# Why I hate sketchy profiles. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021 "2003-06-01T23:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/41 "2003-06-03T01:53:20Z")
**Portwest** , I recommend you go back and read what **Czarcasm** wrote. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/42 "2003-06-03T02:45:57Z")
For the record, my address and phone _are_ listed. I’m not hiding. I don’t think anything neccessarily needed to be hacked. Do any of you know what _Homeland Security_ and the _Patriot Act_ are all about? Message board profiles, that’s what. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nekosoft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@Nekosoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nekosoft)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/43 "2003-06-03T04:23:45Z")
I couldn’t help peeking! At least I was discreet… **Czarcasm** , thanks for deleting from **Astroglide** ’s post the information I was trying to protect. Myself, I figured it was one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ challenges, and i’m glad **Iteki** ’s post was in that spirit too. But I’d say it was more an educated (lucky) guess than “hacking”. It’s all publically available information anyway. Between the yellow pages and Google one can find pretty much anything. Erik Johnson (that’s _gotta_ be a fake name…) ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/44 "2003-06-03T06:09:30Z")
Mangeogre, Like Astroglide, Neko and Iteki, I found your home phone number, address and first and last name in under 2 minutes. As a former skip tracer, it was simple for me, but your information is so easy to find that others would be able to get to it easily as well. You may not think you are in danger now, but what people can do with identity theft is scary. As I don’t want to clue others in on how to find you, if you wish to remove some of this info from the internet, email me and I will tell you where to start. Czarcasm, I hope I haven’t offended you either. I want to help him remove the info, and there actually was no hacking involved whatsoever (in how I found him). ~J ---
**Author:** ![abderian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@abderian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abderian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/45 "2003-06-03T11:10:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ellen Cherry \* > \*\ ***Portwest** , I recommend you go back and read what **Czarcasm** wrote. \*\* Goodness, please don’t misunderstand – I wasn’t inviting anyone to hack me, nor do I intend to hack anyone. I was merely curious as to how someone might get such info from the profile. I still am. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/46 "2003-06-03T12:05:57Z")
While I am glad that Czarcasm took down the full address, I would just like to say there was not a dribble of hacking involved. I had the information within two minutes using sites that most people on this board are familiar with. If I had had the time/energy/money I could have put out 5 bucks and emailed you your credit report. Without behaving in a way online that would border on paranoia it gets harder and harder as time goes on to keep your net and true persona separate. When I was younger I used to hang out on a board for teenage girls, and it was really hard for those of us who were a little more net-savvy to drive home to the littler kids that they might want to give out just a little less information. It is all about dribs and drabs, you give me your cat’s name in one thread, you tell me in another thread that your cat is named after your brother, in a third one you give me something else. All taken together, if somone wanted to, it is relativly easy to put together a patchwork quilt of somones life online. Especially for people like us here at the SDMB who spend way too much of our time online. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/47 "2003-06-03T12:20:22Z")
Things like this make me glad I’m a Smith…anonymous yet truthful 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pixelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@Pixelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixelle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/48 "2003-06-04T06:05:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iteki \* > \*\*It is all about dribs and drabs, you give me your cat’s name in one thread, you tell me in another thread that your cat is named after your brother, in a third one you give me something else. All taken together, if somone wanted to, it is relativly easy to put together a patchwork quilt of somones life online. Especially for people like us here at the SDMB who spend way too much of our time online. \*\* Yeah I’m constantly amazed at how much info people give away about themselves on message boards and then forget that they’ve even said it. Sometimes the’re surprised if you mention something that you read about them and they say how did you know that about me? …err… I read it! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/49 "2003-06-04T14:20:39Z")
For me it’s a combination of things. There’s a little bit of paranoia. I seem to be a magnet for the needy (emotioanally as well as financially) but more for me it’s what **lissa** said. I come here to vent. If my profile gave my whole name and adress and I posted “I can’t believe what a jackass my brother is being to his wife. He’s cheating on her with her spinning instructor. What a pig!” who’s to say that he won’t read it, or worse his wife, or the instructor, isn’t an occasional lurker, or even a dedicated Doper? I recently mentioned these boards to my mother and she said, “Oh yeah, I read those all the time.” Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/50 "2003-06-04T23:19:10Z")
But posters give up far more info in their posts than they ever do in the profiles. Don’t they (we)? ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/51 "2003-06-05T00:25:05Z")
I used to have my real locations in the location box (Mt. Laurel, NJ for home Syracuse, NY for college), but that’s pretty boring. So I picked Dr. Weird’s Lab (also in South Jersey) and the first line of the Syracuse Alma Mater because its pretty. As for the full profile. :shrug: I dunno, lazy. I’m a student. What more do you need? ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/52 "2003-06-05T02:14:50Z")
Well, I filled in some info on mine a long time ago… and it’s remained largely unchanged. Happy? 😃 F\_X ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/53 "2003-06-05T23:17:12Z")
Happy? 'Course I’m happy. Say’s so right here; “Biography: Old. Tired. Happy.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bittersweet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@bittersweet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bittersweet)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/54 "2003-06-05T23:25:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* Why are folks so paranoid? \*\* One word: **stalkers**. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021/55 "2003-06-05T23:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bittersweet \* > \*\*One word: **stalkers**. \*\* All it takes is one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-sketchy-profiles/179021.md?page=2)