Shropshire has been rocked by the apparent suicide of a Telford man on webcam in a chatroom.
Kevin Whitrick, from Wellington, hanged himself as he took part in a webcam session on paltalk.com.
The police investigation was continuing today. Detectives are still working to trace the people who were talking to Mr Whitrick online before he died on Wednesday.So what do you think about chatrooms - are they a good or a bad thing?
You might think that they allow people to experience a wider community and to connect with like-minded people or that they are full of manipulators and paedophiles.
Tell us your experience of chatrooms - good and bad, by filling in the comment box below. Remember that all comments are moderated before they are allowed to go live on the site.
32 Comments
I used to use chat rooms all the time and you get some very strange people and also some very nice people on them, i do think though with the incident that happened in Wellington last week, and also grooming of children etc etc, what exactly is good about a chat room not alot. They used to be there to have a laugh and make new friends but now there just one big risk. Maybe it is time either they get monitored properly so that incidents dont happen like what happened to that poor bloke last week. Or they get closed down!!!!!!
Chatrooms are bad news. They are generally for people with disturbed minds…with nothing better to do. In the future if I have children, they will never be allowed to use them. If you use a chatroom you are an easy target for paedophiles, bullies and fraudsters and can only have yourself to blame.
I never use chat rooms, Iv always used instant messaging but with friends and family only. Chat rooms should be monitered 24hrs a day to make sure nothing happens.
kim chat rooms are not bad news at all it’s the admin that run the rooms that are responsible for monitoring the chat, i own a chat room on the tiscali server it is an 18+ room there are no webcams involved as it is mirc only i have 6 years experiance of being a aop/sop and room founder, swearing is allowed in my room but swearing to another chatter in an abusive intended mannor i warn them frist and if they continue they are banned instantley and as goes for suicide talk that is an instant ban i do not tolerate it. now i point my finger at the admin of the chat room for not monitoring what was being said and the mans intentions.
People are very good at hiding behind the PC. It’s frightening to think the amount of evil people who lure young children into believing there are nice!!. Sick minded individuals who need help.
I think its a huge generalisation to say that all chatrooms are full of predators and paedophiles - some of them, yes, but not all of them. For example, chatrooms about music and bands, are full of fans talking about their favourite song, not people grooming young children.
Kim, yes, you do have to watch children when they are online as children tend to be very trusting, but common sense must prevail and if people think there is something suspicious going on then they need to report it, not turn a blind eye, like the tragic circumstances of recent events proved!
Chat rooms are a good thing in my opinion because they enable people who are shy and not very confident in face to face situations to put their point across in a more meaningful way to a number of people.
That said though, I agree that there are a number of nutters out there… I was part of a chat room a few years ago, ran by a 23yr old girl, and with several other members including a couple of guys in America and a 40yr old woman from Liverpool… and one day I had an email saying this 40 yr old had died… Several days later it became apparent that ALL of the characters mentioned above were actually just this one woman! Crazy…
I object to anyone saying chat rooms should be closed down, apart from the simple fact they couldn’t all be stopped, if your an adult you have a choice, to go into these places or not, if your a child then you should be supervised by an adult. To say that the chat room killed this man is insane, the CPS would never get a verdict of manslaughter to stand up in a court of law. This man sadly ended his life, he did it in a most odd way, but they were his actions no one else’s..
I think internet chatrooms are fine when they are properly moderated, I run a small chatroom on my own personal website which is for mums to make new friends, the site is completely free and is heavily moderated if you mess up your out simple as that, if chatrooms are abused they should be closed!!!! what happened last week was incredibly shocking, the provider of that chatroom should be stopped from ever having a chatroom again! if you can look after your chatroom properly DONT RUN ONE!!!!
i extend my deepest symapthies to Mr whitrick’s family at this very sad time. however i do feel its a a deep shame that all the tradgedys of the internet are reported upon but all the good the internet has done are rarely commented on. when two people fall in love in chatrooms it’s never publicised.this event has sadened the nation but can we really consider banning internet chatrooms altogether because some people have abused it. i think being educated on the dangers is rhe way forward.
