 26th, 2005 at 11:30 am
Haha Wouldn’t it be nice if The Star published her letter (alongside your blog’s URL)? More publicity! MUAHAHAHAHAHA
I’m a bit concerned at Fong’s lack of responsibility as a mother, or rather, lack of know-how in dealing with children growing up. But I did blog about it. I was pretty pissed off at first, but as I went along, felt more sad for her than anything… omigod, I’m mellowing with age!
June 26th, 2005 at 12:13 pm
Niki,
Don’t you go flaming parents, If your a parent what would you do then ? Encourage your kids to do it?
Taking the risk to let something pass by without doing anything in your power to mediate it at least minimize the impact?
Not many people get second chances especially raising children.
Are you a parent.
you should realize it!
June 26th, 2005 at 1:06 pm
hi minishorts. this is unrelated to the post, but i think putting the text ‘Fund My Blog’ above your Google Ads is a violation of the google adsense TOS under section 5. the text ‘Fund My Blog’ somewhat encourages the user to click the ads which is not allowed.
June 26th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
[...] entry in PPS which reflects not only what I thought, but as well as how I found out about a letter sent to minishorts by a mother- I popped by P PS, came across BNM’s entry, which lead to minishor [...]
June 26th, 2005 at 4:28 pm
I think you handled this pretty well. Kudos to you.
But honestly, I think that she can’t stop you from posting what makes your blog unique, and that it should be her own responsibility to filter what her kid sees. The internet is a zoo. At least your blog provide a soft cushioning when compared to what’s out there.
Keep on blogging what you always blog.
June 26th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
im a 16-going-on-17 girl myself. i visited ur blog rite after i read the article, and i can assure you that i haven’t been shooting out profanities or anything like that.
in fact, i really love ur blog!
keep it up =)
June 26th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
her kids?how old are they?i am a 12 goin on 13 girl.am considered a kid as well?oh whatever.i think your blog is just reall interesting.
i think that its nothing wrong.keep up the good work babe!:grin:
June 26th, 2005 at 5:38 pm
if a child knows between what’s right and what’s wrong, then there’s no need to worry really because that child’s won’t be affected just by reading a raunchy blog.
minishorts you rock and your posts rock. keep em coming!
cheers!
June 26th, 2005 at 7:00 pm
minishorts rocks…
in German,
rock means skirt
muahahahaha.
a blog reader
- life Feel
June 26th, 2005 at 10:56 pm
Blogger start lost freedom ?
Just saw minishorts.net is for mature audience only , i was like huh ?
when the old day public still don’t know about blog, we seem like have much more freedom .. but now when blog starting getting popular in media, we getting all these kind…
June 27th, 2005 at 12:42 am
I wonder if she also sent email to Sarong Party Girl.
June 27th, 2005 at 12:57 am
i like esp, the internet has no rules fella….
quite unintentionally but ironically refuted by a paul tan, who mentioned something about the TOS of google’s adsense.
in any case, is the fact that the internet does not have any rules a sort of… rule then? if even of the thumb variety?
how about free speech? is that a rule?
“I also wish to inform you (and other concerned individuals/groups) that the targeted audience of this site has always been the mature crowd.”
maybe you might want to do something about (read: get rid of) all of us who are already reading so as to be more in line with ur targets.
June 27th, 2005 at 4:23 am
Imagine if you still had your Harry Potter theme. That would be hilariously ironic.
June 27th, 2005 at 10:41 am
Hi, minishorts. I am 13 and I read your blog too. I think you rock, and after reading your blog, I am going to start swearing, having random sex, and setting dustbins on fire.
In fact, I feel like kicking a small animal now.
Stay cool and funky alwayz!!
June 27th, 2005 at 10:44 am
[...] 0; obviously this was a thank you post to everyone who commented and wrote to me regarding that concerned parent. You guys rawk! See you Friday!
[...]
June 27th, 2005 at 5:57 pm
June 28th, 2005 at 8:29 am
[...] and is just chewing up the 7.30pm prime slot. This is as hilarious as the recent SPG and saga and it’s now all over again in Australian version on the big screen.
[...]
June 28th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
I blame Fong for having kids. If she didn’t have any kids, they would not have had any chance to view any naughty material whatsoever.
June 29th, 2005 at 2:54 pm
I’d say continue writing what you want to write.
A blogger writes what he/she wants to write, not what other people want to read.
July 1st, 2005 at 2:18 am
this is whut your WORDS speak: you say “this site is directed at mature adults”, and also it is stated in the newspaper “it is raunchy”
and your ACTIONS? :by allowing your blog to be published in a national newspaper, you’re indirectly opening your blog to people of every walk. though publicity is a good thing, i can understand that. but bear in mind that, are you still going by the concept “this site is directed at mature adults”? even though it’s everywhere in every page?
that’s the question. see i really like the quote which says “actions speak louder than words”. in this case, no matter how much you scream “this blog is only for mature adults”, is it going to work, now that it’s on national newspaper?
at the first place, if you really care bout the young being affected by your blog, your conscience should be telling you that putting up your blog address in a newspaper IS A CHOICE. you can actually choose NOT to put it up. publicity is good, but is exposing your thoughts to the young good? if you were more concern bout the young minds, you would have thought twice. therefore there’s no excuse to it.
in fact, giving a higher priority to your blog’s publicity rather than the minds of the young is selfish. you want your views and opinions to be expressed, but at the price of affecting the minds of the young? and you know, a mere line “this blog is only for mature adults” is not enough to keep the kids away.
July 1st, 2005 at 8:41 am
[...] this is my first day of work after a nice holiday on the beach and I still get idiots like ‘Questionable’ writing to me. Now please forward your support to Ms Wileen Cheng (ni [...]
July 1st, 2005 at 7:36 pm
lolls.questionable crap.lolls.i am laughing…
i want more bedtime stories!ahh.
i love minishorts.net
keep rocking,babe!
July 2nd, 2005 at 1:51 pm
[...] osted by caleb under Blogosphere Minishorts has been receiving flak because her blog isn’t exactly NC16 and it got plugged by the Malaysian media recently. What makes it worst is that sh [...]
July 2nd, 2005 at 10:19 pm
They are young adolescent children, yeah. Isn’t it better to find ‘mild’ profanities
in this blog rather than having them surfing pornography? Anyway, i think children who grow up having experienced both the ‘light’ and the ‘dark’ side(not to dark tho) have more mature minds.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:20 pm
pos yourgirls