A Message from Miranda (StreetAngel95)
 

Most of you know Miranda from around here as she's really become one of us at the ripe old age of 15. I know I personally always enjoy her contributions and welcome her opinions when it comes to our girl. After all, it's not everyday we have teenagers in here with the depth of knowledge Miranda has when it comes to Stevie and the Mac. Unfortunately over the past few months she's been with us her parents have not known about it and discovered her secret and are not pleased about it to say the least. She has been banned from visiting The Ledge since her parents don't approve of her talking to "strangers" on the web. She wanted me to let you guys know how much her time here has meant to her and that she was so happy to find a place where she finally felt she belonged. If you would like to stay in touch with her please pm me your email and I'll forward it on. You will be missed my little sister of the moon!

:distress: I will miss you dearly Miranda!

Aww. :( I sent her a message on twitter to see if her parents kicked her off that too. So much for any meetup in AC this summer?

Anyway, I'm not sure if the best reaction is to disobey her parents wishes and give out her e-mail address to us strangers.

WHAT the hell? Banned from coming here? She seems a lot more mature than half the people her age. I've never seen her post any personal information or anything that would be 'alarming' to a parent of someone posting on a message board, so what gives? She has every right to be able to post here......aaaaagghhhh. End of rant, sorry. I just know if I was in her shoes and my parents had done that to me, I'd be very annoyed.

Anyways Miranda, I wish you all the best and I hope to see you back here soon.

xx

As will I :distress: Lindsey, can you give her a big virtual hug tell her from me that she'll always have Stevie and The Mac no matter what happens :) I miss her already :(

This is devistating news. I'm really gonna miss her!

This is horrible news. Miranda was a great Ledgie and never failed to make me laugh with her dirty jokes and whatnot. She will be sorely missed and may she live on as the poet in our hearts (or however that line goes) :xoxo:

Oh no! That is awful! Please tell her we will miss her!! I kind of understand where her parents are coming from and they want to be vigilant, but if, instead of banning her they'd checked the ledge out for themselves, they might have seen that we are all really nice. Perhaps after they think about it for a little bit, they'll change their minds. Anyway, tell her I'm really sorry :(

aww that's horrible!! Even though I'm new and didn't get to know Miranda she was always posting and seemed sweet and smart about everything she was doing. I was looking forward to maybe getting to know her because she's 15 and I'm 17. She was someone my age who shared my love of Stevie and Fleetwood Mac tand she knows so much about them. I was hoping she could spread some of that knowledge to me.
This makes me sad :(
She will be missed I can tell!!!

I hope she didn't get into too much trouble!! Some parents can be really strict about this kind of stuff :distress:

Bummer. Miranda's a sweetheart...and this place is really pretty harmless...

Wow.I'm sorry to hear that.I remember when I was young my parents banned me or going on the" CB" Citizens Band radio a talk to strangers,My mom got on the radio and said ,Country Pete will be going off the air for awhile ,And I signed off,As time past, I got back on the radio.this happend in 1975 when the start of the CB era also when the self titled FM album came out.Yes I'm showing my age now, that what we had before the internet for social communications..I hope Miranda will have a chance to see Stevie in August anyway.

That really sucks that her parents have such a misunderstanding...
her Lindsey obsessiveness is really entertaining. Hopefully, after sitting down with her parents or something, she will be back :(

It sucks for us because she was such a wonderful, thoughtful poster.

However, as I am a recent victim of Internet identity theft, I can't fault her parents for being overly cautious about the potential dangers of the Internet.

They are her parents and have to do what they think is best for her right now.

Agreed- especially at 15. Maybe her parents will look into the forum and decide differently at some point.

I realise that parents have to protect their children...but...

Really with all the dangers and risks in today's world, banning her from the Ledge isn't really going to protect her a lot is it?

Unfortunately some parents (and yes I'm about to become one so I might turn out like this) over-react and then wonder why their child resents them, withdraws, etc.

Much more productive as a parent to say "Ok, well lets have a look at this site" and have a talk about the dangers of the internet...

:shrug:

I couldn't agree more.

Poor Miranda. I know she mentioned a few times that her parents thought she was a bit too ensconsed in all things FM/Stevie/Lindsey, so perhaps this is just an extreme conservative reaction to them finding out how she seems to be spending a lot of her free time. Although I can think of far worse things for someone her age to be doing.