So “incidents” like that dont happen??
Have you actually been into the chat room?? Have you heard people crying on the mic, having to go to doctors because of stress and schock? All because one of our friends couldnt talk to us about what happened in his life, and chose to end it, in front of our eyes. Maybe you should learn what happened, how it happened, what WE ALL DID to try and stop it happening, and how we fell now. We all wish that we cold have done something 10 minutes faster, and maybe he would be alive… But we did what we could! Nothing more, and definately nothing less!
I will say that I have been a member on paltalk for over a year. I have met on/off line friends from there.. It is a great way to socialize, but as with anything in life, there is good and bad. There are those who take insults or bashing way too far.. It would not matter if it was online or face to face.. Those individuals are jsut cold hearted and need help. I knew the gentleman in the story and he was a sweetheart. Made lots of us laugh and we will miss him deeply. As for others paying the price for their comments made during the incident, I know Kev would not want them held accountable for it. I may not agree with what was said at the time but the person/persons have had to deal with enough eternally.. We come on here and socialize with others. Some of us are unable to get out of the house due to disablitlities so this is great to keep us uplifted and still in the cycle of life.. One bad incident does not make the whole internet chat a bad situation. You are the one who chooses where you go to, who you chat with, what you talk about, or even if you want them as friends.. Common sense come into it at one time or another.. If you don’t like the person then simply block them, don’t talk to them, or put them on ignore.. We are human,, not perfect but is there such a thing,, I don’t believe so.
At the end of the day, Kevin must have had it in his mind that this is what was going to happen. People egging him on didn’t help but the fact that he was using an “INSULT” chat room to broadcast this he was looking to be put into that frame of mind to perhaps push him to do it.
I have unfortunately been sent pictures of the forum room, what was said, and kevin’s body. I am disgusted and hope that people should moderate chatrooms at all times and ban members as soon as they recognise something to be slightly fishy. However, anyone of any age can lie on a chat room about their age. I just hope that people monitor their children’s web useage. It was bad enough people watched this incident, but I hope for everyone’s sake that children weren’t present.
i used paltalk for about a week, never again, its sick,i went in to kels so callled friendly insult room, friendly my bleep,
there all evil,
(CLOSE IT DOWN BEFORE ITS HAPPENS AGIANS)
i use paltalk, and have been in kels friendly insult chat room,i was asked to cam up, so i did, boy big mistake, they were so nasty because iam a big women,they insulted me like i never been insulted before, to rude to write here, there are a couple of nce people in the room, whom do stick up for people getting abuse,( I SAY GET THE ROOM CLOSED ) REST IN PEACE KEVIN…. SADLY MISSED XX
I go into many chat rooms including Kels friendly insult chats. People this is just a place for people to go to have a good time and joke around. The night that Kevin hung himself was a horrifying terrifying sight to see but if we turned his cam off right away we would be no better then the people who did say some awful things. Some of us were trying to talk to him and ask him to stop ,to think about his children and that we cared and we did not want him doing this. Someone who was in the room another friend of Kevins who also at first thought it was a wined up was the one who ended up calling the police and got them to the house. But for many of us we knew Kevin from internet chat room only. NO one in a chat room program has my last name nor do they have my address or phone number unless i have gotten to know then very well over many year. I also go into a chat room were we are live on radio singing to the armed forces over seas and at home. the chat rooms are good and bad it is in how people use them . There are always trouble makers somewhere.
eBaums world strikes again! Maybe they shouldn’t listen to a bunch of idiots on the internet.
I don’t think you can blame the people on the chat room for what he did, a bunch of idiot teenagers saying “go on do it LOL” is meaningless, the guy was pretty depressed and was going to go through with it anyway.
Kim, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Just because bad people have the ability to go somewhere doesn’t mean the thing is inherently evil.
