FOR ALL WHO POST ON FORUMS

[Sinead]

You do NOT have to give out any information upon yourself if you do not wish to do so. There have been topics here that I have seen where very personal information is given by one party, and the other didn't reply to their own questions. If you are uncomfortable with answering something, then it's your gut telling you not to reply.

I know this seems redundant, but do not give out ANY personal information, such as your IRL full name, address, phone number, or whatnot over public threads! You don't really know who you're talking to, or who might get a hold of your information.

Am I being paranoid? Maybe a little. But I've been blessed with making friends with solid people here on BWINT when it first started. Not all message boards are so lucky! Until you meet people in real life, you cannot know what they are really like, and I have been there and done that, people! There have been people from this board (way back a few years) that I have met at Botcon and instantly knew that they were creeps.

That's all for the PSA for now.

[Wistwin]

I'm actually a little shocked few realize this, and I hope you don't mind that I add a little to what you've said, Sinead.

Technically, it's common sense not to reveal too much information about oneself. I'm not saying anyone here has less common sense than everyone else, but before we post anything personal, we should easily remember that we don't know anything about the people here except for how they've shown themselves to us.

Also remember that impressions can be deceiving--if the Decepticons didn't teach you that, then I don't know what can be learned form them.

In addition, IRL full names and phone numbers can be easily traced by hackers and whatnot. Frag, they can be traced by people who aren't hackers. Just grab a phone book and see what I mean.

I'm probably stating the obvious now, but I just wanted to add that.

[Sinead]

I honestly don't mind people adding on when it's solid common sense, Wistwin. The internet has changed from being a privilege to becoming a necessity in this day and age. So few people remember all the scams and horrors of people being lured and abducted through the internet.

I, like many others, want this board to remain a safe place, suitable for people of all ages to come and talk Beast Wars and life. I don't want it to be the next big scandal.

[Razor One]

Governments, schools, businesses and other organisations may have already collected personal information about you. Information collected by governments is sometimes publicly available in the form of Public Registers. The Electoral Roll, and the Telephone Directory are Public Registers. Your school, university or employer may publish your name or other information about you. Much personal information which is publicly available has been collected and combined into databases by web based companies which then sell this information to businesses or individuals. Comprehensive and sometimes inaccurate profiles of individuals can be derived by combining information from many sources.

That quoted, let's consider the following.

Let's consider that a wierdo happens across the forum and sees that someone has dropped a full name. For the purposes of this example, I've contrived a name that I shant reveal here on the off chance that it's a real name.

A google search for this name reveals 261,000 results for said name. Not a very good guide. Let's now say that I have a decent idea which country said person might reside in. Let's say the US.

Oho! A search from a certain source cuts it down to 30 results. If I know the city or even the state, I can narrow that further to 3 results.

This gives me their name, their address, their phone number and their rough age.

By dropping someone elses name, and letting slip certain tidbits of information such as country, city, state and so forth, I've opened the door for some wierdo to do some real damage to someone I know simply because I mentioned them by name.

That includes the following

Threats through the mail
Threats via phonecall
Threats via actually visiting their address

By engaging in further nefarious activities, a particularly nasty one could easily stalk said person and glean further information about their working habits, whether they have any pets, even go so far as to impersonate mailmen and other service personnell to gain further information about the individual.

Granted this is an extreme example of what someone can do.

But remember, I'm using public resources here. With a name and a country, I can narrow my possibilities as far down as 30 individuals.

With the way information is just being thrown out there with facebook and myspace and so forth, it's become easier then ever to track someones age, date of birth, location, gain a picture of said person, phone number, email address, phone numbers (Mobile and landline) and more. This opens the door not only to stalker-like behavior but also to the possibility of identity theft.

Ever had a credit card bill arrive for 5,000 dollars of stuff you never went out and bought? That's identity theft right there.

I again state that this is someone using public information sources and a little bit of shrewd investigation capabilities. A particularly nefarious individual could uncover your IP and track you through that, able to see who your ISP is, hack into your computer (You should be using a firewall, but that wont stop a bright and dedicated hacker type) and can do all kinds of damage, personally or otherwise.

Now that's out in the open, lets also consider that corporations have webcrawlers out there on the internet, always sniffing out for personal information such as names or addresses, emails, IP's and telephone numbers. These automated programs scour every corner of the web looking for this stuff.

Ever wonder where all those telemarketer callers get your number from?
Ever consider why you get so much junk mail in your mailbox? Snail or E?
Ever Ponder who exactly it was that rang you up, you said "Hello?" and they hung up instantly?

NEVER give your personal info out on the web.

I've never doled out my phone number. Never put out my full name. The most you'll ever get is my country and city, and for most of last year I wasnt even there. With only one notable exception, it took me years to even let other long term web contacts know my first name and years more before I ever committed to meeting them in person, with only one notable exception.

To know my name is a privilege. To knoy my number is an honor. To know my place of residence is GIFT!

To conclude this long winded, exaggerated, but nonetheless necessary PSA, and because I cant say this enough.


NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.
NEVER give your personal info out on the web.

[SilverfromOZ]

Additionally, there is the point of meeting people from the forum. I have the good fortune of being a 6' tall male who has swordfighting skills and a penchant for black leather meaning that if I get into a situation I don't want to be in I can generally get out of it. I have openly invited others to meet up whenever and on various occasions I have been declined because of whatever reason. I completely stand by that decision because you are never 100% sure who it is that you'll be meeting and hopefully there will be a situation where a large group of us can get together and look after each other. Now IF you are going to meet someone you discovered online, please take care. Try and be as certain as you can about who it is that you are meeting (unfortunately, this can be faked be aforementioned wierdos) and even if you are "completely" sure that this person is fine DO NOT meet in a private place. Go somewhere like a shopping mall with lots of people around so if you feel uncomfortable, there will be a security guard or other such law enforcement within earshot and it is also strongly recommended to take a friend along just in case. To my knowledge (touch wood) there has not been any bad situations and I pray that there never is because everyone I have met from the forum has proven to be really cool, fun and interesting in their own special ways.

I suppose a great deal of this is directed to our younger members but it can be just as applicable to everyone else, except maybe Crab. I reckon he could seriously kick some if cornered

[Phoenix]

As important as your warning of never giving out personal information online is, there are also a few sunshine stories out there about people who originally met online and became the best of friends or more.

Personally i met my husband and the father of my unborn child online, on a different forum. We chatted online and on the phone for a year and a half before we met up in person. It was the best decision i ever made.

So if you are planning to meet someone online in person, make sure you give them time to get to know them well before entertaining such thoughts.

[Alak]

The previous post was back in 2008. How the heck did you manage to dig this thread up lol?

[Phoenix]

Not sure why but my new droid pro marked it as a new thread. It does weird things.

[NaitoKage]

Your Droid apparently has the ability to perform necromancy. Congratulations! .. but allow the zombie to return to the soil whence it came..