Please don't demand personal details (or share too much)

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Please don't demand personal details (or share too much)

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:20 pm

I would like to state in no uncertain terms that there has been, and likely remain, individuals both inside and out of this forum community who seek information on forum members to use against them, in some cases to drastic effect. This should come as no surprise given the fact that, unfortunately, we are on the internet, and there is a natural propensity to bring out the worst in people online when fear of consequence is drastically reduced due to anonymity.

At its best, its mean-spirited persons with nothing better to do than set fire to ant hills and make insects fight one another.

At worst, its something else that I'm reluctant to define.

Regardless, the damage persons inclined to these behaviors are capable of is DRAMATICALLY facilitated by the sharing of personal information. This includes what is shared in posts, PM, the unofficial RI chatroom(we are seeking to have pulled), and email exchanges.

Bluntly put: if someone doesn't need to know something about you, please do not offer personal information.

It is not possible for Jeff to protect persons who provide personal details that can be used against them. We will make the attempt to suppress such a thing occurring, but in essence, our hands are basically tied once that info is given to the wrong parties.

This is simply smart netiquette. You don't know who the hell you are talking to if you don't know them in person, and even then, you're capable of being surprised. We are not trying to alarm anyone; paranoia is an ugly side-effect of this kind of thing, but if you are cautious up front, you will go considerably further in protecting yourself in ways that we simply cannot do, so please..

Loose lips sink ships, guys.

This stuff happens all over the internet, but the sensitivity of the topics and members that follow them here make the RI board a particularly unpleasant place to find yourself data mined, so please just be careful, and you will have nothing to worry about.

If anyone has any problems, or feels that they have been probed for info, however politely, from another member in a manner beyond asking for a cake recipe or an alcoholic drink mix, please contact Jeff or myself immediately.

Thanks,
Arcadia

edit: I will also add here that anyone who it is proven to having provided another member's info to a third party resulting in damage to that person will almost certainly result in permanent banning from this community. Please don't gossip on one another in manner that can result in personal injury.
"but I do know that you should remove my full name from your sig. Dig?" - Unnamed, Super Scary Persun, bbrrrrr....
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Postby Peregrine » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:36 pm

I'm not sure if it's pertinent or not, but I have chatted with some off forum, as well as handed out my email addy, but I'm certain the folks I've done that with & interacted with are genuine & have been members here quite a long time. So hopefully that's ok?
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Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:41 pm

No way of knowing. I guess we'll find out. FWIW, I'm aware of the persons you chatted with, and I don't particularly think they are involved. What is said in that chat room, same as here, isn't going anywhere, though, so carefully consider what you say both here, there, and everywhere else before you actually say it.
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Postby Peregrine » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:50 pm

Good to know, however I am confident the ladies & gents I've spoken with are genuine folks. Any personal info I've divulged doesn't bother me terribly if out in the open, however, I tend never to divulge info on my family or child, as I tend to be very protective in that area.

That being said, I find harrasing or threatening folks who do have children particularly low & it definitely calls into question the sanity of the person doing the threatening or harrasing. Not that the harrasing or threatening to the degree it's been done to anyone here is sane by any means.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby chump » Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:56 pm

What kind of personal info are we talking here. I know not to give out my S.S.#, and I'm not inclined to give out my e-mail, but how guarded should I be with info regarding my locale, or job, or family situations? Some people mention that kind of stuff, and others seem reluctant to do so. How many people been burned?
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby 82_28 » Sat Jan 23, 2010 6:27 am

Are our passwords being hacked, tracked etc? Somehow my longterm pwd was changed and I was unable to login. I got a new pwd. But what was that about? Anybody else have the same issue?
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby Jeff » Sat Jan 23, 2010 4:08 pm

82_28 wrote:Are our passwords being hacked, tracked etc? Somehow my longterm pwd was changed and I was unable to login. I got a new pwd. But what was that about? Anybody else have the same issue?


