Reminder: Internet safety -- email addresses, photos and personal information!

[MrsPinecone]

We have gained a large number of new members, so it is time for a reminder about Internet safety and security.

I have noticed a trend toward members posting their email addresses in various threads. In addition to being a possible safety issue, various data miners can capture your email address and you can become the recipient of tons of unwanted SPAM!!

IF you decide to post you email in a public forum, the best way to do it is to write it out: boardmember at yahoo dot com. That way, a link will not automatically be generated and you won't be getting Internet "lunchmeat".

Other than that, just be careful what you say. This board and others like it are a public forum. You need to consider how much information you are willing to have out there. Do you want people to know your kids' names? The place you work? Other personal details? If not, then be careful what you post.

Have a safe and happy day!

[FantasyIsland]

Originally Posted by MrsPinecone We have gained a large number of new members, so it is time for a reminder about Internet safety and security. Other than that, just be careful what you say. This board and others like it are a public forum. You need to consider how much information you are willing to have out there. Do you want people to know your kids' names? The place you work? Other personal details? If not, then be careful what you post. Have a safe and happy day!

I'd like to add to this:

there is a person on another coupon board originally from DAGG who posted little tiny bits and pieces of info about herself. Now, that wouldn't be so bad except in the aggregate she posted enough information I know exactly which house is hers and from that, if I had a mind to look it up, I could find her last name. Mind you, with all these bits and pieces of information, we are not friends (she probably can't stand me) and we haven't met or traded nor do I have any plans to look up her information or ever contact her. But if she has fed that much information to someone NOT looking to find her, what has she given to someone who might turn out to be a stalker - or worse? I'm just glad she didn't then (hopefully still doesn't) have pics of her children as an avatar.

Fan

[tdo1690_us]

I hope that your post makes being relize how vunerable our children are with the internet. I have teenagers and this is discussed often. I know they really think I am going over board, but I want them to think about it.

The websites like facebook, my space, etc.... are being watched by the law enforecements because they know the sexual preditors are watching. I went to a public meeting regarding this. It was an eye opener for me. The biggest thing was that, it isn't always in just words. If kids post pictures where their friends all have on the school shirts, that narrows it down right there. Sometimes they talk about their parents not getting home until a certain time.....

We just really need to be aware of this stuff. The FBI agent, who conducted the meeting, reminded us....

THE INTERNET SHOULD BE LOOKED AT LIKE A TOOL. WE WOULDN'T GIVE OUR CHILD A KNIFE, UNTIL WE TEACHE THEM HOW TO USE IT SAFELY!

[kaykwilts]

Thanks for posting this advice. When I was a newbie several years ago I usually to post my email for public viewing. Back then in the early days of the interenet I was not aware that there were spam bots out there collecting email addresses so that they could spam me. I am very careful now days what I post publically.

[pennywatcher]

I have a couple things to add.

If you do have to post your email address, I would suggest encoding it even more than "boardmember at yahoo dot com". Any time you have a standard way of presenting information, it's easy to write a program to search for it. It's trivial for an automated address hunter to pick up addresses by searching for the string "at yahoo dot com", "at hotmail dot com", "at gmail dot com", etc. You can confuse the address hunter a little more by saying something like "Please send it to my yahoo.com account. The user name is boardmember." or even "Send it to boardXmember at yahoo dot com. Remove the X from the username."

If you feel the need to post your email address, go back and edit it out of your post once you've gotten what you need. Some of the search engines may already have the information cached, but at least if you delete it, it will eventually drop out of their cache.

If you have done any trading, please remember that there are now people out there that have your physical address. I think it's ill-advised to publicly state on the board when you are going on vacation and for how long. Like FantasyIsland said, even if you haven't given anyone your actual address, sometimes you've let enough information slip that they could figure it out.

[Q_ponQ]

Here is another way

Board
member
AT
yahoo
dot
com

[MrsPinecone]

Bump

[Timedess]

Thanks for bumping this, MrsP. it is always good to have a fresh reminder to be careful. I've met many wonderful people through the internet, but there are weirdoes and even more dangerous than that out there as well. :)

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Personaly guys, I don't think there is a reason to post your email address on HCW. If you need someone to send you something, PM them. If you are requesting for anyone to send you something ask them to PM you.

Originally Posted by MrsPinecone We have gained a large number of new members, so it is time for a reminder about Internet safety and security. I have noticed a trend toward members posting their email addresses in various threads. In addition to being a possible safety issue, various data miners can capture your email address and you can become the recipient of tons of unwanted SPAM!! IF you decide to post you email in a public forum, the best way to do it is to write it out: boardmember at yahoo dot com. That way, a link will not automatically be generated and you won't be getting Internet "lunchmeat". Other than that, just be careful what you say. This board and others like it are a public forum. You need to consider how much information you are willing to have out there. Do you want people to know your kids' names? The place you work? Other personal details? If not, then be careful what you post. Have a safe and happy day!

Oh Boy good point. I think I better try to edit one of my posts now :(