Personal Information On Threads

[Anonymous]

Yup, there's the very real possibility of stalking. That's unpleasant mail, threatening phone calls, a dangerous-looking stranger lurking outside your house....

Been there, done that and that was before the internet too. These days i'm very careful about who i tell ANYTHING to. Some people are just so twisted.....

 

[escargot]

Yup Throw, nobody thinks you were trolling M8.

The thread was interesting and we enjoyed it.

I think something went on 'behind the scenes' which the mods won't let on about so we'll never know what it was.

Don't fret yourself - you've done nowt wrong.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

I'm very open and honest about myself on here which is why I guess I didn't think it would be an issue, I used to sign off posts with my name, I talk about where I live and what I do, and if people really wanted to find out more about me they could I'm sure. anyway sorry folks, I didn't mean to cause a headache.

No worries.

Although we know you weren't trying to get up to no good we are concerned that some people (esp. newbies) may get lulled into a false sense of security by various members open and honest approach about themselves and reveal more than they realise and get themselves into trouble. Thats one of the reasons we've started this thread as we might have to up date the guidelines and we want people's input on what might be wise and unwise to reveal.

 

[Alexius4]

I'm a comparative newcomer myself, but over the last year I've heard tell of the bad old days when Chopper and co. roamed the board.

Personal information has been abused on this board, and it would be a pity if it happened again.

To put this in some further perspective: nobody thinks Throw would start such a thread to cause trouble, but had an unknown poster done it alarm bells would certainly have rung at lot sooner.

 

[Yithian]

To put this in some further perspective: nobody thinks Throw would start such a thread to cause trouble

I've heard he daubs his face in lambsblood and makes the beast with two backs whilst cavorting with demons.

edit: on the dark, secluded threads that nobody visits.

 

[PeniG]

To a certain extent, what we put out there has to involve an individual threat assessment.

I always use my real name where ever I go and I have no qualms about telling people where I live. After all, I'm in the phone book and information about me is readily available in public records and on the back flaps of my books. My own observation has been that people who go around taking too many precautions cheat themselves out of many opportunities for enjoyment and profit, and that a lot of precautions aren't effective anyway. When I was single, for instance, I was advised to use initials for my phone book listing; but when you see a listing for "Smith, J," don't you assume that it's a single woman, just because you know single men have no motive to hide their identities? Whereas a lot of folks look at my peculiar spelling and can't decide what gender I am. (One magazine attributed both genders to me in the same bionote.)

The slim chance of someone encountering me on the internet and as a result deciding to read the books outweighs for me the slim possibility of being cyberstalked, and I want to talk freely about what interests me, which involves the occasional casual revelation of personal details. Also, I'm so far away from most of the population of the board that anyone who wanted to burgle me would probably spend more getting here than he would realize from fencing his take. (Specialty thieves take note: my husband and I deliberately buy the less "valuable" stuff for our collections - if we buy a first edition, we want the second printing, specifically because we get the same pleasure for less money.)

But that's my situation. Any truly public figure (say, Jenna Bush or Sarah Michelle Geller) who wanted to hang out in a public forum would do well to go in disguise.

I try not to reveal the personal details of other people; but reading this thread has made me realize how easy it is to accidentally reveal more than you had intended; and this concerns me far more than anything I might reveal about myself. If we lived in London, my story on the cats thread about kidnapping my neighbor's cat because I couldn't bear leaving her in the house all alone could have been truly dangerous. So I want any prospective criminals on the board to know that they're back now - I returned the cat this morning - and even when they're gone, my husband and I keep tabs on the property. They also live directly next door to the neighborhood Gossip Central, a retired couple who see and record everything that goes on. So stay away!

 

[CodenameThrow]

I've heard he daubs his face in lambsblood and makes the beast with two backs whilst cavorting with demons.

You have clearly accessed the online copy of my CV. You know what it's like - the mind always goes blank when it comes to describing your interests...

 

[Atch_]

I've heard he daubs his face in lambsblood and makes the beast with two backs whilst cavorting with demons.

BURN the threadstarter, KILL the threadstarter. BURN the threadstarter, KILL the threadstarter. BURN the...

 

[Rrose_Selavy]

To a certain extent, what we put out there has to involve an individual threat assessment.

but when you see a listing for "Smith, J," don't you assume that it's a single woman, just because you know single men have no motive to hide their identities? Whereas a lot of folks look at my peculiar spelling and can't decide what gender I am. (One magazine attributed both genders to me in the same bionote.)

I am no fan and have never read her books but didn't J. K. Rowling deliberately use her initials always so that as a author she wouldn't have any obvious gender and supposedly to maximise her possible readership?

Seems to have worked too well.

