there is no effective way to do so, because even if you do delete it, it's easy as ABC to make a new one

Originally posted in our previous blog by:

Jeff Cooper
re: How to remove your child's MySpace account
Mon Jun 5, 2006 10:21AM

Dear DJ,

Here are the instructions from MySpace:

Q. How do I remove my child's profile from MySpace.com?



A. Please work with your child to remove the account. Once you are logged into MySpace.com, click on 'Account Settings' and then click on 'Cancel Account'. An email will be sent to the email address (the same one used as the login name) to verify Account Deletion.

If you do not receive the confirmation email, please remove all content from your child's profile, and enter in the text 'Remove Profile' in the 'About Me'. This lets us know that you have taken control of your child's account. Please alert us with the URL to the profile in question, and we can remove the profile for you.

The internet can be a fun place for younger users as long as they are safe. We have an entire section dedicated to Safety Tips for parents (and our userbase!) to peruse. Please check them out!



However, your problem is much larger than the mechanices of removing their profiles. You said that they will not tell you their passwords, which means your children are out and out defying you. This is an issue larger than the myspace one. You have told them to remove their accounts and they are doing everything they can to refuse your demand. I don't know if you're in a position to give them other consequences or not, but that is certainly unacceptable on their part.

You *might* want to consider compromising with them. This is a big "might" because it means you would be giving in. Tell them that you need to have access to their accounts so that you can see what is going on. Of course, one thing you may do is view their profiles as a member yourself, though this will not allow you to see their emails. The reason I'm suggesting this compromise is by "just saying no" to them regarding myspace obviously has had the impact of getting them to defy you, even though they are still living under your roof and should abide by your rules.

If you truly want to get them to remove them at all costs, and they steadfastly refuse to give you their passwords, there are spy programs that allow you to track keystrokes on your computer. It would cost some money, but you could actually break into their accounts and delete them. Of course, this will continue to interfere with your relationship with your kids, since you basically had to go behind their backs and do what you wanted to do. Of course, this won't stop them from going elsewhere and creating other MySpace accounts.

I think what you really need to do is sit down and talk to your kids about why you want them to remove their accounts. Discuss the prior problems one of them had. Try and figure out some sort of solution/compromise *together* rather than going through this as a war. I'd also advise getting another adult, and even one or two of their peers to sit in on the conversation. Maybe you could even host a "What Should We Do About MySpace?" party. That way you could all sit down and discuss the concerns and possible solutions. Bring in a minister or counselor to be an impartial moderator. Personally, I think opening up communication regarding this is very important, and everyone should have some sort of say as far as what the solution is.

You did say your kid lied about being 17. I don't know how much of a lie this is, but the younger the kid is the more control you should exert, and the less of a voice they should have in the outcome. Clearly if they are 17, they are very close to adulthood (well... legal adulthood anyway). Again, whatever their age, communication is the free.

Good luck, and let me know how things turn out.

Regards,