Hopefully her parents will re-examine their decision and perhaps set some boundaries that will allow all of them to be comfortable with her internet usage.

:sorry: To Hear that guys and Miranda more so I guess.. She'll be back in good time.. At least she'll have Stevie and The Mac "In all your darkest hours... :(

Precisely. And by making the internet so taboo, that's just going to cause a child to be drawn to it that much more. It's like all the preachers kids I know, they're all hell raisers of the highest degree because of the absurd oppression they receive(d) as kids. It seems like every single problem our society has can be solved by one simple word: moderation. Teach your children moderation. NOTHING is black and white. Cutting off a problem never works. Extreme reaction NEVER works. Approach everything in life with moderation, and you'll always be fine. :nod:

Aww sorry to hear that! Take care Miranda! Listen to Stevie music it is the magical cure for all!:angel:

Her parents should just create an account for themselves and view the postings on here at their desire! If they feel we are too personal or lewd, then they can ban her, but I feel the ledge is a pretty vanilla place most of the time :shrug: I understand their concerns, but they should be open to compromise.

I'd expect to read something like this if it was 12-13 years ago, when I was 15 (which, coincidentally, is when I first started reading/posting on the Ledge).. when the Internet still hadn't reached mainstream status and confusion and caution reigned. Pretty ignorant and uninformed- at face value.

That said, I think there's more to this story (and behind this "banning") than what has been posted. Just saying.

Considering the evidence (gosh, it took me ages to find this - http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showth...=41544&page=75, post #1119), I don't think her parents' concern about her talking to strangers on the internet is their primary one.
They should be ashamed of themselves. :mad: (And to think that was them before they discovered The Ledge! :eek: :distress:)

Kind of sad isn't it. That someone who loves music can be criticised for it (especially by her parents). I don't know Miranda or what she is like in her personal life, but it is hard to understand why you'd be concerned about your daughter liking a 62 year old artist. I might understand a bit better if Stevie was preaching suicide and self harm but she's pretty harmless singing about Lindsey and white winged doves. :shrug:

You don't say... :(
I tried to send Miranda an email about a half hour ago. This is what I got back:

Your message cannot be delivered to the following recipients:
Recipient address: (Not that it really matters now, but I'll still hide her address)
Reason: Rejection greeting returned by server.
Diagnostic code: smtp;554 imta25.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net comcast
128.250.20.112 Comcast block for spam. Please see
http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/BL000000
Remote system: dns;mx1b.comcast.net (TCP|128.250.20.112|2226|76.96.62.116|25)

Needless to say, I don't have anything nice to say about her parents at the moment.

After reading that, I hate to say it, but her parents should be thinking less about what their daughter likes (hey, I can think of way worse bands to like than the Mac, like Sepultura, where the lead singer does all his vocals in a deep growl) and how they are treating this. I mean, like someone else said, being addicted to an innocent old-school band is nowhere nearly as bad as, say, doign heroin (in my area, it's become a big problem for high schoolers, to the point where Albany is thinking of making some rehab law named after a girl I had gone to high school with that had died of an overdose), and that should be hardly of anyconcern at all.

Now, I don't mean to bring this up, but do any of you think the real reason she got banned from The Ledge was not cause of just being there, but cause she was going to Atlantic City with someone from here to see Stevie in August and her parents found out?

I feel terrible for Miranda. I know she really enjoyed it here. She has been a pleasure and a wonderful addition to The Ledge. I guess her parents think they are doing what is best, but I feel that keeping someone from something she loves will eventually backfire.
I feel that most things here are appropriate for a 15 year old. Occasionally, something may show up that is not, but that is rare.
I know that we know that listening to Fleetwood Mac and/or Stevie Nicks is harmless. Yet, you'd be surprised at how often I have heard comments that Stevie Nicks 'worships the devil' and that this is 'the devil's music'. I live in the 'Bible Belt' nowadays, so you can see the kind of nonsense I'm around. When I moved here 10 years ago, one of the first complaints my mother in law made to my mother was about my poster of 'the witch'. (My poster of the cover of The Dance!) So, you never know what Miranda's parents could be hearing from others.