If you ever get caught by an internet fraud (help, my baby in Africa needs food, send $500 to my house in California!), stop using the internet immediately. Pedophiles are the only real threat. Bullies made me laugh, because here in AMERICA, we have this button on the top right (left for Mac users) of our windows that can close them if we press it.
I think that chat rooms should be closed down after what happend last week. I could not belive some one could do a thing like this on a live webcam. Its a sick world we live in.
i think they should limit chat rooms . insult room’s should be banned . kevin might of been still alive if he wasnt egged on to kill himself . the people on the chat room pushed him to the edge and was tormented for being weaker
people in kels friendly insult room on paltalk are full of sick people who get a kick out of insulting and hurting peoples feelings . ban all insult chat rooms !!
i have been in that chat room kels firendly uk chat room on paltalk and it was horrible. they all talk nice then when some one has an opinon they start insulting you . i went into that chat room they was talking about how hard it is being disabled i started to say about my son who died with a rare genetic disorder then someone in the room said my son was better of dead than having a mother like me, they didnt even know me and then some one else said my son was a spastic and takes after me ..that was first time i went in the chat room . so they talk nice and wait till they can get a victim to insult . they are very sad people who need to get a life and get that room banned
The people in kels chat room who was egging kevin to commit suicide said they was kevins friends and they thought it was a wind up . Well i have many friends and i wouldnt dream of saying to my friends go on kill ya self do it go on … hmmm not even for a joke or a wind up . the people like puma and others are low life to think stuff like that is funny cos its not its very sad to think someone would say that to a friend . puma is a sicko who gets a kick out of insulting people and he must be stopped he is a degrace to the human race . kevin might of been alive today if it wasnt for the sad low life people egging kevin on to commit suicide . insult rooms must be banned .
There are good people online but there are also totally sick people.
Just 2 days ago in Paltalk NOT in an insult room but in a Christian room called The Great Debate who is Jesus an admin called Safhed Guru took the mic and instructed a person how to gas themselves in a car. If that wasnt enough they they then told them how to slash their wrists and explained the great feeling of peace it would give them.
This is one example of what happens everday on paltalk. Its not just insult rooms its all the rooms.
(forever_young) i agree with ur comment about puma (but) hes not the only one in the room whom takes the pee out of people,
i even went to the paltalk admins, about puma and kel, how they spoke to me,(and the rest of his clan) i wouldnt dream off been nasty to anyone about there size, or colour.
we all human!!!! in kels so called friendly insult room, its like been at back at school, you get picked on by on person, then they join in, (bunch of sad losser if you ask me )
close this room its evil, and people are getting banned in paltalk for haveing a say what they think in that kels room its the room needs closeing not us getting baned im sickend with it shame on paltalk
It is a terrible tragedy when a person takes their own life. I don’t know what could drive a person to do such a thing. I do know that no one could possibly convince me to kill myself. I have never used Paltalk but I have been in insult rooms before and know that nothing that is said in such a room should be taken seriously. To suggest that the users of this room are responsible for this man taking his own life is absurd. How many of you would kill yourself if I told you to, even if you thought I was serious? If he was a regular in this insult room then he had to know that these people would not take him seriously when he told them he was going to kill himself. This was a grown man responsible for his own life and sadly for his own death. We always want to blame someone else when something bad happens. I don’t know why this man did what he did but I’m certain it was something more serious than words spoken in an insult room.
I think chat rooms should be banned because of the sick minded people on chat lines. Also people can trick you into meeting someone that you think is really nice but is a prostitute.
We think that chat rooms should not be banned because it is a exciting and interactive way of making new friends!
Insanity! Jer, saying Chat rooms should be banned because sick minded people use them is like saying all books should be banned because perverted concepts may be written in them. Viva la freedom of speech!
Chatrooms are horrible places. I’ve been verbally abused and called all kinds of names in them. And have left them for good. All chatrooms are, are trouble, and should not be allowed on the internet.