I read some of Scott Evil’s recent posts and felt that from the responses he got I could open up and say anything and not be flamed etc. Hope he’s doing okay btw.
But really? He’s been around for EVER, it seems.
What are the chances of someone haunting me, digging up my real ID or using some of the things I’ve said here against me in some way?
Has it happened to you?
Am I paraniod?
My general rule of thumb is to not post anything to any public board that I couldn’t survive having my boss happen upon.
Didn’t someone change their username because of a stalker?
What happened to Scott Evil? Is he ok?
I post here, on Usenet and in other places using my real name. So far no one has stalked me.
Zev Steinhardt
Link, please?
That’s what YOU think! Bwahahahahaha! [sub]kidding! just kidding![/sub]
This may be a reference to Scott’s recent admission that he is an alcoholic. From what I know, he’s getting help, and is on the road to recovery. I hope he’s doing well, too.
Opal has had prior posts used against her. It was a drag. Sorry I don’t have a link, but it was regarding her upcoming surgery.
Someone sent copies of some posts and LJ entries to her doctor and suggested she was too unstable for her surgery. Whatever.
I’ve thought about changing my name just in case one of my friends or family stumbled across the board and decided to search my user name. It’s not that I’ve said anything revealing or incriminating, just things that would sound stupid to those who aren’t used to reading the boards (NONE of my real life friends use, understand, or like computers at all so I try to keep the SDMB my little secret.)
There is at least other one person whose posts have been used against her. Happened last year. You may have seen a few people here and in LJ lamenting her absence since last summer.
As for myself, I have never said my full name on this board (though if you read every one of my posts and had a bit of luck going your way, you could probably figure it out), and my username is certainly not related to how I look or grew up or anything like that, and my location is not indicative of any particular area, and I don’t exactly walk around (much) without a shirt on, so…
There are people who, if they knew me WELL both on and off the boards, could figure out who I was in person if they hadn’t connected my username with my offline existence. But I don’t see that harming me in any way…
flapcats, this is a public place. Please don’t forget that and only post what you would want your grandmother to read.
So just relax and enjoy. Use a bit of common sense and all should be well.
Speaking for myself only, I really don’t worry about it. It would be really easy to associate my SDMB ID with my IRL identity. I won’t tell you how, but it’d be easy like pie. If someone’s going to harass me in person for whatever reason, that’s what they’re going to do. And if someone I know in person is going to harass me online, that’s an easily solved problem.
But I’m a pretty honest person. I tend not to keep secrets, and I’ve never posted anything on the boards that I would be upset if strangers knew (duh).
I’ve said it here before, but I will again. If you post here regularly and often, while no single post will likely reveal your real world identity, the sum of your posts will yield enough that a determined, or even a casual, investigator will likely be able to ascertain your identity.
The realization that any anonymity I might have thought I enjoyed was probably blown by the 1000 post mark drives the credo I expressed above. And it has also allowed me to not feel bad about letting dopers know my real name when the situation demands, and by now there are legions that do.
So, weigh carefully running around nekkid.