In running an online class system, we encounter situations where we have to gather data and present to the best of our ability past events. We thoroughly comb through the evidence and carefully present our findings with an admission as to how certain we can be about the evidence. Often the stories about events as told to us sound implausible. Every theory is debunked as best we can, leaving only the what could have happened. No decision of fact is sent along without us being as sure as we can. In many cases, our recommendation is not enough evidence exists to determine the events.

Based on what I have read, I have to wonder if the Gulf Middle School school officials and the Attorney General’s Office made the same careful deliberations for a police officer in Florida to be in trouble over the links on his friends’ page? He even had approval to create the profile on MySpace though run it on his own time. This story just smells. I bet there is more to the story. The story as it has been told doesn’t sound very plausible.

That said, I remember a case where helping a professor in 2005 (who had been teaching online for at least 5 years) asked me, “What is the URL Tool? While you are at it: What is a link?” So, just because people use technology does not mean they understand it.