Change the way MeetMe manages their website.


Change the way MeetMe manages their website.
The Issue
In the last few years, it has become clear that MeetMe does not actually view the claims when someone's profile (or photos) is reported, resulting in the removal of numerous innocent profiles, due to vendettas sought out by certain individuals who are abusing the report button. When the Support Staff was questioned, they replied simply stating that photos had violated their Terms of Service with pornography, when said user had only one photo up of her face.
Other members are not satisfied with how the staff caters to some of their applications. They completely censor the Ask Me feature, but they don't care what private messages get sent. In the same sense, men who upload photos of their genitals are removed for obvious reason - but with the new "add a photo to your message" feature, these pictures are being sent out practically thousands of times a day. People who ask sexual questions using the Ask Me feature are not reprimanded, however those who answer the questions are removed from the site. We feel that the staff also gets to break the rules because they are the staff. For instance, Catherine posts bikini pictures, but if someone else does, it gets removed.
Other members are feeling discouraged about being on the site, as it has become more of a dating site. Those who are in relationships get harassed, told they shouldn't be on the website, and are accused of cheating on their significant others, just for having an account on the site.
Some members are being removed for posting links to their Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter pages, being considered unsolicited spam.
Some members are being removed, being referred to as "bots", when they are in fact a real person who has chosen the occupation as a webcam model and are being mistaken for spam, when the only time they mention their occupation is when someone asks, therefore, not unsolicited like it states in the TOS.
Members of the military are having photos of them overseas with smiling, laughing, children removed because their government issued weapon is in the picture, because it "promotes violence."
Members are having a lot of issues with the phone verification system that MeetMe has set up, especially if their accounts have previously been deleted. Their phone numbers will not work a second time (popping up with "incorrect number"), and despite what it says in MeetMe's FAQ about messaging the support staff to have the number removed, it has come to our attention through emailing the support staff that they reply saying that the number is not attached to any account.
Minors on the site are also becoming an issue. We understand that people of all ages should have a place to meet new people, but when men in their 40s are able to contact a 15 year old girl and she reports him and all the site does is tell her to contact the police, how is that being handled well in the slightest? Some members are lying about their ages, and while MeetMe only cares if a user is under the age of 13, some members are being put it situations that could get them in trouble with the law, just because someone lied. Making the site 18+ or designing a seperate website (a "MeetMe After Dark" if you will) would solve most of these problems. Facebook offers a service where users who are registered sex offenders, molesters, rapists, etc. are not allowed to have an account and we believe it should be the same case on MeetMe as well.
It has come to the members' attention that the website MeetMe operated properly when it was under the name MyYearbook, when pictures of a girl in her twenties was allowed to post tasteful pictures of herself in a bikini without a jealous, insecure member reporting the picture and having it removed. MyYearbook was a place to meet new friends and connect with old classmates, and despite MeetMe's tagline "Where new friends come to meet," it has taken a turn into a dating site. MyYearbook took cyber bullying seriously, and punished the person who was causing problems. They did not, unlike MeetMe, only remove the person where the content showed up, meaning the victim.
Many users also feel that the fun features that originally brought them to the site have been removed to make room for dating applications. The removed applications include Games, Quizzes, Scratch Cards, Flirts, Gifts, Networks, the Whatever I Want sections of profiles, Blogs/Poems, Battles, etc. The Match/Secret Admirer app has always been a user favorite...but the continuing additions of Blind Date and other dating apps have made the site more of a place to look for relationships and hookups, rather than friendships like the old site and the current site's tag line suggest.
We the undersigned demand a change - We demand that you make the website a place where people don't metaphorically live in fear of being harassed or having their profiles deleted because of their relationship status, their occupation, being singled out by an individual who doesn't want them on the site, etc.

The Issue
In the last few years, it has become clear that MeetMe does not actually view the claims when someone's profile (or photos) is reported, resulting in the removal of numerous innocent profiles, due to vendettas sought out by certain individuals who are abusing the report button. When the Support Staff was questioned, they replied simply stating that photos had violated their Terms of Service with pornography, when said user had only one photo up of her face.
Other members are not satisfied with how the staff caters to some of their applications. They completely censor the Ask Me feature, but they don't care what private messages get sent. In the same sense, men who upload photos of their genitals are removed for obvious reason - but with the new "add a photo to your message" feature, these pictures are being sent out practically thousands of times a day. People who ask sexual questions using the Ask Me feature are not reprimanded, however those who answer the questions are removed from the site. We feel that the staff also gets to break the rules because they are the staff. For instance, Catherine posts bikini pictures, but if someone else does, it gets removed.
Other members are feeling discouraged about being on the site, as it has become more of a dating site. Those who are in relationships get harassed, told they shouldn't be on the website, and are accused of cheating on their significant others, just for having an account on the site.
Some members are being removed for posting links to their Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter pages, being considered unsolicited spam.
Some members are being removed, being referred to as "bots", when they are in fact a real person who has chosen the occupation as a webcam model and are being mistaken for spam, when the only time they mention their occupation is when someone asks, therefore, not unsolicited like it states in the TOS.
Members of the military are having photos of them overseas with smiling, laughing, children removed because their government issued weapon is in the picture, because it "promotes violence."
Members are having a lot of issues with the phone verification system that MeetMe has set up, especially if their accounts have previously been deleted. Their phone numbers will not work a second time (popping up with "incorrect number"), and despite what it says in MeetMe's FAQ about messaging the support staff to have the number removed, it has come to our attention through emailing the support staff that they reply saying that the number is not attached to any account.
Minors on the site are also becoming an issue. We understand that people of all ages should have a place to meet new people, but when men in their 40s are able to contact a 15 year old girl and she reports him and all the site does is tell her to contact the police, how is that being handled well in the slightest? Some members are lying about their ages, and while MeetMe only cares if a user is under the age of 13, some members are being put it situations that could get them in trouble with the law, just because someone lied. Making the site 18+ or designing a seperate website (a "MeetMe After Dark" if you will) would solve most of these problems. Facebook offers a service where users who are registered sex offenders, molesters, rapists, etc. are not allowed to have an account and we believe it should be the same case on MeetMe as well.
It has come to the members' attention that the website MeetMe operated properly when it was under the name MyYearbook, when pictures of a girl in her twenties was allowed to post tasteful pictures of herself in a bikini without a jealous, insecure member reporting the picture and having it removed. MyYearbook was a place to meet new friends and connect with old classmates, and despite MeetMe's tagline "Where new friends come to meet," it has taken a turn into a dating site. MyYearbook took cyber bullying seriously, and punished the person who was causing problems. They did not, unlike MeetMe, only remove the person where the content showed up, meaning the victim.
Many users also feel that the fun features that originally brought them to the site have been removed to make room for dating applications. The removed applications include Games, Quizzes, Scratch Cards, Flirts, Gifts, Networks, the Whatever I Want sections of profiles, Blogs/Poems, Battles, etc. The Match/Secret Admirer app has always been a user favorite...but the continuing additions of Blind Date and other dating apps have made the site more of a place to look for relationships and hookups, rather than friendships like the old site and the current site's tag line suggest.
We the undersigned demand a change - We demand that you make the website a place where people don't metaphorically live in fear of being harassed or having their profiles deleted because of their relationship status, their occupation, being singled out by an individual who doesn't want them on the site, etc.

Petition Closed
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The Decision Makers
Petition created on June 4, 2013