 

[PeniG]

I don't know, Rrose - it's the sort of silly thing people are advised to do from time to time; but AFAIK her picture has always appeared in the books and there's been no attempt at hiding even in play (which is a perfectly acceptable approach to book promotion, cf Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket). I'd think it more likely that she simply didn't like the look of her full name, or considered it too similar to the name of someone else - though I can't think who. I'm continually mis-spelling her name as Rawlings (as in Marjorie Rawlings, author of *The Yearling*), but the initials don't help that.

I myself started using my middle initial after I married, because after being Peni Robinson for so long, Peni Griffin looked so dang short; but there wasn't any way I was keeping the maiden name and continuing to be followed by cries of "Danger, Will Robinson!" Another friend chose his signature based on numerological factors. How your name appears in public can be influenced by any number of motives, from the paranoid to the whimsical, and in the absence of a first-person statement I wouldn't care to guess about anybody else.

 

[Rrose_Selavy]

Seems the reason behind it was that boys don't tend to like reading books by women.


"Bloomsbury, the publishers of the Harry Potter series, said the author took her grandmother's name. A spokesman said: "Clearly it was not her name given at birth but it could have been her confirmation name. When we asked her for her initials, she said J K."

She added that the publishers decided to use initials instead of a name to attract boy readers. She said: "As it happened the first book was such a success that within two months of publication she was on Blue Peter, so it was blown. There are many examples of authors changing their names."

Commenting on the use of her initials, Rowling said in an interview: "It was the publisher's idea, they could have called me Enid Snodgrass. I just wanted it [the book] published."

http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/0700-savill-telegraph.html

 

[PeniG]

Seems the reason behind it was that boys don't tend to like reading books by women.

This, I fear, falls into the category of sexist BS, in which publishers accept their prejudices as fact and thereby shoot themselves in the foot. Your average child doesn't pay the slightest attention to who writes a book. I recently went to Kansas to accept an award, and the boys were every bit as glad to meet me and the other winning author (also a woman) as the girls were. One school brought me a t-shirt with the names of the kids who voted for me on the back, an equal-sex split.

I have seen statistics which suggest that boys won't read books with girl protagonists while girls will read books with boy and girl protagonists equally; but the methodology did not distinguish among genres. Since girls feature as protagonists in most domestic novels, and boys are less likely to read domestic novels than girls; and since boys read a lot of non-fiction, which often has no protagonist, any statistics which don't take genre into account don't strike me as useful. Often, non-fiction isn't treated as "true" reading at all, which creates the impression that boys don't like to read. All this, when acted on as reality by publishers, teachers, and parents, creates a great self-fulfilling prophecy and reduces overall literacy by making boys feel that they *shouldn't* enjoy reading as much as girls, and I'm riding my high horse into the sunset, aren't I? Sorry; didn't mean to engage in thread higjacking. Only it bugs me *a lot.*

 

[oll_lewis]

Indeed, when I was a very wee sprog I liked enid blyton books. I couldn't stand reading the far away tree now even for nostalgia purpuses but back in my preschool days I liked pixies and elves and things like that but not faries because they were 'girly'. Dispite my obvious sexisam when i was little I couldn't give a squid that enid blyton was female, the sausepan man was cool.


Now THAT'S how you post too much personal information on the internet.

 

[Leaferne]

I've mentioned elsewhere that I have a distinctive last name (which is rare even in Germany) and used to list myself in the phone book as "L&S Lastname", as in Leaferne and Sam. "Sam Lastname" still gets credit card offers occasionally even though we've moved and the phone is now in my bf's name.

 

[oll_lewis]

Out of interest, don't feel obliged to tell us if Sam's privicy is threatened, but do they offer him a good credit limit? :laughing:

 

[sunsplash1]

edit: on the dark, secluded threads that nobody visits.

Theres 's a dark, secluded thread?
Hey! Post the link!

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Theres 's a dark, secluded thread?
Hey! Post the link!

It wouldn't really be dark and secluded if he did that now would it?

Its a bit like putting up big signs saying "This way to the Lost valley of the Dinosaurs"

Unless TLVotD was a ride at a themepark and they'd probably put up big signs I suppose.

 

[CodenameThrow]

The noisome and stygian recesses of my dark and secret threads are off-limits until I have had a hoover.

 

[Cider]

Although I do agree that everyone should be careful about the information that they give out on the internet (Although quite frankly I am one of the worst offenders and can be tracked down and murdered with all the snippets that I let fall. ) I am slightly confused as to why the thread about where you have lived was closed and yet the photo thread lives on.

I'm not for one moment suggesting that it ought to be closed, but I would be interested in what the distinction between risky information and harmless fun is. Of course, I didn't see what happened in the thread before it was closed down so it might be something really obvious that I missed.

