"My Child Encountered Disturbing Content Online on a Safe Site"

Dear Cybersorter,
My 10-year-old son is currently a bit obsessed with unsolved mysteries such as UFOs, the Yeti, etc. We got him a kid-friendly book on the subject, not too scary.
However, he pulled a few terms from it, did a search online and found himself on a conspiracy theory message board.
Here, he read a post by someone ranting on about finding and killing children. He didn’t mention it at the time, but wasn’t himself for a couple of days.
When I pushed him on it, he broke down and told me about the site. While it wasn’t porn, it featured some pretty warped views and genuinely scared him.
I have always relied on education and trust when it comes to internet content, and wouldn’t like to only allow him access to a version of the internet that is stripped-down.
That said, he has pretty much stopped using the internet since this happened, so I would consider filtering software if he was happy with it too.
– E O’N

Dear E O’N,
It’s great you have encouraged your son’s interests by giving him free access to the widest and most accessible database to ever grace the earth.
The fact that he seems shy of the internet after such a nasty shock is a strong sign you should step in and manage his access.
Any content that you suspect is illegal should be reported to the police. Check out hotline.ie – an anonymous facility for reporting. They also have advice and links for filtering software and other safety sites.
Setting a few basic filters will allow your son to use the internet without either of you worrying about what he will turn up.
However, those filters would not have stopped your son from seeing what he did on that open forum. when letting your children range over the Internet it really is best to be someone in the proximity, keeping an eye on what's going on.
Just like in real life, you can occasionally encounter a dangerous nut case. You need to equip your child with how to deal with this, ideally before it happens. Sit down with your child and talk to them about what they should do if they come across disturbing contect or someone innaproriate tries to make contact with them. Firstly they should tell you about it. they should not engage with the person at all and if at all possible that person should be blocked from any further access to your child.