When did that happen?

The old board was glitchy, and would often deactivate members when they tried editing their profile. That was not a hack, that was just out-of-date software.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby 82_28 » Sat Jan 23, 2010 6:00 pm

Last night. . . Early morning for you I suppose.

My pwd migrated just fine it seemed until then.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby Jeff » Sat Jan 23, 2010 6:44 pm

Don't have an answer for that, 82_28. I'd like to hear if it's happened to anyone else. FWIW the provider's been upgrading the databases last night and today, so the service has been rocky.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby Jeff » Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:24 pm

I think it's also important to caution members against posting to blogs trolling this community. Last week the mods and I received an urgent pm from a long-time member, requesting his account be closed here, because after having posted a single comment to one he found himself "being trailed across the web. By who? Well, I don't know who's who any more! I really don't want to say any more, and I'm at no immediate risk (AFAIK)....I've been closing accounts and deleting stuff all morning."
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby Project Willow » Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:20 pm

Jeff, your allowances please, and it is not my place, but I'd like to say something.

This is my opinion, shutting down and shutting up is giving in, and giving in to a mentally unbalanced crew of 3 (or perhaps even one) perps is silly. Don't do it. This board has, over its history, engaged subjects that invite this very kind of targeting, (as do others of its traits, sorry), it was inevitable. So now is the time to stand strong behind words that have expressed oppositional desires. I say keep posting, keep talking, therein your power lies. Be powerful.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby Jeff » Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:30 pm

Thanks, Willow.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby Iamwhomiam » Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:40 pm

Jeff, fwiw, I'm of the same mind as Willow. Even with my rather remarkable life experience I have learned very much from you and our fellow posters. I knew little of SRA before 'meeting' you and the importance alone to survivors this site holds for them, to connect, is invaluable, imho.

You must be the ultimate judge, for this is your site, and though we may be continents apart, we are together in a sense, thanks to you and will (if it's to be) go down together screaming words of warning for all to heed... until they pull the plug.

Blessings, Peace and Love to all.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby chiggerbit » Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:27 am

I didn't want to feed the energy black hole, but an RI member pm'ed me, thinking that I must be in contact with DE because DE had complimented me at his site, so I'm breaking my silence. DE's only purpose in complimenting me was to sow dissension. We are not in contact, haven't been for a long time. I am not a participant at his current site, or the one before that, and maybe not the one before that (I can't remember, because he has pulled them so many times) nor at KK or the other ones. I did contribute to one of his first sites. I used to like the work DE did, but with the deaths of Duncan and Blake and especially the ARG stuff, things got really weird. And, yes, I am keeping an eye on him now. That's not a compliment, btw.

At least one person, and likely more, played dirty tricks on DE. That's fact. Jeff did no wrong against DE, but he's getting blamed for it by DE, and it is Jeff's body of work and the bodies of community members' posts here that DE pours over, like the witch hunters who stripped and shaved the bodies of accused witches, looking for the witches teats--warts, moles, skin tags, birthmarks, and other imperfections, meant to suckle the devil, so they believed.. No place on the body was too private to inspect. Unfortunately, just as in the days of the Salem witch trials, DE and his familiars' witch hunts and attempted humiliation have introduced some really weird dynamics into our community, including fear, distrust, discomfort, and false accusations. So, to summarize, DE is going after Jeff, not the people who played dirty tricks on him. WTF?


Perhaps DE isn't looking to out a witch but to find a place to suckle. If you have a mole to offer him, fine, go there and offer it up, but could you at least have the decency leave the dynamics at his door and not here? And don't blame us when he burns you at the stake with all the information you gave him, even if you didn't know you were giving it by just registering there.
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Re: Important message regarding personal information

Postby crikkett » Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:02 am

I see Google[bot] browsing this forum a lot, which reminds me that this is a public space. Thanks for the 24 hr edit window.
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