Well this is ****ty......but you can't really fault her parents they are just doing what they feel. maybe they'll reconsider. But I feel like i've lost a little sister. Shine on Miranda, you'll always be in my thoughts and my heart:xoxo:

Mick

I always got a chuckle out of this
 

StreetAngel95
Addicted Ledgie Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: in Lindsey Buckingham's Arms, Down Endless Street
Posts: 1,142
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Well i had just about the biggest fight EVER with my mother. She came into my room, knocked my whole record collection to the floor and said i was a "drug addict" because of how much time i spend on FM/Stevie. She was like, " you're trying to find yourself through Stevie Nicks" and " You're not social anymore"...which i guess might be true, but i never get along with my mom so it doesm't matter. Anyways, sorry to vent.....i need a couple cheerup songs? Any ideas???
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~♥~ Miranda.Brooke.Buckingham
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I'm 48 and I TOTALLY found myself through Stevie Nicks, back in the 1970's, 1980's & 1990's ofcourse.

Actually that's not the case. Her dad was taking her and had a ticket for the show too.

That's what I thought too. Although I have heard older Ledgies mention texting teen members here (I can't remember who) and that made me uncomfortable. It may well be perfectly innocent but it's inappropriate. I wonder if something like that happened.

Is she still allowed to go and see Stevie?!

Poor Miranda. How i would love to talk to her parents, and tell them that we're not all that bad... I hope she'll be back soon, and that we won't have to wait until she's 18. :(

Guys, let's not let this thread drift from wishing Miranda were able to post to criticizing her parents:

1. Her parents are only trying to do what they think is right for their daughter. If they tracked her posts on the ledge, they would have found pictures of herself, videos of her dance class, details of fights with them, and hints (if not outright statements) about her location. Add that all of that to the fact that she was planning to meet up with ledgies at a show, and you have a recipe for a parental breakdown. Now, do I think the ledge is safe? Yup. I do. I've been here since I was literally exactly Miranda's age-- 14 turning 15 in good old 2004. But do her parents know that yet? Nope, they don't. All they've seen is what literally reads like the script of an Oprah episode called "DANGERS OF THE INTERNET! WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR DAUGHTER IS SHARING ONLINE!"

Which is why...

2. We need to show her parents that we care about Miranda's safety, too. The odds that they're reading this thread are high. It's three pages of talk from strangers about their daughter. If I were them, I would be checking it every hour. We need to keep in mind, though, that this ban might not be permanent, and a compromise might still be reached. It's been a day. Maybe Miranda can come back if she only frequents the boards directly discussing Fleetwood Mac. Maybe she simply can't post any more pictures or videos. Maybe she'll agree not to answer private messages from any user or private message users herself. If Miranda is on facebook, it might help for her parents to see the profiles of other teenage Stevie fans. They can see that there really are others her age here who it would be appropriate to make friends with-- teens who have networks and friends that verify that they're at the school they say they are, whose pictures really are of themselves, etc. My facebook profile is http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/marissa.parrish , I'm twenty years old, and Miranda's parents should feel free to contact me if they want to know about my experiences using the ledge at their daughter's age. At the end of the day, Stevie is Miranda's role model, and having a strong, talented, successful female role model at fifteen is a pretty good thing.

Whew.

All that said, Miranda, you're misssed already.

Totally agree. They are only being responsible parents. That's a good thing. Best we can all do right now is keep Miranda in our thoughts. I know if i had a child I'd be very much a head case. and want to know that he or she is safe. you never know what lurks on the net

Mick

A comment/suggestion to the Moderators, keeping in mind what LikeAWillow said. Maybe there should be a teen-only section of The Ledge. Also, maybe the moderators should remove any personal pictures/information/videos that a minor posts on The Ledge. I know that could be considered censorship but it could help in the way of a minor's safety here.

What are the different ages for being considered a minor though? In the UK you're of 'legal age' at 16 and can legally purchase and consume alcohol at 18.

18 is legal age here. 21 to drink. If you are under 13, forums are supposed to have you get parental consent to join.

I didn't realize. My bad, but still, I do completely understand why her parents would be a bit nuts. No matter how trustworthy someone might seem on the Net, they might not be who you think they are, which could bring up a few red flags.