 

[Alexius4]

Well, maybe not tracked down and killed, but peeps have been spammed, taunted, abused and photoshopped into bestial porn in the not so distant past.

 

[brianellwood]

I agree with Peni. If you already have a presence on the web in your own name, say for business or because you are known in certain fields, then presumably you are already exposed anyway. I suppose there are certain message boards where it wouldn't be wise to use your own name, but being such a nice person LOL, I wouldn't go there anyway!
I'm not really worried, in this world once you shove your head over the parapet, then you're fair game for anyone from stalkers to the tabloids.
However, I would not make my email, msn chat name etc. readily available on a board, and if I had internet banking, regularly check and remove any cookie files related to it on my pc.

 

[Cider]

I only said "killed" because Fleeble has pointed out to me before that a local could pin point my movements from what I say on here and cause me harm. An extreme example perhaps, but not outside the realms of possibilty.

I'm not arguing that the thread shouldn't have been closed, but as you yourself say, photos are an effective way to upset, disturb and generally cause distress to someone. I suppose that what I'm saying is that the atmoshere of trust on here, however illusory, can encourage users old and new to reveal personal information on all sorts of threads, some more obvious than others. It would be a shame a to make this place completely anonymous and impersonal (As well as being well nigh impossible. ) by weeding out all the references to our real life identities. How do you make the distinction between what is dangerous information and what isn't?

I think that a prominent piece in the guidelines is the best way to go, with a well-placed reminder if someone gets carried away perhaps. But that's just my opinion.

Ultimately though, we all have to take responsibility for our own decisions and postings and people can only be guided so far. Unfortunately.

 

[Alexius4]

I suppose therein lies the value of the discussion - where can the line be drawn between coming across as a real person and exposing yourself through a little too much detail?

I agree with Cider - ultimately, this is a matter of personal judgement. However, mod work screening out the threats as they appear and us posters watching out for each other also plays a role.

 

[CodenameThrow]

Frankly it's down to whether or not you think "exposing yourself" is a real threat. I imagine people could find out my details from this board. They could also do this if I gave them my phone number in a bar. I know I've never had any hesitation doing the latter in the past, so why should I give a toss if people know I live in Brixton or not?

Having said that I don't come on here just to find people to give my phone number to

 

[Stormkhan]

When I started my website I sat down and considered how much information I should give, either on the site (very little) or on my business card (my site, email and phone number). I thought "What could I change if things got nasty?" This is for a hobby - not a job - so I try to be a bit sensible. But if anyone really wants to make a nuicance of themselves then it's amazing how "creative" they can be in tracking down info.

It's a tricky call but I'd always read the general spirit of the MB before I gave too much away. Even then, it can be a bit of a risk.
I give my website because I want people to visit it. Otherwise it'd be a waste of effort (and now money).

 

[escargot]

Yup, I like Storm's website. The goat-porn section is especially edifying.

Where peeps have been 'spammed, taunted, abused and photoshopped into bestial porn' (as Cider mentions) there is a defence against the first 3 here on the board, which is, report the abusive contact and click 'ignore'.

The bestial porn is only a problem if you let it get to you. Personally, I'd laugh my head off if it were done to me but then I'm possibly a little warped anyway.

How crushing for a troll, to take the time and trouble to insult me only to find that I'm tickled and flattered.

 

[Anonymous]

I can understand why someone might be upset about being photoshopped into goat porn, but let's face it, there are worse processes by which one's picture could appear in those pictures.

Apparently.

Besides, why has noone ever done that sort of thing to my pictures? Am I considered too ugly for goat porn?

 

[Mama_Kitty]

I'd quite like some help with what personal info I should keep to myself. For instance, all you stalker-types who've been confessing: what info do you need to start tracking people down? I've always assumed that as long as I wasn't daft and didn't post anything too specific about the area I live in, that I'd be okay. But what about other info? Is it okay to talk about my family? Nothing specific, obviously, but how could that help people track me down?

And why would anyone want to? I don't think I'm an active enough poster for people to want to target me over anyone else and what would they do? Send me weird things in the post? Sit outside my house and stare at me?

I trust my online banking thing to keep me safe, it's hard enough for me to log in. Unless anyone else can guess my 14 digit pass number and my 7 digit log-in code! Plus it logs me out if I do anything at all, like click on something or press the stop or back buttons!

 

[escargot]

Certain pictures can give away too much if they're posted on here.

Surnames appear on medical images, for example.

Trying hard to be tactful.

 

[Stormkhan]

Yup, I like Storm's website. The goat-porn section is especially edifying.

*sniff*
I discovered the Fortean Times website because I mis-read the subject "Goatsucker"...